you won

Click here to hear the song: you won't ruin any more of my days

Lyrics

If you could have seen me cry
Would you have done anything about it
If you could have seen me die last night?
And don’t say you love me, it doesn’t tell me much
Used to be it made me feel all right.

(chorus) You won’t ruin any more of my days
I took back the things you’d taken away
You can’t say you’ve got me now, I’ve gotten away
You won’t ruin any more of my days.

I could try to make you sad
I could start doing things just to hurt you
But it wouldn’t take away the pain
And I have spent my summer wishing you were here
Funny how the sunshine felt like rain

If you could have seen me fall
Would you have done anything to catch me
If you could have heard me calling to you?
And don’t try to push me underneath the rug
You might need me if this happens to you

Notes by the Author:

This song is not true. The girl in question went on to ruin plenty more of my days, despite the defiant theme. I wrote this just before my senior year in high school began. I’d been dating a girl named Novelyn at the tail end of my junior year, and we broke up in the early summer--a miserable summer by any measure (at least for me--I think Novelyn had a great summer). I wrote a lot that summer, although Jon and I haven’t recorded too much of that stuff. "Touch Me Softly" was a product of that era. "Expecting You Never" came in my senior year, after the worst was over. But a lot of the songs I wrote were pretty good, despite the clear theme of teen frustration.

This song was among the worst of them, I thought. But Jon’s right (below) about the strumming and the almost-but-not-quite cheerful lyrics. When we recorded this, I was curious to see how we could record my acoustic guitar to sound its best. Until we gave up on my pickup and started using a microphone, I was never entirely satisfied that we’d done a good job of really capturing the rich sound of the 12 strings. This recording features my old Epiphone, which doesn’t sound too shabby here.

That summer was a roller coaster. I wrote a very sweet song to a girl in my class, Karen, called "And You H

ave a Smile" that Jon and I ought to record some time, before I write something much worse.

Notes by the Other Guy:

Not that Bill is bitter about failed relationships or anything, but this song is worth it just for the pure sarcasm of the title. The music sounds like the Monkees doing a song about the last day of high school. (Actually, Bill and I do a mean cover of "Daydream Believer.") The song shouldn’t have much to it but is unbelievably catchy. And the first time I heard the lyrics I could immediately think of far too many relationships I’d been in that had ruined far too many of my days. I’m just doing my normal organ chording to add some punch to the chorus, but I like Bill’s fast-strumming acoustic guitar on the verses.