To quote Otis Redding, 'This is a song we all gotta sing sometime.'
Story behind the song
I wrote this song in response to the bitter end of my first long-term relationship. The chorus popped into my head one afternoon while I was sitting at a bar (something I was doing a lot of in those days). For once in my life, I had a pen when I needed it, and I scribbled the words down on the back of a bar menu. I immediately knew two things: I had the basis of a really good song, and I was emotionally incapable of writing it at that time. So I put the words in a drawer.
Almost a year later, life had delivered a few more kicks to my teeth, but I could see the light at the end of the tunnel ahead. I woke up one morning with the first verse formulating in my brain and had the song written by that evening. This is a demo version from 1996 with Jack Smith on keys and backup vocals, and Scott Olson on drums.
Lyrics
Two people drawn together by circumstance
Stand face to face and begin the dance
We play our part, we speak our lines
Following our hearts, never our minds
We take our chances, we risk it all
Never dreaming we’ll take the fall
I wish I didn’t love you, I wish I didn’t care
I wish that when I close my eyes at night
I wouldn’t see you there
I wish I didn’t love you, but I wish in vain
‘Cause when I wake up in the morning
I love you all over again
The woman I loved is gone without a trace
A strident stranger wears her frozen face
She takes all she can, and leaves nothing behind
Smothering her heart and losing her mind
I wonder if she ever looks back on the day
When she took our life and threw it away
I wish I didn’t love you, I wish I didn’t care
I wish that when I close my eyes at night
I wouldn’t see you there
I wish I didn’t love you, but I wish in vain
‘Cause when I wake up in the morning
I love you all over again
I wish I didn’t love you….
I wish I didn’t love you, I wish I didn’t care
I wish that when I close my eyes at night
I wouldn’t see you there
I wish I didn’t love you, but I wish in vain
‘Cause when I wake up in the morning
I love you all over
I wake up in the morning child, only to discover
I’m alone in the morning
And I love you all over again
All over again