I’d just finished up a show in Raleigh
So I drove out to the beach that night
Took some white rum and my fav’rite Gibson
And I sat beside the whisp’ring tide
And I played my old guitar
For the silent, distant stars
And the dark blue loneliness of the sea
She came walking down the misty shoreline
And she sat and listened to my song
And though she was lovely and exotic
We just traded stories all night long
She left on the morning breeze
Looking back I know that she’s
The best thing that never happened to me
Cos I dream about her even now
But my dreams are better off somehow
Knowing she’s the best thing that never happened to me
Six years later in a Key West beach bar
I was sipping some Jamaican rum
And I saw her walking in the warm sand
Like a vision in the setting sun
And the tide caressed her toes
As a pink moon slowly rose
Like a mystic flower up from the sea
Then our memories returned like driftwood
And we talked of life and lonely things
Then she took my trembling hand as moonlight
Sparkled on her new engagement ring
And my heart struck sorrow when
She said, “You have always been
The best thing that never happened to me
Cos I dream about you even now
But my dreams are better off somehow
Knowing you’re the best thing that never happened to me
Then she slipped away along the shoreline
Leaving without so much as a kiss
And now in a midnight tide of mem’ries
I can hear her saying through the mist
“O it’s so hard to explain
But I hope that you’ll remain
The best thing that never happened to me
Cos I dream about you even now
But my dreams are better off somehow
Knowing you’re the best thing that never happened to me
Now at night I sing beside the sea
And that’s because
It hides a love that’s meant to be
But never was
