A Stranger Song

To look upon you

And feel nothing

Well, that's a funny kind of feeling



Yes I know, but

I would rather

Smile and pretend to know better



Now I command you

To be, to be

A stranger unto me



And waiting by an old bus stop

I hear my name and

Looking up

Find only the leaves that coat the corner



I've heard her voice 1,000 times

I long to hear our laughter

Rhyme and ring across

This moat that I have shoveled

To ring across this ocean I have traveled



Now I command you

To be, to be

A stranger unto me



Oh, what's the matter with your song?

You tried to sing

The words were wrong

And when the harmony was

Hard to figure

I turned the guitar on its face

And took my place upon the bed

And realized you never were a singer

Your song can only imitate another's



What I've killed 100 times

Lives to haunt this mouth of mine



Oh, I will strike 1,000 times

Across the ones I recognize



Now I command you

To be, to be

A stranger unto me



I'll ride again through this dead-end

100 alleys hidden in

The foliage

That lines the picket fences

And maybe find

For every single lonely heart that's hunting

100,000 secret hearts in waiting

100,000, slow and softly beating