I Was Right the First Time

(Prologue: I was listening to NPR a few weeks ago and they had a feature about love songs and how there are so few that cover the subject of couples who get back together after breaking up. There's "Reunited" and a couple others, but that's about it. A notable absence, sure, but as I listened to the story, I couldn't help but think about an even more noteworthy (and, frequently, more realistic) vacancy in the love song cannon: a song for those who get back together, and realize they really should have stayed broken up. The germ of an idea got stuck in my head, and in a feverish hour last night, it finally spilled into my computer. My first new song in a few years, and I really, really like how it turned out. Imagine this one sung as a torchy love ballad, with a little modern pop sensibility mixed in. Think Meat Loaf crossed with Taylor Hicks. If you wanna hear the actual tune, you'll have to ask me to sing it for you. :) )


I Was Right the First Time by Jeff McGinnis

It was plain to see
We were meant to be
Until the day we weren’t

For the bond we shared
Just could not compare
To the volume of the hurt

So that sad, sad day
We went separate ways
But I could not let go

Of the memories
That were you and me
With our love all aglow

So I asked for another chance
To rekindle our lost romance
To make spring of this December
But now you’re here, and I remember

The way you snore, the way you sneeze
The way you hog all the cream cheese
The way you talk loud in movies
The way you never “thank” or “please”
It’s clear to me this set-up is a crime
I was right the first time!

Didn’t take me long
To see something wrong
In you and I, take two

I look in your eyes
And part of me dies
And I just want to spew

‘Cuz you’re just the same
As that crazy dame
That I had left last week

I don’t know why I
Went from that goodbye
To this hello so bleak

Was I that desperate for something
That I’d give you another fling
Well, lock me up, call me insane
‘Cuz who you were you still remain

The way you talk, the way you whine
The way you snort like a big swine
The way you chew each time you dine
The way my will to live declines
I’d be better off dating a French mime
I was right the first time!

(The first time…
The first time…
The first time…
The first time…)

So it’s time to go
Gotta let you know
What do I have to lose?

If I don’t, I’ll croak
From the cigs I smoke
Or maybe from the booze

They are my relief
From the disbelief
Of waking up with you

For I now detest
Every night I rest
At your side, so, adieu

No turning back, my mind’s made up
I’ll not drink again from that cup
You look at me with those eyes then…

…no, I won’t fall for THAT again!

The way you taunt, the games you play
The way you nag me everyday
The little, painful things you say
The way you make my hair turn grey
Let freedom ring, and let those church bells chime!
I was right the first time!

(The first time…
The first time…
The first time…
The first…)
I was right the first time!

(The first time…
The first time…
The first time…
The first…)
I was right the first time!

(The first time…
The first time…
The first time…
The first…)
I was right…the first time!


(P.S. For the record, nothing about the song requires its subject to be female...it can easily be altered to a male character by changing the "crazy dame" verse to the following:

'Cuz you're just as lewd
As that crazy dude
That I had left last week

Just FYI. :) )