This song is the direct result of a deep love of Motown and the song “Oh! Darling.” That’s why there’s a random exclamation point in the title. And why the song has this plodding, steady rhythm that kind of hints at old love songs and strings. I always think of the strings in “Rainin’ In My Heart” by Buddy Holly when I hear this song. The lyrics are purposely sappy because that’s the style of the song. It could’ve gone a little better and sounded lyrically more similar to “Oh! Darling” than “Rainin’ In My Heart,” but if the opportunity exists for sappiness and sentimentality, I’m not really one to resist. Plus, I thought I could write a line as brilliant corny as “The weather man says clear today/he doesn’t know you’ve gone away.”
What the song is about is the persistent fear of losing the person you love. Not to death or terrorism or obesity, but to time and strain. Hey, even the Mona Lisa is falling apart, right? I always think everything is going wrong all the time, and eventually, if you think that long enough, you get proven right. This song’s about that. It’s kind of arrogant and cocky at the end now that I think about it, but who isn’t arrogant and cocky about love?
I will say with some measure of pride that this song has made at least one girl cry, and it wasn’t even written for her. The song is actually almost literally an apology to an ex-girlfriend. When we played it live a few months ago, it was just me with a guitar and Sam singing backup vocals during the chorus. After his last chorus, he walked off the stage and left me there alone. If it had been an intentional thing, I would think it was corny and overly theatrical, but as something that just kind of happened, it pretty much my favorite thing. Ever.
I always tell you, “don’t go leaving,”
without having a reason to
I am hoping, you’ll never need to
but I know it’s too good to be true
It doesn’t matter how much laughter
has passed since I’ve done you wrong
I’ll worry I’ll lose you, at least enough to
make me write you another song
and I’ll be exclaiming, “please! don’t go…”
I’ve never met one that’s quite like you
and likely I won’t ever again
so when I lose you, please be sad, too
and then maybe we can be friends
I’m not such a bad guy, I’m lost but you can find
a few things that I want to improve
they say I’ve made progress, and I’ll make you a promise
you can leave if it’s ever untrue
and I’ll keep exclaiming, “oh please! don’t go…”
when you meet another will you discover
what you had with me?
will he know how to keep you warm when it’s cold out
and the snow is choking the streets?
will he understand you the way that I do?
will he love you for just being you?
if we lost it, if we ever had it,
it’ll never return to you
and I’ll be right back here, waiting to catch you
any chance I get to put my arms around you
yeah, I’ll catch you, just like I used to
if it’s the last thing that I do
and I’ll die exclaiming!
I’ll die exclaiming, “oh please! don’t go…”
