This simple pop song has been with me longer than I can believe. It began back in high school. One afternoon while killing time before band practice with the Stray Katz, I sat down at an old upright piano in the basement and started thumping out a bass line and melody. I never presented the fledgling song to the band, since the group was into harder rock at the time, but the song stuck with me.
Through the 1980s and ‘90s, I privately recorded the song numerous times in different veins. Toward the end, clean chord progressions had given way to power chords, and the well-defined musical spaces of the original incarnation had become choked with synths. So I tore it all down and rebuilt the song according to its original design—a clean, simple work that could easily be reproduced by any basic rock band.
Thematically, the song is about relationships, how they can become complicated by time and responsibility, and how easily one can forget the simple, original attractions of another.
She doesn't need the simple things in life
like holding me and loving
It's so easy for her to forget me
She doesn't need to complicate her life
with tenderness and giving
It's so easy for her to forget me
and now I understand that
one, you lied to me
two, you led me on
three, you're letting me go
She doesn't need a carefully crocheted heart
to slowly come unravelled
It's so easy for her not to hold me
She doesn't need a neatly folded lover
hanging out the window
It's so easy to say that I’m lonely
and now I understand that
one, you lied to me
two, you led me on
three, you're letting me go
I guess what they say is true
You will only have a place that is built just for you
Nine o'clock, she sits alone by the phone and reads the news
darns a skirt and climbs the stairs
She turns out the bedroom light
lets down her hair for one not there
Oh no, oh no no
This can't be happening to me
You know I've done all I can to forget her
So, I'll forget her just like she planned
She doesn't need a quicker man to tell her
that she's getting slower
It's so easy for her to forget me
She doesn't need a younger man to tell her
that she's getting older
It's so easy for her to forget me
and now I understand that
one, you lied to me
two, you led me on
three, you're letting me go
In Adrian Snood’s songs, soulful vocals and slow-moving alt-pop swirl together to create something distinctly moving. Bandcamp New & Notable Apr 1, 2023