“I played around with a few ideas,” I say, trying to sound nonchalant.
To stall, I suggest we lay out what we already have so far to make sure any additions flow well with it. He reads our lyrics from the shared Google doc.
Didn’t mean it, didn’t want it, but here we are,
Like we’ve pinned all our hopes on a dying star,
Don’t think we’ll ever see eye to eye,
You act like the rules simply don’t apply,
We’d rather be going toe to toe,
Game on for the tenth time in a row,
No holding back, let’s see what you’ve got,
Come on, hit me with your best shot
Oh I …
Hate you to the moon and back,
Fate can’t make these opposites attract,
Fame don’t mean that I’m your fan,
Game face ‘cause you’re so on brand,
Gave it all but my fight is fading,
Give it up? No, I’m not done hating,
Live wires, both of us, but there’s a spark,
Love might just be lurking in the dark
“After that,” Riff says, “I was thinking something like, ‘Can’t explain it, can deny it, I’ve lost my might, suddenly this doesn’t feel like spite. Now your voice is music to my ears, you’re the only one who doesn’t grind my gears.’”
“Nice tie-in to ‘Grind My Gears.’”
Maybe I should have done something like that—pulled something from one of my songs, better yet one that is explicitly about a different guy.
Instead I came up with rough snippets like this:
I keep replaying every word you spoke
When you smile it’s like an inside joke
I play it cool but my mind’s on you
Now when you’re gone, I see shades of blue
Those dying stars managed to align
‘Cause you’re living rent-free in my mind
But I don’t share any of those. I provide a neutral couplet: “Didn’t know, didn’t care, didn’t stand a chance, didn’t think we’d get lost in the circumstance.”
