For the Sake of the Song

By townes van zandt

Why does she sing

Her sad songs for me,

I'm not the one

To tenderly bring

Her soft sympathy

I've just begun

To see my way clear

And it's plain,

If i stop i will fall

I can lay down a tear

For her pain,

Just a tear and that's all.

What does she want me to do?

She says that she knows

That moments are rare

I suppose that it's true

Then on she goes

To say i don't care,

And she knows

That i do

Maybe she just has to sing, for the sake of the song

And who do i think that i am to decide that she's wrong.

She'd like to think that i'm cruel,

But she knows that's a lie

For i would be

No more than a tool

If i allowed her to cry

All over me.

Oh my sorrow is real

Even though

I can't change my plan

If she could see how i feel

Then i know

That she'd understand

Oh does she actually think i'm to blame?

Does she really believe

That some word of mine

Can relieve

All her pain?

Can't she see that she grieves

Just because she's been blindly deceived

By her shame?

Nothin's what it seems,

Maybe she'll start someday

To realize

If she abandons her dreams,

Then all the words she can say

Are only lies

When will she see

That to gain

Is only to lose?

All that she offers me

Are her chains,

I got to refuse

Oh but it's only to herself that she's lied

She likes to pretend

It's something that she must defend,

With her pride

And i don't intend

To stand her and be the friend

From whom she must hide