Peter Hammill
Just Good Friends
[Verse 1]
Drawing back the curtains
Sluggish city daylight in the afternoon...
Here's that special silence
Just before you walk out of the hotel room
Each time we're so close I assume
That we'll never be again

[Refrain]
Oh, how long must we pretend
That we're just good friends?

[Verse 2]
A casual affair is all that you can spare
From your emotional change;
A calendar of meetings, strangers on the street
The best we ever arrange
Now I just can't stand all the pain
All the constant make and mend:

[Refrain]
Oh, how long must we pretend
That we're just good friends?

[Chorus]
I gave you my devotion
Hiding nothing up my sleeve
If I walked clean out of your life
Would you even notice me leave?
So much tangled-up emotion
Should I stay or should I go?
If I walked clean out of your life
How long would it take you to know?
Are we such good friends?
[Verse 4]
You used to say "I love you"
You used to say "You make me feel alive and young"
Now we're just a habit
A flavour, once a month, to titillate your tongue
Oh, how sordid this has become
As the means approach the end –

[Refrain]
Oh, how long can we pretend
That we're still good friends?

[Chorus]
I gave you my devotion
Hiding nothing up my sleeve
If I walked clean out of your life
Would you even notice me leave?
So much tangled-up emotion
Should I stay or should I go?
If I walked clean out of your life
Would you even notice me go?

[Outro]
Are we still good friends?