Listen to me
I know what I'm saying
But lord it don't come easy
To admit that I was wrong
It took me far too long
I counted on you
To give me a reason
Why the Sun don't shine in the season
Grey sky surrounded me
I'm not some kind of foolish lover
I couldn't take this from no other
You're not being cool with me
'Cause I always know you'll come back to me
Yes, you'll come back to me
'Cause I always know
What it takes to make you my lover
You once said to me
That I was a cruel man
And you know
That I almost believed you
I was blind, and I couldn't see
You took my sight from me
And all of these words
And all this emotion
Can't explain my hopeless devotion
Or change what had to be
I'm not some kind of foolish lover
I couldn't take this from no other
You're not being cool with me
'Cause I always know that you'll come back to me
Yes, you'll come back to me
Yes, you'll come back to me
I'm not some kind of foolish lover
I couldn't take this from no other
You're not being cool with me
'Cause I always know that you'll come back to me
Yes, you'll come back to me
I'm not some kind of foolish lover
I couldn't take this from another
It's no good being cool with me
'Cause I always know
What it takes to make you my lover
I know what I'm saying
But lord it don't come easy
To admit that I was wrong
It took me far too long
I counted on you
To give me a reason
Why the Sun don't shine in the season
Grey sky surrounded me
I'm not some kind of foolish lover
I couldn't take this from no other
You're not being cool with me
'Cause I always know you'll come back to me
Yes, you'll come back to me
'Cause I always know
What it takes to make you my lover
You once said to me
That I was a cruel man
And you know
That I almost believed you
I was blind, and I couldn't see
You took my sight from me
And all of these words
And all this emotion
Can't explain my hopeless devotion
Or change what had to be
I'm not some kind of foolish lover
I couldn't take this from no other
You're not being cool with me
'Cause I always know that you'll come back to me
Yes, you'll come back to me
Yes, you'll come back to me
I'm not some kind of foolish lover
I couldn't take this from no other
You're not being cool with me
'Cause I always know that you'll come back to me
Yes, you'll come back to me
I'm not some kind of foolish lover
I couldn't take this from another
It's no good being cool with me
'Cause I always know
What it takes to make you my lover
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The two before and after parts of the singer divide the song: The chorus that repeats and repeats, emphasizing the dark depths in that repetition, is the singer in his 'blind to betrayal/blind to gaslighting' absolute bottom. This part is charged and has a dark rasp that conveys that unwavering madness. " I know what it takes to make you my lover" sounds as if the singer is convincing himself that he has power in this situation just because he's able get his drug back and maintain the illusion for a short period that all is well.
The parts where Sumner sings in a floating dreamy tone is the part where he is pulling himself out of this delusion. The first verse and the verse starting with "You once said to me." In that verse the lines "You once said to me/That I was a cruel man/And you know/ That I almost believed you/I was blind, and I couldn't see/ You took my sight from me." seems to show a clear gaslighting situation. He says these lines as if in a haze. So Guilty Partner is a continuation of Round & Round the track before. It's as if this level of madness and disorientation needed more explicating. Many songs on Technique are about this relationship. Maybe that is Technique's great gift to us. It's an attempt to understand and express the deep profound scramble that happens in relationships with truly manipulative unfeeling (sociopathic even) people. Pinning it all on something, hoping they are different, hoping they will change.
Guilty Lover's greatness comes in this attempt to capture the craving hunger and mad despair of deluded hopeless devotion. The propulsion of the bass, loud drums hits and the oddly pleasant yet macabre mandolin all combine to give us a picture so bleak it's make us recoil at the darkness. At least we know that he has extracted himself from this situation but we feel the shock still in the past like a trauma. The other Sumner is past it, but the feeling of being painted the guilty partner still haunts even though he is now aware that it was the other person who was the guilty partner. Damn.