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There was a love affair in this building
The kind of love affair
Which every respectable building must keep as a legend
Slowly festering through an innocent "by the way"
Or "have you heard"
He was perfect except for the fact that he was an engineer
And mothers prefer doctors and lawyers
Do-do-do, do-do-do-do-do
Do-do-do-do, dum-dum-dum-dum
Yet despite this imperfection
He was clean-looking and respectable-looking
And you'll never find a mother
Who doesn't appreciate a natural man
So he grew healthy aloe vera plants by the window
Healthy teeth in his mouth
Healthy hair on his head, oh
He grew healthy wavy brown hair on his head
The kind, the kind that babies always go for
With sticky little fingers
Do-do-do, do-do-do-do-do
Do-do-do-do, dum-dum-dum-dum
Ah-dum, ah-dum-da-da
The kind of love affair
Which every respectable building must keep as a legend
Slowly festering through an innocent "by the way"
Or "have you heard"
He was perfect except for the fact that he was an engineer
And mothers prefer doctors and lawyers
Do-do-do, do-do-do-do-do
Do-do-do-do, dum-dum-dum-dum
Yet despite this imperfection
He was clean-looking and respectable-looking
And you'll never find a mother
Who doesn't appreciate a natural man
So he grew healthy aloe vera plants by the window
Healthy teeth in his mouth
Healthy hair on his head, oh
He grew healthy wavy brown hair on his head
The kind, the kind that babies always go for
With sticky little fingers
Do-do-do, do-do-do-do-do
Do-do-do-do, dum-dum-dum-dum
Ah-dum, ah-dum-da-da
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In response to newsies234's comment, I don't think that the affair was necessarily a happy one. It wasn't that the building wanted the affair as a legend, but it was obligated to have it as a legend. And the term "respectable" (as in "every respectable building") is kind of in quotes to me. Like it doesn't make the building respectable, it just makes it home to juicy gossip. And since it's called a "love affair", it has something of an illicit connotation (to me, at least).
Anyway, all I know about this song is that there was a love affair in a building, and people are talking, and he's a good looking man, and someone's mother has some sort of role or opinion. I like this song because it's leaves so many holes. The song itself represents gossip to me. Albeit in a very catchy manner.
And I always thought it was "an innocent by-the-wayer", a by-the-wayer being someone who happened to say "by the way" a lot. Then the by-the-wayer is saying, "Have you heard?..." So perhaps it would be more appropriate to call the by-the-wayer a have-you-hearder. Um...