This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
You threw away the ballast and you rowed your boat ashore
Didn't you, now? Didn't you?
You made your ultimatum too big to ignore
Didn't you, now? Didn't you?
So you worked out your excuses
Turned away and shut the door
The world's too vast for us now
And you wanted to explore
It's a long long long road
And I don't know which way to go
If you offered me your hand again I'd have to walk away
When I saw you at the street fair, you called out my name
Didn't you, now? Didn't you?
You said we could start over, try and make it all okay
Didn't you, now? Didn't you?
So our past has been rewritten
And you threw away the pen
You'd said that I was useless
But now you'll take me in again
Well Jesus loves me fine
And your words fall flat this time
Was it my imagination, or did I hear you say
"We don't have a prayer between us"
Didn't you believe that I have finally turned away?
Didn't you, now? Didn't you?
Anything to hold onto to help me through my day
Didn't you, now? Didn't you?
But Jesus loves me fine
But his words fall flat this time
It's a long long long road
And I don't know which way to go
If you offered me your world, did you think I'd really stay?
If you offered me the heavens, I would have to turn away
Was it my imagination, or did I hear you say
"We don't have a prayer between us"
Didn't you, now? Didn't you, now?
Didn't you?
Didn't you, now? Didn't you?
You made your ultimatum too big to ignore
Didn't you, now? Didn't you?
So you worked out your excuses
Turned away and shut the door
The world's too vast for us now
And you wanted to explore
It's a long long long road
And I don't know which way to go
If you offered me your hand again I'd have to walk away
When I saw you at the street fair, you called out my name
Didn't you, now? Didn't you?
You said we could start over, try and make it all okay
Didn't you, now? Didn't you?
So our past has been rewritten
And you threw away the pen
You'd said that I was useless
But now you'll take me in again
Well Jesus loves me fine
And your words fall flat this time
Was it my imagination, or did I hear you say
"We don't have a prayer between us"
Didn't you believe that I have finally turned away?
Didn't you, now? Didn't you?
Anything to hold onto to help me through my day
Didn't you, now? Didn't you?
But Jesus loves me fine
But his words fall flat this time
It's a long long long road
And I don't know which way to go
If you offered me your world, did you think I'd really stay?
If you offered me the heavens, I would have to turn away
Was it my imagination, or did I hear you say
"We don't have a prayer between us"
Didn't you, now? Didn't you, now?
Didn't you?
Lyrics submitted by cerph
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A lot of this album has songs about having a broken heart which goes to show Stipe is a human like the rest of us and not above having someone hurt him. Except in his case I hope the person bought the album and felt like a jerk. What better way to say something to an ex than to have songs on your latest album directed towards them hurting you? I wish I could do that to my ex boyfriend but I'm no rock star.
"You'd said that I was useless But now you'll take me in again"
This reminds me of how my ex would treat me bad until it was convenient for him or he needed something and is probably the line on the whole album that touched me the most.