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Ain't So Easy Lyrics
We can stay
Or we can move along
Either way don't leave me all alone
I'm sorry about your eye
I'll find a way to make amends
It's only that sometimes
I've got to break
Before I bend
Come on, darling
There's a show downtown tonight
Let's go out dancing
We can drink until the light
I know I've haven't been everything
A man should be
But I promise I will change
You just leave that up to me
And I'll kiss your face, attend to your aches
I swear that I can make you happy
And you'll rub my back, forget the past
And baby, I know that that ain't so easy
It ain't too late
To salvage all of this
It ain't too late we could
Fix it with a kiss
All I want this one more chance
So that we could have a home
'Cause I would not stand a change
If I had to make it on my own
Oh, let me kiss your face, attend to your aches
I swear that I could make you happy
And you'll rub my back, forget the past
And baby I know that that ain't so easy
Maybe someday
You will remember what I said to you today
Maybe someday
And where would you go anyway
Put that suitcase down
Leave it for another day
Stop this fooling around
I could never let you get away
Let me kiss your face, attend to your aches
I swear that I can make you happy
And you'll rub my back, forget the past
And baby, I know that that ain't so easy, please
Or we can move along
Either way don't leave me all alone
I'm sorry about your eye
It's only that sometimes
I've got to break
Before I bend
There's a show downtown tonight
Let's go out dancing
We can drink until the light
A man should be
But I promise I will change
You just leave that up to me
I swear that I can make you happy
And you'll rub my back, forget the past
And baby, I know that that ain't so easy
To salvage all of this
It ain't too late we could
Fix it with a kiss
So that we could have a home
'Cause I would not stand a change
If I had to make it on my own
I swear that I could make you happy
And you'll rub my back, forget the past
And baby I know that that ain't so easy
You will remember what I said to you today
Maybe someday
And where would you go anyway
Leave it for another day
Stop this fooling around
I could never let you get away
I swear that I can make you happy
And you'll rub my back, forget the past
And baby, I know that that ain't so easy, please
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‘Ain’t So Easy’ seems at first like a melancholy look at a love gone wrong - a man who made a mistake, maybe cheated, and wants to forget the past and move forward with his girlfriend to easier times. He pleads with her, “Don’t leave me all alone.”
And it is right there that the song takes a turn. Baerwald’s vocals turn angry, it almost sounds like he is using a different mic, as he growls, “I’m sorry about your eye / I’ll find a way to make amends / It’s only that sometimes / I got to break before I bend.”
David Baerwald is a masterful songwriter, his talent later evident with Sheryl Crow’s ‘Tuesday Night Music Club.’ Here, he takes on the Jeckyl and Hydeness of an abuser in a relationship who seeks forgiveness but still boils underneath. The interplay of the softness of his vocals (“Let me kiss your face / Tend to your aches”) is juxtaposed with the harshness of his taunts (“And where would you go / Anyway?”)
‘Ain't So Easy,’ like much of Boomtown, is deeper and more challenging than some of the late eighties pop music that enveloped it. The last line before the final echoing of the bridge sums it up. “Stop this fooling around / I could never let you get away.” It is clear that Baerwald’s abuser in this song isn’t going to let her go without a fight.
A tragically beautiful song.