I came up with the idea for this song around 2006 (about the same time as "Mr. Lonely").
I wrote the chorus and the ending then, but it took me ten years to come up with the verses.
(I had wanted it to be sort of a sequel to Springsteen's "I'm Goin' Down".)

Sarah's "Plastic Heart" video is meant to be a rebuttal from the wife's perspective, but not all of
the verses fit. The sentence beneath links to my "Mr. Lonely" and "Two Bottles Of Wine" poems.
That sentence and the links are intended to reveal a contradiction between something that's in
"Mr. Lonely", and something in both this poem and "Two Bottles Of Wine".

This is an example of how I sometimes use different poems to tell different sides of the same story.
Notice that "Middle-Aged Married Man Blues" and "Two Bottles Of Wine" were written in first person,
from the perspective of the main character, while "Mr. Lonely" is pretty much the same story told by
a less biased third person narrator. As a result, it is more sympathetic to the wife's point of view.

Middle-Aged Married Man Blues:
I'm sitting at my computer, a glass of whiskey in my hand,
searching for some stranger who will take me as I am.
The one I want. The one I love. She's sleeping across the hall. ⬅
But tonight I'll have to settle for a girl named Pam.

Two Bottles Of Wine:
Outside on the deck
all alone, all night long,
while you sleep soundly in our bed. ⬅
Seems a thousand miles away.

Mr. Lonely:
It's the middle of the night and he's up wandering around.
He's remembering the good times but that only makes him feel down.
Those good times are gone and he just tries to forget
with a bottle of booze and some girls with no names on the net.
In an upstairs room there's someone who can't get to sleep. ⬅
Their bed is too empty and she's sure she heard someone weep. ⬅ (the walls are not enough)
She doesn't understand the things that go through his head.
But she knows that she loves him and wishes he'd come back to bed.

(An Angel sleeping in the next room is also mentioned in "The Serpent In The Window".)


This is one of the songs I had removed because I thought people might be offended by its topic,
but I decided to put it back. I think its message, though disturbing, is important.
The loneliness and frustration it portrays, as well as the method for dealing with it,
are not uncommon in the world today.
I like to write about problems that real people face in the modern world,
and especially now, about problems that people face as they grow older.👴
(Someone has to talk about the elephants in the room.🐘)

"I DON'T EVEN TRY TO TOUCH YOU since you've made it so abundantly clear
just how unnecessary you consider me to be!" - Lester Burnham (American Beauty)


WHEN THE TRUTH IS FOUND TO BE LIES
AND ALL THE JOY WITHIN YOU DIES
DON'T YOU WANT SOMEBODY TO LOVE?
DON'T YOU NEED SOMEBODY TO LOVE?

The heart asks pleasure first, and then excuse from pain...
(The next best thing to suicide is the second best thing to sex.)
"Sitting in the dark with a drink in his hand, killing himself slowly."
It's all I have left. (🤡 Phala ys mu huta ful na.) 🦋