Patterns in Repeat (Live at Albert Hall)

The way you'd walk into a room

And tell me for the millionth time

The many fine points to tell your story

Like "Calabasas was in bloom…"

You know I'm frankly unaware

Of all the ways

In which that is supposed to move me

You could skip the end, the photograph, the friend

The long returning friend that you'd foreseen

Just patterns in repeat like they've always been

You had your children on the fly

Another child, another guy

Another chance to fall in love again

I fear they may have paid a price

For the freedom of your life

Though you would say that was a chance to show them

Chance to show them

They open doors

Broken bones and marble floors…

And patterns that repeat

Forevermore

If only I had known you then

A hanger-on, perhaps a friend

An ear to bend around which way you saw it playing

I tell it well, I try to sell them on the fact you were a match

Ever a scratch away from bursting into flames and

A light perfume that lingered in the room

That everlasting tune you have to sing

A smile or two, a gap between your tooth

Your dirty underwear, your diamond ring

Just patterns in repeat as they've always been

Like everything

I want you to know that I gave it up willingly

Nothing real was lost in the bringing of you to me

I want you to have a piece of my maternal flame

Part of me, eternity, a tolerance for pain