Don't I Have the Right?

You sure weren't rich
Didn't live in the city
Never whispered sweet nothings
Never told me I'm pretty
You sure weren't perfect
What's perfect these days?
But you left me, now I'm destroyed
 
You cheated at cards
And lied when you hung out in bars making time with those girls you called "old pals"
I cried when you left me
Now I'm wondering when you'll make it all up to me
 
Don't I have to the right to be over you yet?
I tried pretending, I tried to forget
Though it's past three a.m. I would still let you in
'Cause I can't go on dreaming alone
 
I work at my desk and stare at the letter
And think of the first one that you never answered
Pour milk in my coffee and watch it explode
And know that you're doing the same
 
Don't I have the right to be over this fling?
You once said you loved me, we talked about rings
I would try someone new if that someone would love me the way you did
Don't I have the right to be loved?
To be loved
To be loved


Quoth the Johns:

I wrote this song a couple of years ago for performance artist Iris Rose's Torch Song show at La Mama. It is a radical departure, even for this record, but Nancy Lynn Howell's beautiful vocal brings the song to life.

—John Flansburgh
[source: monopuff.org's online Unsupervised Libretto]



Corrections? Let me know.