We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

A Series of Failed Attempts At Getting Over Loving You

from Someone Else's Blues by Sam Steffen

/

lyrics

A Series of Failed Attempts At Getting Over Loving You copyright 2014 Sam Steffen

Lately I’ve been visiting a stranger, he says that he’s a doctor of a psychiatric nature
He asks me all about you, he says I need a hobby, says it will make me happy to keep busy for a while
He only asks me things I know, he says that it’s important, though
I wish instead of asking he would tell me what to do
He’s so encouraging, as if he thought I could make anything
Besides another failed attempt at getting over loving you

Lately I’ve been looking at the stars, trying to learn the constellations, making observations
I know Orion by now, and Cassiopeia, and I’ve a pretty good idea where the Big and Little Dippers are
But astronomy is not for me, as anyone with eyes can see
I could watch that sky until the midnight turned to blue
And even if I knew the myths, what would they all leave me with
But another failed attempt at getting over loving you?

Lately I’ve been smoking long cigars, I imported them from Cuba, from Barbados and Bermuda
I’m not sure I like the taste of them, the sticky burning flavor, tho I’m quite fond of the paper that they wrap them in
But who am I trying to kid? I don’t like smoking and I never did
And I don’t give one good Goddamn about where my tobacco grew
And even if I smoked incessantly, what would it only ever be
But another failed attempt at getting over loving you?

Lately I’ve been reading Russian novels from the latter nineteenth century, mainly Tolstoy and Dostoevsky
Sometimes I think I feel the same way as the characters they mention, who love in violent passion and dismay
Who always seem to know what’s best, who get what they want and then get depressed
Who suffer, bleed, and fight and die in search of something true
But every time I reach the end, I realize all my reading’s been
Is another failed attempt at getting over loving you

Lately I’ve been seeking some vocation, I need a new bad habit, I’m afraid I still don’t have it yet
I’ve tried coin- and stamp collecting, chocolate and wine tasting, bicycle and horse-racing
But I bet the coins on a losing horse, the stamps I sent to you, of course
Along with all my letters and every chocolate that I knew
And the wine that used to fill my shelf, I drank it quickly by myself
In another failed attempt at getting over loving you

Lately I’ve been listening to music, I’m learning the piano, I’m really not that good, tho
I can play a couple major chords, a few scales in the minor, I find the latter kinder to me
But what is all my practice for? I’m not improving, of that I’m sure
And I don’t know the song to play that has my kind of blues
And even if I found it out, what would I have to sing about
But another failed attempt at getting over loving you?

credits

from Someone Else's Blues, released April 2, 2014

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Sam Steffen image

Sam Steffen Boise, Idaho

Sam Steffen is a Pennsylvania-bred, Boise-based singer-songwriter whose songs are the torch-wood for a new generation of folk music that has learned from the best stuff in the tradition and aims in spite of everything to keep the human spirit alive and kicking. A versatile musician and skilled finger-picker, Sam is at heart a story-teller, and a prolific one. ... more

contact / help

Contact Sam Steffen

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this track or account

If you like Sam Steffen, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Saxophonist Isaiah Collier chats about his new LP and the influence of Pharoah Sanders.
listen now