Rogue
Saturday night & I'm sitting in Andy's closet
while he's on the phone with his girlfriend
I'm surrounded by yellowing magazines
& reading back issues of X-Men
it's making me sick & a little bit jealous
to hear them extend their goodbyes
BAM, POW, CRACK, I turn the page
to see Cyclops fry some villain with his laser beam eyes
you know this place is a fire hazard
not so much because of the mess
or the fact that there's a radiator every two feet
it's because of you & me, I guess
& how everyone including you probably notices
the sparks flying as our bodies adjust
so I listen to you talk about the spaceman Sasquatch
but it's me who'll make the tabloids when I spontaneously combust
(chorus)
& you tell me I am a superhero
you tell me I am so smart
you tell me I'm the kind of girl you marry
I had a bad experience, all I need is a new start
but I am not feeling so super today
since I realized I need you so much
& that you'll never know when the gloves come off
all I ever wanted was to be touched
like when it's 5:30 a.m. in the morning
& I can't get you out of my mind
losing sleep as quick as you lost your religion
thinking about what I'll surely think of next time
& the way we wore each other's clothing
& the veil of your hair against my head
& how when I drove off my car windows were steamy
as though we'd spent the night together in there instead
(chorus)
& you tell me I'm gifted as though I am a present
tied up, wrapped up, given away
& you tell me my words will be remembers
though you can't remember what I said to you yesterday
it's okay, I understand I'm some kind of mutant
I gave up being normal long ago
but I wonder would it be easier collecting your fingerprints
if it weren't always so
but it's alright, I'm keeping my distance
more than arm's length away at all times
a few things may have slipped out the other night
that I'd like to go back and revise
like when I said you were a wonderful person
I meant when you're not acting this way
as though I mean to add you to my book of failures
when all I really want is for things to change
(chorus)
It's funny, I didn't used to particularly
like this song until other people started hearing it and responding well, and
now it's one of my best liked songs.
Anyway, this is a song about mixed signals and the chaos that ensues when you
try to (mis)interpret them.
Of course I wouldn't be a true geek if I didn't use an X-Men metaphor to do
this...
Although an overly literal friend of mine once asked me in all seriousness,
"Does this song mean you can touch people and steal their powers?"