A song about those moments that are too good to be true, and how we sometimes let ourselves get swept up in them. This happens not just in love - it also explains how people were so willing to believe Bush's lies about Iraq. Hey, how did that get in there?
This is how it happens sometimes. I had the verse to this, including all the arrangement, running around in my head for about 10 years. Cult pop guru icon Emitt Rhodes and Pete Donnelly from the Figgs helped me get it finished (and the ghost of Michael Penn threw in the great line about Rome).
Emitt sings some amazing harmonies. Kind of a childhood fantasy come true.
lyrics
Evan knew he had no chance
as soon as they began their dance.
She'd be his but for a moment.
Within a dream, within a trance.
Well, when in Rome you need romance.
He got choked up with emotion.
He said "Let me believe this lie.
I want to pretend she's mine.
Reality step aside
and let me believe this lie."
Holding her, he lost himself.
Pretended he was someone else
who could hold her for a lifetime.
(Imagined himself as the prince who rode in.)
He was all the things he knew he wouldn't, couldn't ever be.
But it was only in his mind.
He said "Let me believe this lie." (You're doing pretty well.)
"I want to pretend she's mine." (Go on and fool yourself.)
"Reality step aside" (Who's got a dream to sell?)
"and let me believe this lie."
What could he do to win her over?
Maybe if he just held her closer
she would begin to share his hope for
one more dance.
credits
from Safe in Sound,
released May 3, 2005
Let Me Believe (Evan's Lament)
(J. Boggia / P. Donnelly / E. Rhodes)
BUTCH - Drums, Percussion
JULIAN CORYELL - Electric Guitar, Mellotron
MIKE FRANK - Hammond Organ, Wurlitzer Electric Piano
JIM McGORMAN - Tack Piano (this is probably as good a time as any to mention that this is McG the younger, not McG the elder)
JUSTIN MELDAL-JOHNSEN - Bass
EMITT RHODES - has to sing the Background Vocals he feels . . . he has to feel the Background Vocals he sings. Oh, and he did.
ME - Lead and Background Vocals, Backpacker Guitar, Moog, Mellotron, Tenor Ukulele, Glockenspiel
supported by 5 fans who also own “Let Me Believe (Evan's Lament)”
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