From the recording In The Afterlife Of Promises
A woman in a bad marriage remembers a holiday in Rome with her husband, secretly falling for someone else and eventually divorcing, only to meet that same person again in Rome thirty years later. The song turns her guilt, longing and “what ifs” into a late-life second chance at the love she once walked away from. I wrote this song about fifteen years ago, after visiting Rome with my wife. But that’s the only thing that’s really true.
Lyrics
Kiss me, you fool
No I won’t be that cruel
I don’t want you to wait no more
Kiss me, you fool
Cos I know it’s not cool
To keep you hanging on before my door
I was walking in Rome in the moonlit night
My husband and I had been in a fight
He said he’d kill me and it felt like he did
I wanted to forget all that shit
And then I saw you standing there in the dark
With your eyes fixed on me like a shark
I didn’t know what to do and fled away
But already then I wanted to stay
I went back to my man and filed for divorce
I had put my money on a losing horse
For more than thirty years I was all alone
Then took a holiday again in Rome
And then I saw you standing there in the dark
With your eyes fixed on me like a shark
This time I stared back at you for a while
Then slowly approached and spoke with a smile
Kiss me, you fool
No I won’t be that cruel
I don’t want you to wait no more
Kiss me, you fool
Cos I know it’s not cool
To keep you hanging on before my door
Together we flew off to the moon
Bought ourselves a house pretty soon
And who could think it was in Rome
That we found at last a new home
Now Every night I see you standing there in the dark
With your eyes fixed on me like a shark
And then I stare back at you for a while
Slowly approach and speak with a big smile
Kiss me, you fool
No I won’t be that cruel
I don’t want you to wait no more
Kiss me, you fool
Cos I know it’s not cool
To keep you hanging on before my door