Mechanical Telephone - Janis Ian

Dark night but there’s plenty to believe in…

Why’d you have to let her touch your feelings?

I always gave you everything that you needed

All you had to do was ask — but you just got greedy

Now the only time we talk is when we talk alone

To the voices that you leave

On your mechanical telephone

Sometimes I call just to hear your voice

Set free of the talons and claws

But the memory I keep

Doesn’t really let me leave any word at all

You always liked any woman who was easy

Hope you’ve met your match… but can she beat me?

You always said I’d be the first to walk

You say I’m always the first to talk, but can she free me?

Now we rarely talk alone.

We usually speak in groups

To the people you invite

For the theater and a bite who are used to you

They like to listen to their own mouths move

They like to watch your jaw drop, too

But the witticisms fade when the covers

Are unmade and I’m so far away

I bet you thought I’d be an easy lay

I bet you thought I lived alone

Hungry for the vision and the afterplay

I’ve had better times alone

Now we rarely talk of love.

We only speak of need

And the sacrifice of life

To the altar and the knife on our mound of greed

I rarely call just to hear your voice

Set free of the pillars and stone

But for the company I keep when I speak

To your mechanical telephone

It’s the company I keep when I speak

Your mechanical telephone

The company I keep…