You Don’t Have To - John Grant

Remember walking hand in hand side by side?

We walked the dogs and took long strolls through the park

Except we never had dogs

And never went to the park

Remember how we used to fuck all night long?

Neither do I because I always passed out

I needed lots of the booze

To handle the pain

You don’t have to pretend to care

You don’t have to say things that you don’t mean

You don’t have to pretend to care

You don’t have to say things that you don’t mean

It just embarrasses me

And makes you look like a fool

Remember when the tenderness stopped

And the kindness turned to pity and disgust

And the smiles were stopped

Before they could start

And understanding was now just a tool

(We used it every chance we got to be cruel)

And we cringed because

We couldn’t make ourselves stop?

You don’t have to pretend to care

You don’t have to say things that you don’t mean

You don’t have to pretend to care

You don’t have to say things that you don’t mean

It just embarrasses me

And makes you look like a fool

There are days when I think about you

And on those days I really feel like a fool

Because you don’t deserve

To have somebody think about you

I feel so stupid 'cause I let myself down

I acted like a motherfucking clown

At a circus

On the outskirts of town

You don’t have to pretend to care

You don’t have to say things that you don’t mean

You don’t have to pretend to care

You don’t have to say things that you don’t mean

It just embarrasses me

Because you think you’re so fucking cool