What do you think?

Black Diamond
by Michael B. Short (c) 2012

You sit across the table
And rearrange your napkin
For the hundredth time
The conversation wanes
And you're lost in your thoughts
And I in mine

Like a jewel that I discovered
In some deserted mine
You stun me with your beauty
But now I find that

Chorus
You're a hard one
Tough to get to know
Looking hot as a brand
But acting cold as snow
You're a hard one
Look too deep
And I get lost
Down inside
Black Diamond

A friend of a friend
Of your sister told me
All about you
Said you finally got away
From a man completely
Wrong for you

That you needed someone patient
And you needed someone kind
And that might be me
But I admit I find

Chorus

Bridge
No doubt you
Are a precious jewel
But on display
So far away
Behind a wall
With alarms and all
As if a touch
Is asking too much

Hey there, Michael

I've read your lyric a handful of times
and the impression it leaves upon me
is this...

The narrator is describing (and accusing, really)
this woman of being distant, but the narrator
himself seems distant. It seems that he thinks
she's beautiful, but I'm not convinced that he
loves her.

A cold, loveless marriage is classic material
for songs or movies, but I don't think that's what
you're going for.

Maybe let us know what he does like about her,
things her coldness can't hide?


That's just the taste it left in my mouth.
Hope it helps.

Good luck!!

Thank you for taking the time to comment. I really appreciate it.

You're right that the singer doesn't love the woman, but in my mind, they just met, or had only met a few times. There are a couple of clues to this (she's fiddling with a napkin, the conversation wanes, he find out about her from a friend of a friend of her sister's, and I will claim that a person in a long-term relationship would not say that). The singer thinks she's gorgeous, but distant, and we get a clue why in the second verse: maybe she's just being cautious.

I picked Black Diamond, because it is a rare and beautiful jewel but doesn't have the clarity of a typical diamond, but also because it is the sign post of the most dangerous ski slopes (and the snow line in the chorus is intended at least partly to get the listener thinking in that direction.

I may have been too clever by half. I may need more sign posts to get the listener clearly into the situation. I'm not defending the lyric as much as trying to reveal what my thinking is.

Good to hear!


You might want to check out the most recent Taxi
Ustream webcast. They discuss the topic of
"Universal Lyrics."

You might find it enjoyable.

Much success to you on this song!



http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/20273673