Distantly In Love
By: Jimmy Buffett
1983

For Jane and Savannah Jane

Payphones all were ringing as the crowd went roarin' by
Lovely dancers swayin' to an island lullaby
Beside the southern ocean taking stock of what's to be
Writing you this letter that you'll probably never see

Chorus:
But I can't help but be
Ruled by inconsistencies
Not unique just distantly in love

Tried to phone from Paris thinking things could be arranged
Me and you would rendezvous but I found your number changed
So I drove to San Remo where the crazy painter dwells
Toasted our old photograph still up there on his shelf

Chorus:
But I can't help but be
Ruled by my antiquities
Not unique just distantly in love

I can't be the one to fill
Your times and all your places
I can't be the one to fill
Your blanks and empty spaces

I heard it from a friend of ours I saw in Timber Bay
You had a new lover who had stolen you away
That could be the reason that I never got in touch
May present slight problems if he loves you half as much

Chorus:
As I who can't help but be
Ruled by my antiquities
Not unique just distantly in love
You know I can't help but be
Part of my own philosophies
Not unique just distantly in love

I've been distantly in love so many times in my life. There are letters I've written that others have never seen, and there are some girls that, yes, if I ran into their boyfriends, it might pose a slight problem if he loved her half as much as I do.

There have been times that I felt like the girl wanted me to fill those blanks in her life, those empty spaces, and I just couldn't do it. I am often ruled by inconsistencies and thoughts of artifacts given to me in times past.

I don't feel special or unique. Just distantly in love.

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