Just about midnight
At the Plaza Hotel
Sitting by candlelight
In the lounge by myself
You were sitting there with your group of friends,
locked in conversation going strong
I was minding my own business,
looking at the pictures, writing a song
I was staring absentminded
In your direction
I didn’t see you, must’ve been blinded
But then our gazes made the connection
You threw me a shy wave
I raised my eyebrows and gave a little wink
Then you got up and walked away, hey, what was I to think?
What did I do to deserve it?
What did I do to be treated like so much dirt?
What did I do to deserve it?
What was it I did for you to cause me so much hurt?
Followed you into the elevator
Tried saying hi but you looked at the floor
As if that wasn’t enough of a heartbreaker
Before I knew it you were out the door
I said we didn’t have to play cat and mouse
You glanced back and then you turned to go
I ask you is there anything wrong with a simple hello?
Snooping around listening at doors
Trying to find your room number
I knew you were on the twelfth floor
Found your room, wrote a note, slipped it under
Went back to my room figuring you’d find it
And dash off some sort of reply
You just returned it without an answer
like a slap in the face, a black eye
What did I do to deserve it?
What did I do to be treated like so much dirt?
What did I do to deserve it?
What was it I did for you to cause me so much hurt?
What did I do
OK, so we never dated
It wasn’t really serious
The memories might be faded
But that’s no reason for you to be so mysterious
I thought we had parted as friends
When we saw each other last
Now you act as if a simple conversation
Is too much to ask
I try to tell myself it didn’t happen
That it was all a dream
I think of it, my mind blackens
Telling myself it was not what it seemed
Now I don’t know if I’ll ever see you again
But I wanna set things straight
I want you to tell me why you turned to stone!
I don’t wanna speculate
What did I do to deserve it?
What did I do to be treated like so much dirt?
What did I do to deserve it?
What was it I did for you to cause me so much hurt?
What did I do to deserve it?
What was it I did for our relationship to take a wrong turn?
What did I do to deserve it?
What was my sin for you to deliver such a burn?
What did I do
©2024 The Hesh Inc.
During my years in the Israeli army, there were several occasions in which I would get a weekend pass and then join my family as they stayed in some fancy hotel like the Jerusalem Plaza (now the Leonardo). The cognitive dissonance was most palpable at the moment just before I'd set foot in the hotel ... more often than not, I would be arriving straight from my base, after several hours worth of travel and not always having had the opportunity to take a shower before setting out. I'd look through the glass windows of the hotel and see the guests dressed to the nines, in sharp contrast to the way I was showing up. Fortunately I'd get the key to the room from my parents and then I'd be able to shower and change and become 'human' again before mingling with the rest of the clientele.
I had a series of on again, off again romances during those years, none of which turned out to be really serious. I had fallen for one girl from LA who was doing her year-in-Israel concurrently with my second year in the service; we had gone on a single date with the promise that more would follow, but then she politely told me she didn't think it would work, and then as far as I knew she went back to the US. Then, the following winter, I found myself at the Jerusalem Plaza again for just such a weekend, and as I stared absentmindedly across the lobby bar, there she was again! We sort of acknowledged each other, and then came the series of events described in the lyrics. It stung, a little bit, but I had the presence of mind to scribble out these lyrics just after the whole thing fell through. So at least I got a good song out of it.
Musically, it probably owes a debt of influence to "Romeo and Juliet" by Dire Straits (and nothing at all to "What Have I Done to Deserve This" by the Pet Shop Boys, which became popular shortly after I wrote this). I will probably get around to recording it when I go back into the studio in the coming years.