She was the most disturbing thing that ever happened to me
I was barely 18 and she was pushing 43
I was looking for a woman and I needed no excuse
‘Cause I was free, hanging out, hanging tough, and hanging loose
But I never thought, I never pictured the scene
That I’d be the object of a married woman’s dream
Carine! What’s this game you’re playing
Carine! Can’t believe what you’re saying
Carine! How can you say you love me
When you belong to another man?
I used to have these dreams that she’d invite me to her bed
It’s wrong, I said, I gotta kick these thoughts from my head
The devil in me pushed me to go and take my chances
But I said No, I just can’t face up to the consequences
And then one spring night she was the only one home
I went up to her house and it was just us all alone
Carine! What’s this game you’re playing
Carine! Can’t believe what you’re saying
Carine! How can you say you love me
When you belong to another man?
Carine! You think you got me believing
Carine! But I know what you’re conceiving
Carine! You know that I can’t really love you
But you still do what you can
And you still do what you can
She took me for a weekend to a hotel in the city
For the first time since I knew her she was really looking pretty
But then she whispered in my ear once we were undercover
She’d give everything up as long as we’d stay lovers
But I said, No Mrs. Jones or Mrs. Robinson for me
I walked out the next day and thought I made her history
And now I see her sitting there across the room from me
I’m squarely 48 and she’s pushing 73
Her old man’s been gone now for more than 10 years
Is that a vibe she’s sending out or is it just between my ears
But suppose it was real and I took it up, hey hey
At this point in life, what would it be like anyway
Carine! What’s this game you’re playing
Carine! It’s still there though you’re not saying
Carine! Do you still think that you could love me
He may be gone but he’s still your man!
Carine! I think I’m still perceiving
Carine! All these signals I’m receiving
Carine! Do you really think you love me
And will you do what you can?
So yeah, let’s do what we can ...
©2023 The Hesh Inc.
I started writing this in the summer of 1984, not so much as the story of something that happened but more like something that my teenage libido was imagining would happen. However, there was in fact such a person in my life, and more than once over the years I did receive certain signals from her direction ... but they were never acted upon. (Damn.)
Musically, it is upbeat in the vein of Bruce Springsteen's "I'm A Rocker" and "Ramrod," but its main motif is the three-chord, 1-4-1 riff, similar to Mitch Ryder's "Devil With the Blue Dress" and Tommy James's/Billy Idol's "Mony Mony." However, I always imagined the arrangement would be something more like Foreigner's "Hot Blooded." The first two verses and choruses came rather quickly, but it stalled in the bridge, which I rewrote several times without feeling that any of the versions were "it." I finally finished the bridge to my satisfaction and added the last verse and chorus, with their adult p.o.v., in early March 2023.
As for who 'Carine' really is ... "any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is strictly coincidental." ;)