it's dark and lonely here

i took a roll of film with my mind's eye

it was you, on the cliffs, with the sunset behind

i developed the film as fast as i possibly could

hoping against hope that they would come out good

i rushed to the darkroom and printed a contact sheet

every picture was of you, thirty-six memories

i spent a couple hours pouring over the shots

i picked one favorite, even though i had lots

i carefully placed the negative in its carrier

as i turned on the enlarger, my complexion grew merrier

the sight of your face, projected onto the table,

even in negative, rendered me completely unable

to focus the image, so i quickly switched off the machine

i closed my eyes, and let loose with a scream

i screamed out of loneliness as i sat in the dark

a single red bulb exploded in a shower of sparks

the explosion brought me back, from a world of absence

the tears blurred my eyes in a vision of absynthe.

i pulled from the box every sheet of paper so white

then i threw them all in the air and switched on the light

there's no point in making a print of a picture of you

memory and sight are the only media that will do

to capture a radiance too brilliant for kodak

and it's that radiance that makes me want to come back

come back to beauty and come back to the sea

come back to california and you, and the cool ocean breeze.