Pay phones all were ringing as the crowd went roarin' by

Lovely dancers swaying 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



But I can't help but be

Ruled by inconsistency

Not unique just distantly in love



Tried to phone from Paris thinking

Things could be arranged

Me and you could rendezvous

But I found your number changed

So I drove to San Remo where

The crazy painter dwells

And toasted our old photographs

Still up there on his shelf



But I can't help but be

Ruled by my antiquity

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

That you had a new lover who had

Stolen you away

That could be be the reason that

I never got in touch

And may present slight problems

If he loves you half as much



As I who can't help but be

Ruled by my antiquity

Not unique just distantly in love

You know I can't help but be

Part of my own philosophy

Not unique just distantly in love