Read 'Em And Weep

Album: Dead Ringer (1981)
Play Video
  • I've been trying for hours just to think of what exactly to say
    I thought I'd leave you with a letter or firey speech
    Like when an actor makes an exit at the end of a play
    And I've been dying for hours trying to fill up all the holes with some sense
    I'd like to know how you faded and you threw it away
    I'd like to give you all the reasons and what everything meant

    Well I could tell you good-bye or maybe see you around
    With just a touch of a sarcastic thanks
    We started out with a bang and at the top of the world
    Now the guns are exhausted and the bullets are blanks
    And everything's blank

    [Chorus: x2]
    If I could find the words then I would write it all down
    If I could only find a voice I would speak
    Oh it's there in my eyes so can't you see me tonight
    c'mon and look at me and read 'em and weep

    I've been whispering softly, trying to build a cry up to a scream
    We let the past slip away, and put the future on hold
    Now the present is nothing but a hollowed out dream

    And I've been dying for hours trying to fill up all the holes with some sense
    I'd like to know why you faded and you threw it away
    I'd like to give you all the reasons and what everything meant

    Well I could tell you good-bye or maybe see you around
    With just a touch of a sarcastic thanks
    But now the rooms are all empty, the candles are dark
    The guns are exhausted and the bullets are blanks, and everything's blank

    [Chorus]

    It's there in my eyes and coming straight from my heart
    It's running silent and angry and deep
    It's there in my eyes and it's all I can say, c'mon and read 'em and weep

    Read 'em and weep, for all the hours we'll be spending alone
    Read 'em and weep, for the dreams we'll ignore
    Running silent and deep,
    And all those promises we promised to keep, they won't be kept anymore

    Read 'em and weep, for the magic that our bodies had made
    Read 'em and weep, for the blood that we lost
    Running silent and deep, and all the secrets that we somehow betrayed
    For whatever the cost

    Read 'em and weep, for the memories still alive in the bed
    Read 'em and weep, for the lies we believed
    Running silent and deep, and all the things that can never be said

    Why don't you look at me and read 'em and weep
    c'mon and look at me and read 'em and weep
    It's there in my eyes and coming straight from my heart
    It's running silent and angry and deep
    It's here in my eyes and it's all I can say
    c'mon look at me and read 'em and weep Writer/s: JIM STEINMAN
    Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 1

  • Niels from UsaManilow and Streisand obviously both have great voices and are great artists, but IMO Meat Loaf's version blows theirs out of the water. Of the three, he's the only one who gives the song the emotion it deserves, making it an extraordinarily painful song about lost love.
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Songs in Famous Movie Scenes: '80s Edition

Songs in Famous Movie Scenes: '80s EditionMusic Quiz

You know the scenes - Tom Cruise in his own pants-off dance off, Molly Ringwald celebrating her birthday - but do you remember what song is playing?

History Of Rock

History Of RockSong Writing

An interview with Dr. John Covach, music professor at the University of Rochester whose free online courses have become wildly popular.

Don Brewer of Grand Funk

Don Brewer of Grand FunkSongwriter Interviews

The drummer and one of the primary songwriters in Grand Funk talks rock stardom and Todd Rundgren.

Tim Butler of The Psychedelic Furs

Tim Butler of The Psychedelic FursSongwriter Interviews

Tim and his brother Richard are the Furs' foundation; Tim explains how they write and tells the story of "Pretty In Pink."

Paul Williams

Paul WilliamsSongwriter Interviews

He's a singer and an actor, but as a songwriter Paul helped make Kermit a cultured frog, turned a bank commercial into a huge hit and made love both "exciting and new" and "soft as an easy chair."

Experience Nirvana with Sub Pop Founder Bruce Pavitt

Experience Nirvana with Sub Pop Founder Bruce PavittSong Writing

The man who ran Nirvana's first label gets beyond the sensationalism (drugs, Courtney) to discuss their musical and cultural triumphs in the years before Nevermind.