Album: Sweets from a Stranger (1982)

Charted: 51

License This Song 

• There's a stain on my notebook
  Where your coffee cup was
  And there's ash in the pages
  Now I've got myself lost
  
  I was writing to tell you
  That my feelings tonight
  Are a stain on my notebook
  That rings your goodbye
  
  With the way that you left me
  I can hardly contain
  The hurt and the anger
  And the joy of the pain
  
  Now knowing I am single
  They'll be fire in my eyes
  And a stain on my notebook
  For a new love tonight
  
  From the lips without passion
  To the lips with a kiss
  There's nothing of your love
  That I'll ever miss
  
  The stain on my notebook
  Remain all that's left
  Of the memory of late nights
  And coffee in bed
  
  Now she's gone
  And I'm back on the beat
  A stain on my notebook
  Says nothing to me
  
  Now she's gone
  And I'm out with a friend
  With lips full of passion
  And coffee in bed Writer/s: CHRISTOPHER DIFFORD, GLENN TILBROOK
  Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 2

• Squeeze Fan from NyI saw Squeeze a few weeks ago, and this was the closing encore. The tempo was much faster than the recording, and included band introductions and a solo from each. Brought the house down.
• Anthony from New York, NyWell reading some of what's written in the "songfacts" section I think Glenn Tilbrook is being a tad bit harsh on himself. It's a good song that's sung perfectly for the type of song that it is. Its easy to see this is a song about a rocky & difficult relationship that had ended & the singer expresses the pain & remorse of said relationship. Most of us have been there sad to say. Again this song is well written & perfectly sung & paced IMO anyway. Nothing to be ashamed of where you have to come out & say that you "cant stand to hear it" any longer but if that's how the man feels about it, I have to respect it, even though I feel differently than he does about it. Good song.

More Songfacts:

Wild ThingTone-Loc

Tone-Loc's "Wild Thing" samples Eddie Van Halen's guitar riff from "Jaime's Cryin'."

Red Red WineUB40

UB40's cover of Neil Diamond's "Red Red Wine" was a minor hit when first released in 1983, but it went to #1 five years later when radio stations in Phoenix started playing it.

YesterdayThe Beatles

The melody to "Yesterday" came to Paul McCartney in a dream, but the lyrics he had to write consciously. His first attempt at the title was "Scrabble Eggs."

Video Killed The Radio StarBuggles

"Video Killed The Radio Star" by Buggles was the first video to air on MTV when the network started broadcasting on August 1, 1981.

The ScientistColdplay

There aren't many songs with a scientist as the main character, but Coldplay's "The Scientist" is one of their biggest hits. The guy in the song is brilliant, but despondent because he's lost his girl after neglecting her for his work.

Cotton Eye JoeRednex

"Cotton Eye Joe" is a folk song dating to the 1800s, but it became a hit when a Swedish act called Rednex did a psychokinetic version in 1994.

Editor's Picks

Who Did It First?Music Quiz

Do you know who recorded the original versions of these ten hit songs?

Mick Jones of ForeignerSongwriter Interviews

Foreigner's songwriter/guitarist tells the stories behind the songs "Juke Box Hero," "I Want To Know What Love Is," and many more.

Vince ClarkeSongwriter Interviews

An original member of Depeche Mode, Vince went on to form Erasure and Yaz.

Martin PageSongwriter Interviews

With Bernie Taupin, Martin co-wrote the #1 hits "We Built This City" and "These Dreams." After writing the Pretty Woman song for Go West, he had his own hit with "In the House of Stone and Light."

Max Cavalera of Soulfly (ex-Sepultura)Songwriter Interviews

The Brazilian rocker sees pictures in his riffs. When he came up with one of his gnarliest songs, there was a riot going on.

Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath, Heaven And HellSongwriter Interviews

Guitarist Tony Iommi on the "Iron Man" riff, the definitive Black Sabbath song, and how Ozzy and Dio compared as songwriters.