Old Girlfriends - John Wesley Harding

Could they call your name much louder

Those sirens on the shore

Arresting your attention

Standing easy by the door

Deny them if you want to

Defy them if you dare

Just when you thought you’d shelved them

In the cupboard marked 'Beware!'

Out of the then, Into the now

Ghost who’ll make the most of every morsel you’ll allow them

Though we know you’ve changed so much since then

They’ll get you in the end

They’re your old girlfriends

Do you think you could avoid them

As you skim from page to page

These permanent reminders

That you never act your age

There’s traps in every dedication

Bombs in every drawer

Strands of hair (Unfair! Unfair!)

Now tripwires on the floor

Out of the then, Into the now

Ghosts who’ll make the most of every morsel you’ll allow them

Though we know you’ve changed so much since then

They’ll get you in the end

They’re your old girlfriends

(Ladies from Hades)

There are habits that we cast aside

And ones we can’t unlearn

Some crap we do not deserve

But most of it we earn