Lyrics:
Why Did You Make Me Care? [Version (a)]:
Why did you make me care?
Make me want you there
Leave my arms both bare
And break my defenses
How did you make me feel
Like I couldn't feel
What I thought was real
Was one step from senseless?
Time falls asleep
While I'm trying
To keep from crying
Over all the lies
That you told
While I was just left behind
To drink down the dregs
Of you
Why did you make me need
What could only bleed
Just a heart you feed
With some pretty poison?
Where should I keep these tears
In a thousand years
Will they disappear
Or be an ocean?
Time falls asleep
While I'm trying
To keep from crying
Over all the lies
That you told
While I could have almost died
And drained down the dregs
Of you
Why did you make me care?
Make me want you there
Leave my arms both bare
And break my defenses
How did you make me feel
Like I couldn't feel
What I thought was real
Was one step from senseless?
Time falls asleep
While I'm trying
To keep from crying
Over all the lies
That you told
While I was just left behind
To drink down the dregs
Of you
Why did you make me need
What could only bleed
Just a heart you feed
With some pretty poison?
Where should I keep these tears
In a thousand years
Will they disappear
Or be an ocean?
Time falls asleep
While I'm trying
To keep from crying
Over all the lies
That you told
While I could have almost died
And drained down the dregs
Of you
The Song:
"Why Did You Make Me Care?" can be found in Beck's Song Reader project. Beck has not performed this song in a way on his own (publicly). You can hear versions of the song here.
More than a few of the songs on Song Reader were born from the names found on older sheet music. "Why Did You Make Me Care?" is one of those. While Beck's song and music is entirely his own, there is a song from 1912 by Sylvester Maguire & Alfred Solman of the same name. You can see it here.
The way I read this kind of reference is that Beck used this old sheet music as a writing exercise. Take a timeless, or maybe just old-fashioned, phrase, and write your own song to it. And in looking closely at "Why Did," I think it reads that way too. There is a simple, but poetic rhyme scheme, which makes me feel like it was words before melody, which a writing exercise might imply.
I am not knocking the song as a gimmick though, Beck was able to maintain a universal simplicity which stems from the extremely relatable idea of "why did you make me care?" Love hurts when it's over, it makes you question what is real. The song progresses through the stages of this hurt: feeling sad ("break my defenses") to numbness ("you made me feel like I couldn't feel...") to anger ("just a heart you feed with some pretty poison") to hopelessness ("tears").
"Why Did You Make Me Care?" can be found in Beck's Song Reader project. Beck has not performed this song in a way on his own (publicly). You can hear versions of the song here.
More than a few of the songs on Song Reader were born from the names found on older sheet music. "Why Did You Make Me Care?" is one of those. While Beck's song and music is entirely his own, there is a song from 1912 by Sylvester Maguire & Alfred Solman of the same name. You can see it here.
The way I read this kind of reference is that Beck used this old sheet music as a writing exercise. Take a timeless, or maybe just old-fashioned, phrase, and write your own song to it. And in looking closely at "Why Did," I think it reads that way too. There is a simple, but poetic rhyme scheme, which makes me feel like it was words before melody, which a writing exercise might imply.
I am not knocking the song as a gimmick though, Beck was able to maintain a universal simplicity which stems from the extremely relatable idea of "why did you make me care?" Love hurts when it's over, it makes you question what is real. The song progresses through the stages of this hurt: feeling sad ("break my defenses") to numbness ("you made me feel like I couldn't feel...") to anger ("just a heart you feed with some pretty poison") to hopelessness ("tears").