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