Just Good Friends - Peter Hammill

Drawing back the curtains
Sluggish city daylight in the afternoon
Here's that special silence
Just before you walk out of the hotel room
Each time we're so close I assume
That we'll never be again
Oh how long can we pretend
That we're just good friends
A casual affair is all that you can spare
From your emotional change
A calendar of meetings
Strangers on the street
The best we ever arrange
Now I just can't stand all the pain
All the constant make and mend
How long must we pretend
That we're just good friends
I gave you my devotion
Hiding nothing up my sleeve
If I walked clean out of your life
Would you even notice me leave
So much tangled-up emotion
Should I stay or should I go
If I walked clean out of your life
How long would it take you know
Are we such good friends
You used to say 'I love you'
You used to say 'You make me
Feel alive and young'
Now we're just a habit a flavour
One a month
To titillate your tongue
How sordid this has become
As the means approach the end
Oh how long can we pretend
That we're still good friends