Now it's a plea for tenderness
What the guy means is
If this girl cares, if this girl cares about him at all
She can't wait another day to tell him
'Cause he always went over to talk
You know? But
But she, she would invite him over right
Except, things when he'd get there
What would happen is she would really just
Wanna, you know, like turn and watch TV
And like and uh, you know and uh
All these little distractions and everything
And you always wondered okay
Why is she inviting me over here in the first place?
I'm sick of it, I really want to get to know her
Like, and I see all these magic things inside of her
And everything, now
I think, if I'm gonna help her get out of her self
And help her, just start really talking to people
I can't wait another day, 'cause I can't stand it
It's too much tension, so the guy says

Now, you seem so cold to me
And you hide you know
Like seems you don't want me to know
About you, you seem secretive and mean
Like, you act like you don't care about anything
But you can't fool me
'Cause I see tenderness in your face
And this innocence must have
Been there from infant days
And I know there's this
Tender feeling deep inside
You act cold you know, but it still shows
Well I can take your vacant stare
But I don't wanna talk so much to you
It seems a waste
But if you don't want me to know
What's going on inside
I'm too tired, I said you gotta-
You gotta tell me now
So I can go

Every time I come over you tell me
About something like school
Or homework you know
I only wanna talk tonight about you
I mean you!
And I'm hungry for this now
I'm starving for this now I admit it
And now you know

But if you care about me
What do you say modern man?
(Tell me now)
Scream it!
If you care about me
When I come over at night!
I wanna hear you scream it!
(Tell me now)
Louder!
If this girl cares about me
Then she has to tell me now
Dear, before I came over here tonight
It's a cold winter night
Before I came over in this cold night
I wanna tell you
I went home and read some writers I have
These books from the old days
Now why? It's because I knew
I knew that they'd understand
And this is why I knew, and this is why I read 'em
They'd know that dignity
They'd know- they'd understand all about dignity
And know how tenderness can apply
To even what you might think as so called
Modern romance
You can still be tender you know
So look, don't waste my time talking about these
Mystical stances or talking to me about school
Or about anything like that
Or about macrobiotic cooking or anything
Don't talk to me about your pet cats
That's right
If you we're gonna talk let's talk about something like

Love! or sex maybe, or just our starving hearts
Or you gotta shut up!
So I'll go...
But!
If you care about me
(Tell me now)
Scream it!
If I'm better than the wall
(Tell me now)
If it's important when I touch your hand
Help me out!
(Tell me now)
And if I'm better than the wall
(Tell me now)
Alright, now let's dream I can feel it now

When I came over to talk to you
It's just like all the other times
When I meant- cough
When I come over to talk to you every time at night
There's this coldness I can see your face
And why do I come over still?
Because I see the warmth underneath
Down to a whisper man, down to a little whisper!
I feel the warmth underneath
Now, you don't have to give me that warm underneath
I'm not even asking for that
If I don't deserve it that's cool
I'm not ask- don't do anything you don't want
But I just want to tell you
You can't fool me, you cannot
And this is how you've tried

Way down now, I wanna tell her
I wanna tell this girl how she's tried
NOTHING!
Way down
You've tried to fool me
The way you pretend you're calm
Now dear I know you're only 23
You're not that calm at that age
You can't fool me
You're not 45
You're not Lauren Bacall
You're not gonna fool me

I'm not all that calm, but I don't pretend to be
But I love my life, I'm not kidding
And why? I know that you love your life
You know, we walk around the streets sometimes
I know how you appreciate those pretty flowers
I know how you appreciate the pretty blue sky
It makes me almost cry!
I used to be scared!
When I thought you were so calm
But I'm not scared anymore
Because I know you're just like me
I know you're just like me
And that's why I wanted to talk to you here tonight
'Cause I know, that underneath that
You're so much like me
And I really wanna talk to you

I know only one or two girls that I wanna talk-
Well, not even them I wanna talk to you more
That's what I think
So you can throw me away from your door
Even though I wanna talk to you more
But you're a fool I think, you did-
I don't know where you're gonna find-
How many friends you got who tell you what they really think?
That's what I want to know, that's what I want to know
Your girl friends, they really tell you what they think?
Do they really tell ya what they think?
See, I don't even care if you like me anymore
After tonight it'll be worth it, it's just to say what I think
I don't care
You know I used to worry
I used to worry

I think that I understand why you're negative
I get negative too, I get negative too
(sigh)
Look, now you know
I know how beautiful death is
And I know why you hate life
But I'm just a tender soul
And be glad that you know
I think all men are really just tender souls
Just like you and me
Be glad I told you now
And be glad
You know-