Guilty Secret



I'm living with a guilty secret, deep in my heart,
Living in a guilty secret life;

We meet at night, we stay out late, and we avoid the man who
Makes her life so bad, 'cos he doesn't want her, the way that
I want her, he doesn't need her the way I do;

The phone is hot with whispered words, and when we can't speak
We have textual delight, 'cos he doesn't need her, the way that
I need her, he doesn't love her the way I do;

We're living with a guilty secret deep in our hearts,
Living in a guilty secret life, and anytime I want to see her,
Just have to dream, I love her;

Oh it's alright, 'cos we've got time - a good thing's worth
Waiting for - and it's my life and I can say that
She's mine, mine, mine;

There was a time, he was my friend, but now the way he treats
That woman is the end, and she doesn't love him, the way that
She loves me, she doesn't want him anymore;

We're living with a guilty secret deep in our hearts,
Living in a guilty secret life, and anytime I want to see her,
Just have to dream, I love her, I really love her,
Oh it's alright, 'cos we've got time - a good thing's worth
Waiting for - and it's my life, and nobody knows that
She's mine, mine, mine;

We're living with a guilty secret, deep in our hearts,
Living in a guilty secret life,
Mmm, living with a guilty secret, deep in our hearts,
Living in a guilty secret life,
Living with a guilty secret, deep in our hearts,
Living in a guilty secret life,
We meet at night - guilty secret,
We stay out late - guilty secret,
The phone is hot - guilty secret,
Whispered words - guilty secret,
Mmm, living with a guilty secret, deep in our hearts,
Living in a guilty secret life.
"'Guilty Secret' was a song that I... I remember clearly the day, it was a Sunday, and I was driving back with my son Hubie, who is 14, from the centre of Dublin, and I had taken him in to look at a War Hammer Exhibition. War Hammer is this amazing, futuristic sort of military... I won't use the word toys... but it's all sorts of extraordinary things you put together in military manouevres. Very futuristic. And, driving back, I suddenly either heard or saw the phrase 'guilty secret' - and I immediately started hitting the steering wheel... 'I'm living with a guilty secret deep in my heart' and I thought 'That's good!' And I was banging the steering wheel and my son said 'What are you doing, Dad?' I said 'I've got this idea for a song' Got home, immediately ran in to a guitar and I got the melody shape down. Then I worked hard on getting the lyrics right because, often, ideas come absolutely out of the blue, they're not deliberated about, they're not thought about or decided on in advance like 'This is what I'm going to write about'. It's like watching stuff drifting downstream and you grab it and say 'Ooh, I like the look of that'. Frequently it doesn't work but, this time, I think it did. And it's part of three songs, as it transpired, about two people - possibly more involved - who are going through a process of change of life, change of partner, change of time and circumstance. In 'Guilty Secret', we have a situation where a man has, as you'll hear from the track... he is very attracted to this woman - who is either married or has a long-term partner - and they meet at night; subterfuge, all those little things that you do if you're trying to lure somebody away from somebody else, and I'm sure readers will know exactly what I'm talking about here! And it ties up... you asked me, incidentally, why it's the first single; I think it's because it's got a very sparkly beat and it's memorable. It sort of sticks in the head a bit."
The Getaway Gazette, September 2002

Albums

"Guilty Secret" appears on the following albums:

Timing Is Everything