The first time I went back to homeroom from the hospital I thought that being more embarrassed was impossible But God, the second time it really turned my stomach Now I’m the kid who collapses and then spazzes out in public This time was a bowling alley, the first was in the yard And kids in middle school just watched me trip and kicked me hard Except this girl named Crissie Li, who flips around at her desk And gives me the world’s biggest Disney card Wrote “best wishes,” and “kisses” where she signed it 3 feet by 2 feet, I coulda hid behind it I didn’t like the pity from Christina Li though I’m thinking “Crissie, can’t you see I’m busy being emo?” ‘Cause I think I mighta heard she maybe sorta liked me And since she wasn’t cool enough I guess I took it lightly Had braces and glasses and wasn’t Ms. Popular And so I didn’t really give a thought to her
A heart breaking sounds like guitar strings snapping It’s the notes of the song that’ll never happen And the wind in the leaves is the sound of ghosts clapping But a heart breaking sounds like guitar strings snapping
There’s holes in my memory- it isn’t photographic There’s holes in my yearbook but the cut-out folks were plastic Ten years pass, I don’t cross paths With half the people from my class again 'til we meet at Crissie’s open casket Those who chose to ask it probably knew I could have dug in deeper if I’d wanted to But you couldn’t tell a thing was off on the surface And I didn’t know she was sick until I heard about her service She was born with a heart defect, used to the cold knife She’d been in and out of hospitals her whole life She knew the whole time, and never said why She felt my pain herself and helped me hold my head high The nicest folks are those who know the throes of crisis Though I know it’s crime to twist her life to fit my own devices Why’s it so hard to mourn, and then try to learn by this But lights that burn shortest Are the lights that burn brightest
A heart breaking sounds like guitar strings snapping It’s the notes of the song that’ll never happen And the wind in the leaves is the sound of ghosts clapping But a heart breaking sounds like guitar strings snapping
Our 8th grade yearbook page for dedicating songs wasn’t long Even in a school eleven hundred strong The yearbook advertised for months, but when it’s said and done Crissie bought six, the third most of anyone Alvin got “Your Faith in Me” by Jessica Simpson Pebbles got Richard Marx’s ballad “At the Beginning” It feels like sloppy poetry the way her life would end After sending Mariah Carrey’s “Any Time You Need a Friend" But corniness is honesty that’s wrapped in cliché And most slow jam lyrics aren’t shit I’m brave enough to say without a smirk But before she went to dirt she left us finally "I Will Remember You” to Geoff, Mike, Bry and me You can plot if you must Say it’s obviously fate, or explain that God is just But all I know is that until my body’s dust I will try to think of her as much as Crissie thought of us
This one goes out to Christina A heart breaking sounds like guitar strings snapping It’s the notes of the song that’ll never happen And the wind in the leaves is the sound of ghosts clapping But a heart breaking sounds like guitar strings snapping