Lyrics Old Flame - Betty Buckley

I am waiting for a man, I am sitting in his place
It's been 40, 50 years since I last saw his face
I used to pray that he'd come back
I'd hold a photo to my chest
I would whisper filthy poems
The doctor said I was obsessed

I moved on and I grew up
I had a husband, a career
But lately, I been feeling prickly
Guess that's what brought me here
In some minutes, maybe more
He's gonna open up that door

Old flame, old flame
Will you freeze or will you run
When you see I've got a gun?
When you see I've got a gun?

Old flame, old flame
Will I feel a little doubt
When it's time to snuff you out?

Oh, I try to think of good things
And the positives I've got
Then I think of him a little
Then I think of him a lot
And it's not him just by himself
I think of what he put me through
And how I had to overcome
That which he never had to do

I been sittin' here forever
It's so like him that he's late
And now he's made me think about him
That's the part of him I hate
Well, hate is much too strong a word
I guess that I'm not bein' fair
As I clutch the pistol tighter in the dark and in his chair

Old flame, old flame
Why does your memory persist?
I think I hate that you exist
I think I hate that you exist

Old flame, old flame
Why should I have any doubt
That I need to snuff you out?

'Cause Oprah Winfrey told me on TV the other day
That dealing with the past is really so the only way
To move on and change and be the woman that I deserve to be
See Oprah told me
Yeah, Oprah told me!

And I realize the reason I was feeling awfully low
I had not really confronted what had happened long ago
I was angry at the past and at this man and Oprah said
That the best way to get past the past was shoot him in the head!

... Or somethin' like that...
...Sometimes I paraphrase...
Well, anyways...

I am
Waiting for a man
I hear his car, I start to churn
Steps on gravel coming close
I see the doorknob start to turn
I aim my gun, he steps inside
He looks at me and I at him
He's confused and I am too
I say out loud, "You're not Jim"

He says, "Who's Jim?"

I try to leave
He grabs me roughly by the arm
I shoot him in the shoulder
(Sound of a gunshot.)
It's self-defense, I mean no harm
My ears are ringing loud as I walk swiftly from the house
You can't trust Google for addresses
And look, a blood stain on my blouse

I hear Oprah in my head as I look down at my shirt
"When you can't let go of the past
That's when the innocent get hurt"
There's a lesson to be learned here
What it is I just can't see
I'm not living in the past
It's the past that lives in me

Old flame, old flame
Look at what you made me do
I guess I always knew
I guess I always knew

Old flame, old flame
You never let me mend
You'd burn me in the end

Old flame, old flame
How I struggle how I fight
But I can't ignore your light
I cannot ignore your light

Old flame, old flame
You're out there burning bright
But I can't ignore your light
I cannot ignore your light
Light

Now I haven't any doubt
Hard as I try
I will never blow you out

I will always be the same
Old... flame