I always liked the song from The Music Man, “The Sadder But Wiser Girl,” which is about preferring someone with romantic experience. The title’s cliché kicked this off, along with a desire to give it a haunting feel. Hilary Forbush wasn’t the voice I was envisioning for the background vocals, but she was available—and her innocent quality turned out to be perfect.
Those who take their love
Only skin deep
Forsake the salty taste
Of the sins we keep
Locked in the closet
When I see you
Waiting at my door
I’ll always open it
If you open yours
Bones in the closet
Haunt me tonight
Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh, bones
Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh, bones
Ah, your beauty
Shines like diamond rings
Set in a velvet box
Made of darker things
Bones in the closet
Haunt me tonight
Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh, bones
Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh, bones
Coiffed and polished
Modern history
Strip the varnish
Slay me with your mysteries
When the others
Have all come and gone
Leave me the lover
With a skeleton
Stay with me, babe
I think we’ll last
I’ll share my future
As you bare your past
Bones in the closet
Haunt me tonight
Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh, haunt me tonight
Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh, haunt me tonight
Bones in the closet
© 2007 Jim Hayes