Pay phones all were ringing as the crowd went roarin' by
  Lovely dancers swaying to an island lullaby
  Beside the southern ocean taking stock of what's to be
  Writing you this letter that you'll probably never see
  
  But I can't help but be
  Ruled by inconsistency
  Not unique just distantly in love
  
  Tried to phone from Paris thinking
  Things could be arranged
  Me and you could rendezvous
  But I found your number changed
  So I drove to San Remo where
  The crazy painter dwells
  And toasted our old photographs
  Still up there on his shelf
  
  But I can't help but be
  Ruled by my antiquity
  Not unique just distantly in love
  I can't be the one to fill
  Your times and all your places
  I can't be the one to fill
  Your blanks and empty spaces
  
  I heard it from a friend of ours
  I saw in Timber Bay
  That you had a new lover who had
  Stolen you away
  That could be be the reason that
  I never got in touch
  And may present slight problems
  If he loves you half as much
  
  As I who can't help but be
  Ruled by my antiquity
  Not unique just distantly in love
  You know I can't help but be
  Part of my own philosophy
  Not unique just distantly in love