Making assumptions about other people is a dangerous business. Why somebody hates is as mysterious as why somebody loves. Each of us is different from every other living thing in this world. Our experiences and perspectives make us unique in ways that are consistently fascinating and occasionally beautiful. I don’t want to be like you. And I don’t want you to be like me. As tempting as it is to think that if everyone were like me the world would be paradise, I know better. It would be boring, if not terrifying.
Although I wouldn’t want everyone to be the same as me, I wish everyone had a life equivalent to mine. I wished nobody feared the police and felt that law enforcement existed to help and protect them. I wish everyone grew up in an environment of loving support and encouragement. And I wish everyone fell in love with someone who turned them on like a fucking light switch every time they walked into a room, or just smiled.
In other words:
I ain’t looking to compete with you
Beat or cheat or mistreat you
Simplify you, classify you
Deny, defy, or crucify you
All I really want to do
Is, baby, be friends with you
I ain’t looking to fight with you
Frighten you or uptighten you
Drag you down or drain you down
Chain you down or bring you down
All I really want to do
Is, baby, be friends with you
I ain’t looking to block you up
Shock or knock or lock you up
Analyze you, categorize you
Finalize you or advertise you
All I really want to do
Is, baby, be friends with you
I don’t want to straight-face you
Race or chase you, track or trace you
Or disgrace you or displace you
Or define you or confine you
I really want to do
Is, baby, be friends with you
I don’t want to meet your kin
Make you spin or do you in
Or select you or dissect you
Or inspect you or reject you
All I really want to do
Is, baby, be friends with you
I don’t want to fake you out
Take or shake or forsake you out
I ain’t looking for you to feel like me
See like me or be like me
All I really want to do
Is, baby, be friends with you
Words & Music by Mike Power 