I Wanna Be Kissed

Frances-cavewoman-hair-and-coat
Frances-cavewoman

I Wanna Be Kissed

“Give My Lips Something To Live For”

Words and music by: Frances Tompkins with assistance by Tim Tompkins

Lyrics:

I wanna be kissed, and I don’t wanna wait forever.
I wanna be kissed, and I wanna do it now.
You need to be touched, and it won’t wait forever.
You’re gonna be touched, and I’m gonna do it now.

I’m not one for hittin’ and missin’,
Let me show you what I call kissin’.
If you hesitate you’ll never know.

Give my lips something to live for,
kiss me now, and kiss me right.
Give my arms someone to reach for,
hold me honey, all through the night.

Who are you anyhow? I’ve been watching you too.
We can kiss your way, and I can show you a few.
Let’s get outa here, honey, we’ll sneak through the park.
Put down your smoothie, my cave isn’t far.

Are you only teasin’ an’ fishin’
or armed to the teeth with a new kind o’ kissin’?
There’s just one way we’ll ever know.

It’s foggy dark, you take the light,
I’ll watch your back, we’ll be alright.
I ain’t no fool, you’re going first,
If weirdos pounce you’ll get the worst.

Give my lips something to live for,
kiss me now, and kiss me right.
Give my arms someone to reach for,
hold me honey, all through the night.

Inception:

Summer 1985. Morning. I lean out the driver’s window of our VW Beetle to kiss Tim goodbye before he goes into his high tech work in Silicon Valley and I drive off to my low tech work as Activity Director at an insane asylum. He leans toward me and says, “Give my lips something to live for.” I burst out laughing and say, “That is the beginning of a new Country And Western song!” The chorus melody for that line came into my head first, then the verse, “I want to get rich,” which morphed into, “I wanna be kissed.” The bridge, “I’m not one for hittin’ and missin’,” completed the basic composition 15 years later. Nine years after that, we turned it into a duet with the arrival of the almost scary whispering stranger, my dear husband Tim. [Frances]

Performance/Production Credits:

Frances Tompkins: Vocals, violin.
Tim Tompkins: Vocals, piano, cello.

Recorded and mixed at the GallopAway Music studio in San Juan Bautista, CA.
Mastered by Joe Weed at his Highland Studios in Santa Cruz County, CA.

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