Singled Out: Beta Wolf

I wrote the song about a relationship I'd been in that, in spite of being long past it's due-date, just refused to die. A friend of mine calls it 'expiration-dating'; you break up, and even though you both agree that it's best to move on, you continue to hook-up endlessly. She and I had been together for a while, and it was clear that it was time for both of us to let go � I was on the road most of the time, and she wanted to settle into the traditional 'family and kids' mode. We went through the teary 'this just isn't working', 'here's your stuff back', 'take care of yourself' blah blah blah, and put the whole thing to sleep (or so we thought). Almost immediately after, though, we started a pattern that dragged on over a few years. A few nights a week, either I (or she) would be laying awake at 1:30AM, bored, and we'd shoot the other a text message� just to see what would happen. It would typically say something simple, like 'U AWAKE?' Either of us reasoned that, if the text went unanswered, the sender would be forced to confront the reality of a cold bed� but if the text WAS answered, then it was justifiable to get together (again). It was a kind of abstract addiction - an 'affection addiction' - and I think it ultimately came down to the fact that it was really comfortable and familiar to see one another, and that finding someone new would involve some degree of risk. Alcohol definitely added fuel to the fire; whenever either of us went out for a night, the other could definitely expect a late-night broadcast. So I wrote 'Domino' as if I was speaking directly to her: ... when you're drunk and alone and you need somewhere to fall, you go where you're comfortable� you come to me', and 'every time that I'm ready to let you go, you come and knock me down like a Domino'. It was my way of verbalising what we were doing.