Benny Andersson/Björn Ulvaeus:

The Day Before You Came

I must have left my house
at eight because
I always do
my train, I'm certain
left the station
just when it was due
I must have read the morning paper
going into town
and having gotten through
the editorial no doubt
I must have frowned
I must have made my desk
around a quarter after nine
with letters to be read
and heaps of papers
waiting to be signed
I must have gone to lunch
at half past twelve or so
the usual place, the usual bunch
and still on top of this
I'm pretty sure it
must have rained
the day before you came

I must have lit
my seventh cigarette
at half past two
and at the time
I never even
noticed I was blue
I must have kept on
dragging through the
business of the day
without really knowing
anything I hid
a part of me away
at five I must have left
there's no exception
to the rule
I've done it ever since
I finished school
the train back home again
undoubtedly
I must have read
the evening paper then
oh yes, I'm sure my life was
well within its
usual frame
the day before you came

I must have opened
my front door at eight
o’clock or so
and stopped along the way
to buy some Chinese
food-to-go
I'm sure I had
my dinner watching
something on TV
there's not, I think,
a single episode of
Dallas that I didn't see
I must have gone to bed
around a quarter after ten
I need a lot of sleep
and so I like to be
in bed by then
I must have read a while
the latest one
by Marilyn French
or something in that style
it's funny but I had
no sense of living
without aim
the day before you came

And turning out the light
I must have yawned
and cuddled up for
yet another night
and rattling on the roof
I must have heard
the sound of rain
the day before you came