Does the last stanza of "(If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To" annoy anyone else? I feel there was a genuine missed opportunity there for a complete ballad. Specifically, instead of presumably getting married, the girl should have turned him down with an explanation that she was going off to college/military/ballet school/antique-roadshow-groupiedom/whatever.

Perhaps I feel this way because I love the way Country music in particular takes a particular phrase and juxtaposes them against two different contexts. In this case, the first iteration of the chorus goes (after the protagonist has spent the better part of an evening chatting up this girl he met):

"And the conversation stopped,

and I looked down at my feet.

I was next to you

and you were right there next to me

and I said 'Go---

If you're wondering

if I want you to, I want you to.

So make a move

because I ain't got all night.'"

And this is the second iteration of the chorus, after a summer of dating and her dragging him to meet the parents. So far so good:

"Then the conversation stopped,

as I looked down at the ring.

Your folks were next to you

and you were right there next to me

and I said 'Go---

If you're wondering

if I want you to, I want you to.

I swear it's true

Without out you my heart is blue.

If you're wondering

if I want you to, I want you to.

So make a move

because I ain't got all night.'"

And then the song falls down into a pair of couplets basically saying they'd live their lives out together, though of course nothing so straightforward, and they basically repeat chorus one with some lame additions along the lines of "When the conversation stops and we're facing our defeats."

I already stated how I'd story the song out, but the specific part that's keeping me from sleeping is I know how I'd do the chorus:

"Then the explanation stopped

and you looked down at your feet.

I kissed away the teardrop

that was rolling down your cheek

and whispered 'Go---

If you're wondering,

if I want you to, I want you to.

So make your move,

Because we've still got tonight.'"

Yes, I just wrote an entire blog entry so I could change 6 lines of a song. I couldn't help it. The story was demanding to be told.