Bad Faith

Lyrics

I'm looking at you
I'm really looking at you
And I don't know when I stopped

I've been here every night
Right here, every night
And I missed you anyway

Stay with me, stay with me
I know I haven't been here
Stay with me, stay with me
I want to love you for real
For real, for real
I want to love you for real

I'm reaching for your hand
And my hand is shaking
I've held your hand a thousand times
Without thinking
Now I'm trying to mean it

Stay with me, stay with me
I know I haven't been here
Stay with me, stay with me
I want to love you for real
For real, for real
I want to love you for real

I thought about it
More than once
What it'd feel like
Starting over
But it'd still be me
Still pretending
Still bad faith

Stay with me, stay with me
I know I haven't been real
Stay with me, stay with me
I want to love you for real
For real, for real
I'm not leaving
I want to love you for real

Stay with me, stay with me
I want to love you for real
For real, for real
I want to love you for real

For real, for real
I want to love you for real

The Story

I didn’t know bad faith was a thing until I read about it. The Black Book of Power by Stan Taylor has a section on Sartre that calls it “lying to oneself.” I was in the middle of learning to accept and love myself when the book gave it a name.

That’s the only reason I could see it. You can’t recognize bad faith in your own life until you truly love yourself.

Bad faith comes easily in a young relationship, and the same law holds in all of them. You think the grass is greener somewhere else. It only looks that way from a distance. Everything I wanted was already in me.

Once I loved myself, I could start loving people for real, my spouse included, the way I should have all along.

I hope the song gives someone what they need to see bad faith in their own life.

T.J. Kelley

Lyrics

The Story

Credits