Standing alone in the back of the room watching The children he taught to walk walk away To the land of wedding cakes and rings, such things He'll probably never know someday And no matter where he sits in the church A happy couple cuddles practically in his face He realized now he's helped everyone but himself In his quest to make the world a happier place Who makes a match for the matchmaker? Who pats the back of the last person in line? Who lights the match for the matchmaker To light up the joygiver's life? Now the day haunts him when he saw a need One that could very well have been his own He labored to make his vision reality indeed And now after his legacy has grown The matchmaker recognizes there's no Santa Claus For himself after he played the part for his kids He baked the Christmas cookies and was left with the crumbs As the only thanks for all the work he did Who makes a match for the matchmaker? (Who makes the matchmaker's day?) Who pats the back of the last person in line? Who lights the match for the matchmaker (assistez moi, s'il vous plais) To light up the joygiver's empty life? He has to take pride in his accomplishments As that pride may be his only acknowledgement When he's made everything right Who does that leave left For the matchmaker?

Commentary No doubt, this would fall in my personal Top Ten of favorite songs i've written. One of those where it totally came out just as i hoped it would...where everything i wanted to express and the way it ended up expressed was just there. I was doing a lot of volunteer work for various gay organizations at the time, chief among them the (now defunct) Valley of the Sun Gay & Lesbian Community Center. And i often found myself wondering why i was putting so much into a community that i was increasingly finding exasperating. Not only was i expending lots of time and energy into altruistic outlets but at the same time i was reaping all the hardships and discrimination that comes with being an out gay man but none of the rewards...i had given up dating at this point and i knew that any chance of being part of a successful couple was never going to happen so what was i fighting for? What was i doing? Why was i working so hard at making the world a better place for a population that largely was going to play games with and backstap each other and in many ways be more discriminatory towards segments of the population (even and especially within its ranks) than what it often faces? Obviously this was a very personal song though i drew from a lot of sources of inspiration; the image of the matchmaker came to mind due to someone i used to know who ran a gay dating club. There's a bit of imagery throughout of a parent watching his kids grow up even though that's not culled from any personal experience. By way cf contrast, the line about the happy couple in the church WAS a chance to voice my exasperation with a curse i seemed to be under where no matter WHERE i would sit when i went to church, EVERY time without fail, i would end up having a lovey dovey smoochie oochie couple come sit directly in front of me and kissy face all throughout the service. I kid you not, this would happen without fail every time. (If God has that sick and twisted sense of "humor" no wonder i'm an aethiest!)

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