Video hit Carly Simon

Carly Simon - That's The Way I Always Heard It Should Be

"That's the Way I've Always Heard It Should Be" is a 1971 single written by Carly Simon and Jacob Brackman and performed by Simon, released from her self-titled debut album. It reached number ten on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number six on the Easy Listening chart.

An art song with a semiclassical melody in the style of Gabriel Fauré, Elektra staffers were worried the single was too emotionally complex to be released as Simon's first single.

With subject matter that includes "the parents' bad marriage; the friends' unhappy lives; the boyfriend's enthusiasm for marriage but controlling nature; the woman's initial resistance and ultimate capitulation."

Simon was quoted as saying, "When I first wrote it I thought it was an unusual thing for people to break up, and now all my friends are divorced”.

The lyrics:

My father sits at night with no lights on

His cigarette glows in the dark.

The living room is still;

I walk by, no remark.

I tiptoe past the master bedroom where

My mother reads her magazines.

I hear her call sweet dreams,

But I forgot how to dream.

But you say it's time we moved in together

And raised a family of our own, you and me -

Well, that's the way I've always heard it should be:

You want to marry me, we'll marry.

My friends from college they're all married now;

They have their houses and their lawns.

They have their silent noons,

Tearful nights, angry dawns.

Their children hate them for the things they're not;

They hate themselves for what they are-

And yet they drink, they laugh,

Close the wound, hide the scar.

But you say it's time we moved in together

And raised a family of our own, you and me -

Well, that's the way I've always heard it should be:

You want to marry me, we'll marry.

You say we can keep our love alive

Babe - all I know is what I see -

The couples cling and claw

And drown in love's debris.

You say we'll soar like two birds through the clouds,

But soon you'll cage me on your shelf -

I'll never learn to be just me first

By myself.

Well O.K., it's time we moved in together

And raised a family of our own, you and me -

Well, that's the way I've always heard it should be,

You want to marry me, we'll marry,

We'll marry.