"Accidentally Like a Martyr" is a song by Warren Zevon from his 1978 album, Excitable Boy.
About the Song[]
Like many of Zevon's songs about love and relationships, this song is a mournful ballad about romantic loss. The song mostly consists of the singer lamenting about opportunities lost and times long gone. Along with its original release on Excitable Boy, an early rendition of this song appears on the 2007 compilation album Preludes: Rare and Unreleased Recordings. The version included there has a variety of alternate lyrics, changing the song's focus from romantic loss to the singer lamenting how he fell for a cruel heartbreaking woman, against the advice of his friends.
A strong contender for the title of Bob Dylan's 1997 album Time Out of Mind is this song, which is coincidentally heavily influenced by Dylan as its title suggests. The phrase is featured in the last line of the second verse. Furthermore, when it was revealed in 2002 that Zevon was dying from cancer, Dylan added for weeks in his concert setlists songs by Zevon. "Accidentally Like A Martyr" was the second most performed song, with 22 performances during October and November.
Song Lyrics[]
Note: the text of this song's lyrics is not under the same copyright license as the wiki's encyclopedic text, it is used under fair use/dealing.
The phone don't ring
And the sun refused to shine
Never thought I'd have to pay so dearly
For what was already mine
For such a long, long time
We made mad love
Shadow love
Random love
And abandoned love
Accidentally like a martyr
The hurt gets worse and the heart gets harder
The days slide by
Should have done, should have done, we all sigh
Never thought I'd ever be so lonely
After such a long, long time
Time out of mind
We made mad love
Shadow love
Random love
And abandoned love
Accidentally like a martyr
The hurt gets worse and the heart gets harder
Alternate Lyrics[]
Why did I let you get to me again?
Get me all confused
Can't I ever get it through my head
I'm only being used
Why did I let you get to me again?
Why did I let you in?
Knowing that you were only going to nail me up again
Making mad love
Shadow love
Random love
And abandoned love
Accidentally like a martyr
The hurt gets worse and the heart gets harder
Why did I let you get to me again?
And treat me like a fool
Sometimes I wonder if you're being deliberately cruel
Can't I ever get it through my head
It may be time I learned
That the greedy just get greedier
And the vulnerable get burned
Making mad love
Shadow love
Random love
And abandoned love
Accidentally like a martyr
The hurt gets worse and the heart gets harder
Why did I give you all the love I had?
To squander like you did
My friends all shook their heads and sighed
Such a naive kid
My friends all shook their heads and wished
I'd find somebody else
And now I'm all alone and feeling sorry for myself
Making mad love
Shadow love
Random love
And abandoned love
Accidentally like a martyr
The hurt gets worse and the heart gets harder
They were making mad love
Shadow love
Random love
And abandoned love
Accidentally like a martyr
The hurt gets worse and the heart gets harder
- Alternate Version from Preludes: Rare and Unreleased Recordings