Released: April 6, 1992

Songwriter: Annie Lennox

Producer: Stephen Lipson

[Intro]
Why?
Why?

[Verse 1]
How many times do I have to try to tell you
That I'm sorry for the things I've done?
But when I start to try to tell you
That's when you have to tell me
"Hey, this kind of trouble's only just begun"
I tell myself too many times
Why don't you ever learn to keep your big mouth shut?
That's why it hurts so bad to hear the words
That keep on falling from your mouth
Falling from your mouth
Falling from your mouth

[Chorus]
Tell me
Why?
Why?

[Verse 2]
I may be mad
I may be blind
I may be viciously unkind
But I can still read what you're thinking
And I've heard it said too many times
That you'd be better off
Besides, why can't you see this boat is sinking?
This boat is sinking (this boat is sinking)
Let's go down to the water's edge
And we can cast away those doubts
Some things are better left unsaid
But they still turn me inside out
Turning inside out
Turning inside out

[Chorus]
Tell me
Why?
Tell me
Why?

[Outro]
(Why?) This is the book I never read
These are the words I never said
This is the path I'll never tread
These are the dreams I'll dream instead
(Why?) This is the joy that's seldom spread
These are the tears, the tears we shed
This is the fear, this is the dread
These are the contents of my head
(Why?) And these are the years that we have spent
And this is what they represent
And this is how I feel
Do you know how I feel?
‘Cause I don't think you how I feel
I don't think you know what I fear
(Why?) I don't think you know what I fear
You don't know what I fear

Annie Lennox

Annie Lennox is an award-winning singer, songwriter and activist who has sold over 80 million records worldwide between her solo work and the duo Eurythmics. At seventeen, Lennox won a scholarship to London’s Royal Academy of Music to become a flutist, but dropped out after feeling that classical music was “far too competitive” and “didn’t fit my kind of personality”.

While working as a waitress at a health food restaurant in London, Lennox met Dave Stewart, with whom she formed the band Catch with singer-songwriter Peet Coombes. Catch released one single before adding two more members and changing their name to The Tourists. Under that name, the band scored five UK hits before Coombes' substance abuse broke the band apart.

Lennox and Stewart continued writing together – with Stewart moving from guitar to synthesizer and Lennox adopting an androgynous look – and formed Eurythmics. Within a few years, the duo was propelled into international stardom when “Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)”, a single from their second album, became a top ten hit in nine countries.