Released: October 26, 1997
Songwriter: René Elizondo Jr Terry Lewis Jimmy Jam Janet Jackson
Producer: Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis Janet Jackson
[Spoken Intro]
1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4
[Verse 1]
How could it be that you knew me?
My deepest fears, my fantasies
Confide in you what no one knows
But it feels so real (1, 2, 3, 4)
[Pre-Chorus]
(When I close my eyes) I can see your face
(When I lick my lips) I can taste your smile
(When I see your name) My heart starts to race
(If I can't read your thoughts) Then I feel empty
[Chorus]
(When I close my eyes) I feel empty
(When I close my eyes) I feel empty
(When I close my eyes) Whoa, I feel empty
(When I close my eyes)
[Verse 2]
Is this a new way to love?
Never face to face, is it enough?
Does it really count or am I a fool?
So tell me, please, am I wasting my time?
Your phrases, descriptive
And through the textured words
With beauty, you post it
And use such colored verbs
We've never met, ooh (1, 2, 3, 4)
[Pre-Chorus]
(When I close my eyes) I can see your face
(When I lick my lips) I can taste your smile
(When I see your name) My heart starts to race
(If I can't read your thoughts) Then I feel empty
[Chorus]
(When I close my eyes) I feel empty
(When I close my eyes) Whoa, I feel empty
(When I close my eyes) Oh yeah yeah
(When I close my eyes)
[Verse 3]
I'm rushin' home to turn you on
Sometimes you're there, sometimes you're gone
Wait for hours for your return
So tell me please, am I wasting my time?
Your phrases, descriptive
And through the textured words
With beauty, you post it
And use such colored verbs
So tell me, you think that maybe we've gone insane?
To find a, a lover and through the words of pain
We've never met, ooh
[Pre-Chorus]
(When I close my eyes) I can see your face
(When I lick my lips) I can taste your smile
(When I see your name) My heart starts to race
(If I can't read your thoughts) Then I feel empty
[Chorus]
When I lick my lips (When I close my eyes)
I can taste your smile (When I close my eyes)
My heart starts to race (When I close my eyes)
I can taste your smile (When I close my eyes)
[Pre-Chorus]
(When I close my eyes) I can see your face
(When I lick my lips) I can taste your smile
(When I see your name) My heart starts to race
(If I can't read your thoughts) Then I feel empty
[Chorus]
(When I close my eyes) I feel empty
(When I close my eyes) I feel empty
(1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4)
(When I close my eyes)
(When I close my eyes)
(When I close my eyes)
(When I close my eyes)
(4, 3, 2, 1)
Damn, disconnected
1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4
[Verse 1]
How could it be that you knew me?
My deepest fears, my fantasies
Confide in you what no one knows
But it feels so real (1, 2, 3, 4)
[Pre-Chorus]
(When I close my eyes) I can see your face
(When I lick my lips) I can taste your smile
(When I see your name) My heart starts to race
(If I can't read your thoughts) Then I feel empty
[Chorus]
(When I close my eyes) I feel empty
(When I close my eyes) I feel empty
(When I close my eyes) Whoa, I feel empty
(When I close my eyes)
[Verse 2]
Is this a new way to love?
Never face to face, is it enough?
Does it really count or am I a fool?
So tell me, please, am I wasting my time?
Your phrases, descriptive
And through the textured words
With beauty, you post it
And use such colored verbs
We've never met, ooh (1, 2, 3, 4)
[Pre-Chorus]
(When I close my eyes) I can see your face
(When I lick my lips) I can taste your smile
(When I see your name) My heart starts to race
(If I can't read your thoughts) Then I feel empty
[Chorus]
(When I close my eyes) I feel empty
(When I close my eyes) Whoa, I feel empty
(When I close my eyes) Oh yeah yeah
(When I close my eyes)
[Verse 3]
I'm rushin' home to turn you on
Sometimes you're there, sometimes you're gone
Wait for hours for your return
So tell me please, am I wasting my time?
Your phrases, descriptive
And through the textured words
With beauty, you post it
And use such colored verbs
So tell me, you think that maybe we've gone insane?
To find a, a lover and through the words of pain
We've never met, ooh
[Pre-Chorus]
(When I close my eyes) I can see your face
(When I lick my lips) I can taste your smile
(When I see your name) My heart starts to race
(If I can't read your thoughts) Then I feel empty
[Chorus]
When I lick my lips (When I close my eyes)
I can taste your smile (When I close my eyes)
My heart starts to race (When I close my eyes)
I can taste your smile (When I close my eyes)
[Pre-Chorus]
(When I close my eyes) I can see your face
(When I lick my lips) I can taste your smile
(When I see your name) My heart starts to race
(If I can't read your thoughts) Then I feel empty
[Chorus]
(When I close my eyes) I feel empty
(When I close my eyes) I feel empty
(1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4)
(When I close my eyes)
(When I close my eyes)
(When I close my eyes)
(When I close my eyes)
(4, 3, 2, 1)
Damn, disconnected
The Velvet Rope
- Got ’Til It’s Gone
- Interlude: Online
- Empty
- Interlude: Speaker Phone
- Interlude: Full
- Can’t Be Stopped
- Anything
- Special
- Go Deep
- You
- Every Time
- I Get Lonely
- What About
- Interlude: Twisted Elegance
- Velvet Rope
- Interlude: Memory
- My Need
- Tonight’s the Night
- Interlude: Sad
- Interlude: Fasten Your Seatbelts
- Rope Burn
- Together Again
- Free Xone
- The Velvet Rope (1997)
- No Sleeep
- If
- Nasty
- Would You Mind
- All for You
- Together Again
- BURNITUP!
- Got ’Til It’s Gone
- Any Time, Any Place
- That’s the Way Love Goes
- Dammn Baby
- I Get Lonely
- Doesn’t Really Matter
- Black Cat
- Control
- Again
- No Sleeep (Single Version)
- Unbreakable
- Rhythm Nation
- What About
- Funny How Time Flies (When You’re Having Fun)
- Feedback
- Son of a Gun (I Betcha Think This Song Is About You)
- Call on Me