List of People (To Try and Forget About) Lyrics
Now I gotta add yours to my list of faces to try and not think about
Now I gotta tell 'em I don't care and hope that nobody might work it out
It was obviously an illusion 'cause there's never been so much I've been wrong about
And I don't want to spend all my days thinking of the one I can't live without
So I'm gonna have to add you to my list of people to try and forget about
Try and for-
Your name will fade out gradually
Don't think my heart will try
But it was waiting here
It could've been magic
Nearly had ya
Could you imagine
Nearly had ya
'Til it becomes another one of the things that I just can't talk about
I'm gonna have to keep you on my list of people to try and forget about
Try and for-
Your name will fade out gradually
They'll think my heart won't try
But it was waiting in the wings
And as the years go by
You're still a banished memory
They'll say my love has died
But it was waiting in the wings
Tame Impala has SO many great breakup songs, and this is another! It definitely should have made the album.
"I don't want to spend all my days thinking of the one I can't live without." That just sounds so painful. The speaker has told himself (and probably his ex) that he couldn't live without her, and now she is gone. To try and get through it, he is repeatedly telling himself to forget her. He obviously can't, as his train of thought is interrupted by "It could've been magic, Nearly had ya, Can you imagine."
He wants his ex and everyone else (including himself) to think he didn't really care and has moved on ("Don't think my heart will try", "Now I gotta tell 'em I don't care", "They'll say my love has died"). But when he is honest with himself, he knows he truly loved her and probably always will ("hope that nobody might work it out", "But it was waiting here", "But it was waiting in the wings").
The pain is so bad all he wants to do it forget, but most likely he never will.