There's one track on Invisible Touch, more than... well, any other song anywhere, really... that startlingly well-encapsulates the emotional baggage of being a fanfiction author, at least as I have experienced being one over the years.

(That last verse particularly resonates today, in light of what I was just musing about over in the other thread.)

--G.

---

You know—
You decorate the garage walls
Hang in people's halls
Live in secret drawers
If you could look around you
I wonder what you'd see

Fiction—
That's all you really are, I know
Editorial dreams
They can't make you real
Tell me where you came from
And where you're going to

I won't ever, no I'll never get to know her
Or be the cause of anything she does
I won't ever, no I'll never get to hold her
Well do you think this aching could be love?

You know—
You've figured in some fantasies
You would not believe
Just what you've had to do
Life goes on around you and all because of you

No, I won't ever, no I'll never get to know her
Or be the cause of anything she does
I won't ever, no I'll never get to hold her
Do you think this aching could be love?
I won't ever, no I'll never get to know her
Or be the cause of anything she does
I won't ever, no I'll never get to hold her
Do you think this aching could be love?

You know—
That in twenty years or more
You'll still look the same
As you do today
You'll still be a young girl when I'm old and grey

No! I won't ever, no I'll never get to know her
Or be the cause of anything she does
I won't ever, no I'll never get to hold her
Well do you think this aching could be love?
I won't ever, no I'll never get to know her
Or be the cause of anything she does
I won't ever, no I'll never get to hold her
Do you think this aching could be love?

- Genesis
"Anything She Does"
Invisible Touch (1986)