Ayn Rand Writes Torch Songs

“All of Me”

All of me

How dare you try to take all of me

Can’t you see

I exist wholly, with unbreached self-esteem, without you

My lips are mine

How can I lose myself in you? I am still myself

My arms are my arms

Romantic love is a conscious expression of philosophy

Your goodbye

Left me with eyes that cry

But then I incorporated my own well-being into my hierarchy of values and acted accordingly

You took the part

That once was my heart

Love is not self-sacrifice, it is inherently selfish and I decline utterly any concept of love that does not take personal pleasure into account

“Smoke Gets In Your Eyes”

They asked me how I knew

My true love was true

I of course replied

Truth is the recognition of reality

Reason is man’s only means of knowledge

Reason is the only standard of truth

They said, some day you’ll find

All who love are blind

When your heart’s on fire

You must realize

Smoke gets in your eyes

This is excellent,

Cigarettes represent man’s mastery over fire

When you smoke, you tame fire

You hold lightning in your hands

Howard Roark smokes cigarettes and so do I

So I chaffed them, and I gaily laughed

To think they would doubt our love

And now today, my love has gone away

I am without my love

Yet what is freedom?

To ask nothing.

To expect nothing.

To depend on nothing.

My love left me,

but he could not take myself from me

I am neither richer nor poorer without him

Contradictions do not exist.

“Someone To Watch Over Me”

There’s a saying old, says that love is blind

in fact, a person’s sexual choice

is the result and sum of their fundamental convictions

Show me the person you sleep with and I will show you your philosophy of life

and your valuation of yourself

So I’m going to go seek a certain lad

I’ve had in mind

He is my equal and I want him to crush me.

Looking everywhere,

haven’t found him yet

He’s the big affair

I cannot forget

Only man I ever think of with regret

I am in love with the concept of integrity

I’d like to add his initial to my monogram

as a free choice only, never as a sign of ownership

There’s a somebody I’m longing to see.

I hope that he turns out to be

someone whose total and abject surrender permits me to celebrate myself

I’m a little lamb who’s lost in the wood

I know I could be always be good

To someone who sees a reflection of his deepest vision of himself in me

Although he may not be the man some girls think of as handsome,

sex is an expression of self-esteem

Won’t you tell him please to put on some speed,

follow my lead,

Oh, how I need

someone who’ll respond to my highest values

“Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?”

Tonight you’re mine completely

You give your love so sweetly

Tonight the light of love is in your eyes

Will you continue pursuing your long-term goals consistently and rationally tomorrow?

Is this a lasting treasure

Or just a moment’s pleasure?

Let us integrate the events of this evening with our actions, goals and values

Into our respective frameworks

If they happen to align

So much the better for us both

Tonight with words unspoken

And you say that I’m the only one

But I am an end in myself

Also, there is no “right” to economic security

I’d like to know that your love

Is love I can be sure of

If not, I will value your honesty

Love can never be demanded, only given

I will not demand promises of tomorrow

It is more important that you remain faithful to yourself

than to me