"If you loved me half as much as I love you" song lyrics

“Half as Much” is a great old country song sung by Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Ray Charles, Rosemary Clooney (my favorite), and many others. It’s composer was Curley Williams (not related to Hank Williams.)

The song lyrics say, “You’re nice to me, when there’s no one else around; you only build me up, to tear me down.” I think most of us here, know by now that abusers do just the opposite! They build us up when there ARE other people around, then “behind closed doors” they light-into us — with whatever their chosen abusive methods they prefer — beatings, extreme irritability and perfectionism, major put-downs, gaslighting, emotional abuse, abusing the children in front of us…

So I altered some lyrics, and wrote another verse.These are not copyrighted, because I wrote them myself. I’m a singer, by the way. I love this song. I grew up hearing it.

Here’s what I’ve got:

(E) A A7 D
You’re nice to me when there’s people all around
B B7 E E7
But then at home, you cruelly put me down.

AND

A A7 D
You’re nice to me when there’s others all around
B B7 E E7
You only build me up to take me down

HERE’S THE FULL NEW VERSE I WROTE:

If you loved me half as much as you say

You wouldn’t bully me almost every day.

I work at home, while you go out to play

You say the words, but then you go away.

THEN THE ORIGINAL CHORUS STARTS WITH:

If you missed me half as much as I miss you

You wouldn’t stay away half as much as you do

[You can look up the whole song in YouTube.]