Lyrics

She sat right behind me in Physical Science my freshman year of high school
Her red hair and freckles in blazing defiance of everything I thought was cool
She talked kinda dirty and shameless and flirty - a hint of Marlboro on her breath
I still can't believe I was that dang naive - the truth is she scared me to death

She caught me one morning out back of the trailers, where the sidewalk goes up Senior Hill
Her and that friend of hers that cussed like a sailor had plans to move in for the kill
She leaned me to kiss me and I jumped and she missed me, and I left her there laughing out loud
Then, ten seconds later, for the rest of my life, I disappeared into the crowd

I should have kissed Jamie Powell, boy, things'd been different If I'da known how
But I didn't know diddly and heaven forbid me to claim that I know something now
And I've never said it, but I still regret it
I should have kissed Jamie Powell

I tried to avoid her and act like I wasn't the night of our first Junior Prom
I danced with a church mouse and some of my cousins and one of my buddy's step mom
Through some kind of witchcraft or time warp or new math I wound up in Miss Jamie's arms
To this day it haunts me how that look in her eye should have set off a thousand alarms

I should have kissed Jamie Powell, what I didn't know then, I wish I didn't know now
Is justice poetic or am I that pathetic, but I just saw it all different somehow
'Cause now, I'm thinking, maybe, she was sent there to save me
And I didn't kiss Jamie Powell

I laid down my flower and pondered the notion of just what they meant by “Be brave”
Then I searched every face for some depth of emotion at the sight of a teenager's grave
As I stood there surrounded by the casual indifference my thoughts went to our first near miss
From sheer disillusion the only conclusion that I've ever come to is this

I should have kissed Jamie Powell
Oh I should have known better and I should have known how
And heaven can judge me for what good it does me to pretend I'd act differently now
And I might regret it - I'm trying to forget it
But I should have kissed Jamie Powell