you been talkin' in silence

In the first week of November,------------[book excerpt]-------------Woodward moved the flower pot and traveled to the underground garage.  Two weeks earlier, the President had fired special Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox, who had subpoenaed nine presidential tape recordings.  Attorney General Eliot Richardson and William Ruckelshaus, his deputy, had resigned.  In the shattered inner circle of the White House, the President's aides were saying that the special prosecutor had been fired because the President feared that Cox was going to prosecute him.  Then, with Cox gone, the President bowed to public opinion and a court order and surrendered seven of the tapes.  Two had never existed, his lawyers said.

Deep Throat's message was short and simple:  one or more of the tapes contained deliberate erasures.

Bernstein began calling sources at the White House.  Four of them said they had learned that the tapes were of poor quality, that there were "gaps" in some conversations.  But they did not know whether these had been caused by erasures.  Ron Ziegler told Bernstein there were no gaps or erasures in the tapes.  A story that asserted the opposite would be "inaccurate."  Bernstein proposed that the story could be held if Ziegler would pledge, on his honor, that he was absolutely sure.  "We deal in facts, not honor," Ziegler replied.

The story quoted anonymously Deep Throat's remark that there were gaps of "a suspicious nature" which "could lead someone to conclude that the tapes have been tampered with."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We've been runnin' away from
Somethin' we both know
We've long run out of things to say
And I think I better go

So don't be getting excited
Oh when you hear that slammin' door
'Cause there'll be one less set of footsteps
On you floor, in the mornin'

And we've been hidin' from somethin'
That should have never gone this far
But after all it's what we've done
That makes us what we are

And you been talkin' in silence
But if it's silence you adore
There'll be one less set of footsteps
On your floor, in the mornin'

Well baby one less set of
footsteps on your floor
One less man to walk in
One less pair of jeans on your door
One less voice a-talkin'

But tomorrow's a dream away
Today has turned to dust
Your silver tongue has turned to clay
And your golden rule to rust

If that's the way that you want it
Oh that's the way I want it more
Well there'll be one less set of footsteps
On your floor, in the mornin'

Well there'll be one less set of
footsteps on your floor
One less man to walk in
One less pair of jeans on your door
One less voice a-talkin'

But tomorrow's a dream away
And today has turned to dust
Your silver tongue has turned to clay
And your golden rule to rust

If that's the way that you want it
Oh that's the way I want it more
'Cause baby, one less set of footsteps
On your floor -- in the mornin'

Oh baby one less set of footsteps
On your floor, in the mornin'

======================
{book excerpt:  All The President's Men.  Carl Bernstein; Bob Woodward.  Copyright 1974 -- Simon & Schuster, New York.}
{song:  "One Less Set of Footsteps" -- written and recorded by Jim Croce.  Released 1973, the first single from the album Life and Times.  Billboard Hot 100 - ten weeks on the chart.  Also included on the 1974 album, Photographs & Memories - His Greatest Hits.}

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