All This Useless Beauty

Shall we agree that just this once
I'm gonna change my life
Until it's just as tiny or important as you like?

And in time we won't even recall that we spoke
Words that turned out to be as big as smoke
As smoke that disappears in the air
There's always something that's smoldering somewhere

I know it don't make a difference to you
But oh! it sure made a difference to me
You'll see me off in the distance, i hope
At the other end
At the other end of the telescope.

The promise of indulgence in my confidential voice
Approached immortal danger but you'll never know how close
Then down the hall i overheard such a heavenly choir
They interrupted my evil designs
One day you are up in the clouds
The next thing you're down with the sweet adelines

(chorus)

Lie down baby now don't say a word
There there baby your vision is blurred
Your head is so sore from all of that thinking
I don't want to hurt you now
But i think you're shrinking

You're half-naked ambition and you're half out of your wits
Or several tiny fractions that this portrait still omits
And it's so hard to pick the receiver up when i call
I never noticed you could be so small
The answer was under your nose but the question never arose

I know it don't make a difference to you
But oh! it sure made a difference to me
'cause late in the evening as i sit here moping
With a bamboo needle on a shellac of chopin
And the cast-iron heart that you failed to tear open
At the other end
At the other end of the telescope

I expect you're entitled to know why i'm making contact
With acquaintances scattered all over the land
I'd promise you now and again that i'd honour the contract
If it hadn't crumbled away in my hand
So we broke that vow independently now
But i don't know why you absolutely deny

You bowed down (you bowed down, you bowed down)
You bowed down (you bowed down, you bowed down)

When you first looked away i might say it was really a kindness
It must have hurt you to see how dreams sour
Now they say that justice and love are the next things to blindness
Well you're getting plenty of both of them now
And so you parade where appointments are made
And never meant to be kept
Unless you accept

You bowed down (you bowed down, you bowed down)
You bowed down (you bowed down, you bowed down)

You value the burnt amber of falling leaves
And you long to delay
As you feel their breath as they whisper
"it won't hurt you now to betray
If you just bow down"

And now every time that we meet on the edge of hysteria
You're helping them sell off some new party line
I remember a time when you would have seemed so superior
Now you say "will you please meet this good friend of mine?"
So you're in demand as long as you kiss their hand
But all the applause is for their name not yours

You bowed down (you bowed down, you bowed down)
You bowed down (you bowed down, you bowed down)
You bowed down (you bowed down, you bowed down)
You bowed down (you bowed down, you bowed down)
You bowed down
You bowed down
You bowed down
You bowed down

Strange things seem to occur, somewhere behind the nursery door
Though i was just a bit of a kid, it was the bit that she was looking for
Now i don't know where to begin confessing
The way she's making me feel it can't be a sin

I was taught to believe you were looking down on everyone
And your benevolent face is beautiful to gaze upon
Now i just don't know who to tell to go to hell
Who put the old devil in the distorted angel?

Distorted angel
Pure illuminated sweetness
Frightening small children is just about your only weakness
I thought that you would tell me what i'm living for
But i can't see you anymore

I don't know what we did but i'm sorry if it made you cry
And if there's any justice at all i'd be punished for it i'd surmise
It will mark the spot very well where i fell
Under the shadow of the distorted angel
Beneath the shadow of the distorted angel
Below the shadow of the distorted angel
Angel
Beneath the shadow of the distorted angel
Below the shadow of the distorted angel
Angel

It's at times such as this she'd be tempted to spit
If she wasn't so ladylike
She imagines how she might have lived
Back when legends and history collide
So she looks to her prince finding he's so charmingly
Slumped at her side
Those days are recalled on the gallery wall
And she's waiting for passion or humour to strike

What shall we do, what shall we do with all this useless beauty?
All this useless beauty

Good friday arrived, the sky darkened on time
'til he almost began to negotiate
She held his head like a baby and said "it's okay if you cry"
Now he wants her to dress as if you couldn't guess
He desires to impress his associates
But he's part ugly beast and hellenic deceased
So she finds that the mixture is hard to deny

Chorus

She won't practice the looks from the great tragic books
That were later disgraced to face celluloid
It won't even make sense but you can bet
If she isn't a sweetheart or plaything or pet
The film turns her into an unveiled threat

Nonsense prevails, modesty fails
Grace and virtue turn into stupidity
While the calendar fades almost all barricades to a pale compromise
And our leaders have feasts on the backsides of beasts
They still think they're the gods of antiquity
If something you missed didn't even exist
It was just an ideal -- is it such a surprise?

Chorus [x2]

It's started to come to me
Your new career would probably end like this
All that professional lipstick pressed into an amateur kiss
Farewell to the studied lines and carefully broken hearts
The overpowering perfume and the glimpse of her garter
Mingling with the sweet smoldering scent of the martyr
Well it's starting to come to me (come to me, come to me)
Starting to come to me

So you began to recognize the well-dressed man that everybody loves
It started when you chopped off all the fingers of those pony skin gloves
Then you cut a hole out where the lovelight used to shine
Your tears of pleasure equal measure crocodile and brine
You try to laugh it off saying "i knew all the time...
But it's starting to come to me" (come to me, come to me)
Starting to come to me

Sometimes you bring me down to play reluctant confidant
You say you may reward him if he gives you what you want
But these are days to treasure and to hold
They are much too precious to be sold
You'd probably play the pirate if you weren't so busy digging up the gold

Now you could tell he wanted you 'cause you almost taste it on his breath
But you always cheated life just like the bold dare-devil cheated death
Incidentally, late last night your understudy finally got what you deserve
In private she's seductive but in public she's prim, porcelain and nervous
Afraid someone will recognize the shame in her eyes
You've still got your dignity or the next best disguise
You never know when to say no and when to compromise
But it's starting to come to me (come to me, come to me)
Starting to come to me (come to me, come to me)
Starting to come to me

I want to vanish
This is my fondest wish
To go where i cannot be captured
Laid on a decorated dish
Even in splendor this curious fate
Is more than i care to surrender
Now it's too late

Whether in wonder or indecent haste
You arrange the mirrors and the spools
To snare the rare and precious jewels
That were only made of paste

If you should stumble upon my last remark
I'm crying in the wilderness
I'm trying my best to make it dark
How can i tell you i'm rarer than most
I'm certain as a lost dog
Pondering a sign post

Chorus

I want to vanish
This is my last request
I've given you the awful truth
Now give me my rest