All This Useless Beauty

When i fall in endless sleep
I hope that i'll be buried deep
Let me be the one that fortune favours
Even good children got shallow graves

Throw another clown to the lions
Throw another joan on the blaze
Cast me away on the cruel calm ocean
And leave me for days and days and days and days and days
I won't lie in this poor shallow grave
I won't lie, i won't lie in this poor shallow grave
Dig me down deep where the dead men sleep
I won't lie in this poor shallow grave

Bless the poor 'cos like the rich
They all end up in a ditch
In this world of fools and knaves
Even good children got shallow graves
The tinker, the tailor, the fabulous five
Nobody gets out of this alive

Chorus
Dig me down deep where the dead men sleep
I won't lie in this poor shallow grave
Dig me down deep where the dead men sleep
I won't lie in this poor shallow grave
Dig me down, dig me down, dig me down deep
I won't lie in this poor shallow grave

I arose and marigold lay down with curious iris
Cherry gave to victor her prudence and her virus
For the sake of purity i can recall the time and place
Between wisdom and murder she gave up her immaculate face

My poor belated chastity fell foul of grown up games,
With false and lovely modesty
I can recall the names i'll miss
In the particle of me that cares for this
I betrayed those little atoms with a kiss

Patience has her virtue still
But every grace must have its price
I through some felicity may spin a tale of constant vice
I took my better nature out, drowned it in the babbling stream
Took the blossom of my youth and blew it all to smithereens

Chorus

And if you still don't like my song then you can just go to hell
I don't care if i'm right or wrong or if my typewriter can spell
But i cannot promise you i've said "goodbye" to childish things
There's still some pretty insults left and such sport in threatening

Chorus

And for the sake of clarity
They are "faith", "hope", and "charity"
In the particle of me that cares for this
I betrayed those little atoms with a kiss

The party's over
Your time is up
You've had your last pointless teardrop
Washed down in that broken coffee cup
This magic moment concludes when that cigarette ends
Did you get what you wanted?
Well i suppose that depends
Well i suppose that depends

If you go, if you go
Where passion is squandered and money is spent
It's time, it's time
It's time, it's time
It's time, it's time, it's time
You must see it's time that you went
You must see it's time that you went

Our brief acquaintance was such a mistake
Now it seems more like a sentence
Or something you always had to fake
This magic moment concludes when they turn out the light
It's not the days when you leave me
But all i fear are the nights
But all i fear are the nights

Chorus

You told the same joke to me too many times
I wish that someone would hit it
Just before you reach
Just before you reach
Just before you reach the punchline

The party's over
Time we broke up
It always seemed like a bad dream
One where i finally woke up
This magic moment concluding our mutual fate
But if you do have to leave me
Who will i have left to hate?
Who will i have left to hate?

Chorus

Well you know your time has come and you're sorry for what you've done
You should've never have been playing with a gun
In those complicated shadows
Well there's a line that you must toe
And it'll soon be time to go
But it's darker than you know in those complicated shadows

All you gangsters and rude clowns
Who were shooting up the town
When you should have found someone to put the blame on
Though the fury's hot and hard
I still see that cold graveyard
There's a solitary stone that's got your name on

You don't have to take it from me
But i know what i spake
You think you're like iron and steel
But iron and steel will bend and break
In those complicated shadows

Go!

Sometimes justice you will find
Is just dumb not colour-blind
And your poor shattered mind can't take it all in
All those phantoms and those shades
Should jump up on judgement day
And say to the almighty "i'm still stinking of sin"

But the jury was dismissed
Took his neck and they give it a twist
So you see you won't be missed in those complicated shadows

You can say just what you like in a voice like a john ford film
Take the law into your hands
You will soon get tired of killing
In those complicated shadows
Complicated shadows
Complicated shadows
Complicated shadows

Go!

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

Why can't a man stand alone?
Must he be burdened by all that he's taught to consider his own?
His skin and his station, his kin and his crown, his flag and his nation
They just weigh him down
You know pride is a sin that we tend to forgive
But it gets hard to live
When you don't have the love in her heart to begin with
Why can't a man stand alone?

Why can't a woman be just what she seems?
Must she be tarnished by men who can only be men in their dreams?
When beauty meets ignorance they shout in the street
Repeating their offer to each girl they meet
The respect that she needs, it isn't a gift
But it gets hard to lift yourself up
When you don't have the strength to begin with
Why can't a woman stand alone?

Why can't a baby sleep at night and dream of the time to come
And never fear the world outside the touch of someone very near
Why can't a man stand up?
Why can't a man stand up?
Why can't a man stand alone?