Cape And Tights

Filling up another page,
she prints it out an feeds another sheet.
Not the life she pictured,
but it's only for another couple weeks
and then she writes for herself,
piled up like the book it's never been;
just a couple chapters,
then it's time for rent, so time to temp again.

And it's so humiliating,
writing words for a man who barely talks.
If she had the money now
she'd need all of her strength not just to walk
but no-one knows her real face;
too surprising to the ones she's showed.
So until everything's ready
no-one else is ever going to know.

(chorus)
My super-ego is one everybody knows.
You only get to see me in my working clothes.
It's hard to hold my powers back.
It's hard to take things on my back.
But when you tear my shirt,
it's my cape and tights that show.

Pulling on an orange vest
he holds a flag in the steaming asphalt heat.
Every night when he gets home
his mother curses the tar upon his feet,
and all her friends think;
'The guitar's a harmless way to pass the time.'
'cause they've never read the three book
gilt and leather legend in his mind.

(chorus)

Filling up your coffee cup
he flips his hair in insolent disdain.
'If you only knew,' he thinks,
'I'm reading every thought inside your brain.
I'm not some stupid little high school stoner
that you're trying to cross.
I'll come back and buy the chairs,
the tables,
all the stir sticks
and the boss.

(chorus)

(March 1996 by Colin Halyk)

Colin: lead and harmony vocals, guitars, piano
Mark: harmony vocals, bass
Malcolm: drums, tambourine

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