Dress Rehearsal Rag
Four o'clock in the afternoon, and I didn't feel like very much
I said to myself "where are you golden boy, where's your famous golden touch?"
I thought you knew where all the elephants lie down
I thought you were the crowned prince of all the wheels in ivory town
Just take a look at your body now
There's nothing much to save
And a bitter voice in the mirror cries
"Hey prince! You need a shave"
Now if you could manage to get your trembling fingers to behave
Why don't you try unwrapping a stainless-steel razor blade?
That's right it's come to this...
Yes it's come to this...
And wasn't it a long way down?
Wasn't it a strange way down?
There's no hot water and the cold is running thin
Well what do you expect from the kind of places you've been living in?
Don't drink from that cup it's all caked and cracked along the rim
That's not the electric light, my friend, that is your vision growing dim
Cover up your face with soap there, now you're Santa Claus
And you've got a gift for anyone who will give you his applause
I thought you were a racing man, ah
But you couldn't take the pace
That's a funeral in the mirror
And it's stopping at your face
That's right it's come to this...
Yes it's come to this...
And wasn't it a long way down?
Wasn't it a strange way down?
Once there was a path and a girl with chestnut hair
And you passed the summers picking all of the berries that grew there
There were times she was a woman, oh there were times she was just a child
And you held her in the shadows where the raspberries grow wild
And you climbed the twilight mountains
And you sang about the view
And everywhere you wandered love seemed to go along with you
That's a hard one to remember yes it makes you clench your fist
And the veins stand out like highways
All along your wrist
And yes it's come to this...
Yes it's come to this...
And wasn't it a long way down?
Wasn't it a strange way down?
You can still find a job, go out and talk to a friend
On the back of every magazine there are those coupons you can send
Why don't you join the Rosicrucians? They will bring you back your hope
You can find your love with diagrams on a plain brown envelope
But you've used up all your coupons
Except the one that seems
To be written on your wrist
Along with several thousand dreams
Now Santa Claus comes forward
That's a razor in his mitt
And he puts on his dark glasses
And he shows you where to hit
And then the cameras pan
The stand-in stunt man
Dress rehearsal rag
It's just the dress rehearsal rag
You know this dress rehearsal rag
It's just the dress rehearsal rag...
