none of you know me
nobody
none of you
i am king liar
n my nature is to type type type
in my mind i am so free
i roam around n i do what i like
i pick any fruit i want
and i make up these stupid stories
sometimes i put them to music
sometimes i paint em
sometimes i tell you about the imaginary life
of fictitious people
like david neil
like steve kilbey
like whoever else
sometimes oh my oh my
i embroider and embellish
and i tell myself so many things
that i start to believe i really am neil or kilbey
and i make imaginary records
and i do imaginary gigs
for imaginary audiences
all over my imaginary world
in reality
just like the wizard of oz
i am a decrepit phantom
hiding behind a series of shallow personae
manipulating my fantasies
with dodgy sleight of hand
and some clumsy verbal prestidigitation
i put myself thru some bad times
just so i can play the martyr
i reach for my trusty guitar
and i moan on
about how hard my cushy life is
and how i paid my dues
(when was that?)
and i reinvent my nebulous self
as some kinda romantic crusader
or some kinda ancient king
good just and wise
but oh my god
aint it all just showbiz?
sometimes i paint myself as an artist
sometimes i act like an actor
sometimes i imitate real singers with my crafty throat
sometimes i rail against something
that i’d jump at any chance to do
i am sour grapes
i am prejudice
i am envy
i am jealousy n scorn
i am a stab in the back
i am me me ME!
othertimes
i am not me
i am not myself
and i hit some vein
and im rushed and on my run
and the lights all come on
and i walk in the sun
and i find a door back to fucking ithaca
or wherever the fuck
i dunno
maybe its just more of the great lie
a lady says to me
are all your songs true or do you just make em up?
a guy says to me
why do people lie?
a childe says to me
daddy is this real or make believe?
now its funny to ask me, aint it?
seeing as how i am the unverifier
i am the most fictional character you ever saw evaporate
i have no substance
i have no real meaning
i learn to reorganize language at a meta level
simple words i use in combinations i have planned
continue to impress n affect you
but as i sit here
i wonder if i do truly exist
outside this page
if i have any other being
outside time being
as you read me i live
as you switch off i fade
as you forget me i die
whatever you think of me
i assure you
i am not even its opposite
but some diametric negation
of all your expectations
i am i am i am