Pale Compromises

Commentary:
This was my attempt to translate Pirandello and Sartre into the language and world of the blues. This is a song about being percieved by the Other-- about how even those who most love you love not you, but a version of you that they have themselves have constructed. Ultimately we have no control of the way we are percieved by others, no control of the image we see reflected in the mirror or in another pair of eyes... at least according to this song. I used an image from a soliloquy in Pirandello's Henry IV as a point of departure.

Lyrics:

I'm a beggar babe
Beggar at the gates of your eyes
I'm a beggar babe
Beggar at the gates of your eyes
You might think you see me baby
But its just some other guy.

They're shining baby
like they was made of glass
You know your eyes are shining baby
like they was made of glass.
Bouncing back pictures of my face
that make me look like such an ass.

I want to grab it baby
Tear it from the wells of your eyes.
I want to grab it baby
Tear it from the wells of your eyes.
Stab and mutilate that face
Till it looks more like mine.

But I can't touch it babe
It's weightless as a cloud in the sky
No I can't touch it babe
It's weightless as a cloud in the sky
I guess I can't change the way you love me
But I can't see know reason why.

I'm a stranger baby
Clawing at the walls of your eyes
I'm a stranger baby
Clawing at the walls of your eyes
I just want to look into those mirrors
and recognize myself inside.

But maybe that's all that I am, baby
I only live inside your heart
Maybe that's all that I am, baby
I only live inside your heart
and maybe I should start to doubt myself
like that fucker named Descartes.

I'm a beggar babe
Beggar at the gates of your eyes
I'm a beggar babe
Beggar at the gates of your eyes
You might think you see me baby
But its just some other guy.