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Cindy Of A Thousand Lives Lyrics
Blue velvet America
Half glimpsed in the headlights between the trees
Who punctured the beauty
And invited monsters such as these
The pig faced boy, the corrupted clown
The grotesque figure who never comes into town
Something broken, something stained
Something waiting for the worms to claim
And you can never go there again
Except in nightmares
The voyeur who dares not come near
Knows excitement is merely the beginning of fear
My shadow came this morning
And left some candy in my shoe
They're always watching me
Watching the things I do
Cindy of a thousand lives
Cindy of the Stepford Wives
I've looked at all the photographs
But Cindy, which one of them is you?
Half glimpsed in the headlights between the trees
Who punctured the beauty
And invited monsters such as these
The pig faced boy, the corrupted clown
The grotesque figure who never comes into town
Something broken, something stained
Something waiting for the worms to claim
And you can never go there again
Except in nightmares
The voyeur who dares not come near
Knows excitement is merely the beginning of fear
My shadow came this morning
And left some candy in my shoe
They're always watching me
Watching the things I do
Cindy of a thousand lives
Cindy of the Stepford Wives
I've looked at all the photographs
But Cindy, which one of them is you?
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Surely a reference to Cindy Sherman the photographer. Brilliant images of herself. Not one of Billy's best songs, but I couldn't let it have no comments.
@Nearvana - the song takes on new meaning now that I know it's about Cindy Sherman. If you look at the photographs she's taken, it's a perfect fit.
@Nearvana - the song takes on new meaning now that I know it's about Cindy Sherman. If you look at the photographs she's taken, it's a perfect fit.
The pig faced boy, the corrupted clown, the grotesque figure who never comes into town.
The pig faced boy, the corrupted clown, the grotesque figure who never comes into town.
Thanks - it all makes sense now.
Thanks - it all makes sense now.
Cindy Sherman, for sure, but only after the bridge. It's as if Billy had seen an exhibition of Sherman's photos just before re-watching David Lynch's 1986 film Blue Velvet.
Think back on the film (if you dare) while reading the lyrics. Blue Velvet America: a punctured beauty, headlights revealing the dark underbelly of the town, nightmares, an ear waiting for worms to claim it, a corrupted clown on a sofa, a voyeur who dares not come near. Near the end, Bragg mentions another film about America stopping at nothing to present a spotless image — The Stepford Wives.
All in all, the song is more about the film and might easily have been titled David of a Thousand Lives. Then again, Sherman (who listed Lynch as an inspiration in a New York Times article) is perhaps even more interested than Lynch in how the truly ugly is easily masked and called wholesome and beautiful. She is also known for using blue velvet in her pictures. In the end, Bragg is asking America, when he asks Cindy: "Which one of them is you?"
[Edit: punctuation]