Perfect Disguise (BBC Radio Session)

I put this up if people are to lazy to go and listen to the little differences.

i corrected the lyrics for this for people who do a half-assed job of posting them originally and then attack other users for being lazy

I like this version a lot better. Isaac's voice sounds really cool with the effect.

tremolo!

Chemical eyes could mean the person is drunk or on some kind of mind-altering drug, or anything contrived for that matter. Looking okay is sizing them up and declaring them trustworthy, another free-spirited substance abuser who just wants to have fun. Then she cocks her head, showing her ugly side that was never expected. I sense some betrayal here.

Every word they said may have been the advice of others who want her to lie and cheat, which they probably told her would make her smarter. It sounds like a hierarchical pyramid of shot-calling in a town ravaged by a turf war, one the songwriter was a part of at a time when he thought it was all fun and games until she did something serious to mess him up. He did imply he used to give a damn about the people, the places, the different stories behind the faces, now he can't trust anybody.

Or it could be about his mother, who left him in a flooded house because she didn't have enough room in the trailer.

Or it could all just be about the rape allegations.

I like to think of it as a song of betrayal and bad choices of friends.

Where can you get this version?

it's a bonus track on the moon and antarctica, so just look for a version of the album with like four additional tracks on it. it also has bbc session takes of 3rd planet and tiny cities made of ashes, as well as an instrumental version of custom concern.

I only listen to this version of the song anymore; it gives me the most savory haunting feeling. I also think it's interesting that this seems to be one of the few songs where he refers to woman at all; (the other one I can think of off the top of my head is "The Stars are Projectors" where he mentions God as a woman.)

"She's got the chemical eyes and you're looking OK" - seems like she is toxic, has inhuman or destructive eyes (intentions or ways), but that she still seems like she's ok; I get a very fake and insecure image from this. "From the bottom of the best and the worst, well, what can I say?" - So she is at the very bottom of everything, worst than the worst. "Well, you cocked your head to shoot me down" - Not a physical kind of hurt because it is coming from her looks, from her head, and which (IMO) is far worse than any physical pain someone can inflict upon you - these kinds emotional wounds do not heal. "And I don't give a damn about you or this town no more Now that I know the score" - I agree with the implication that at one point he did care about things, but since he figured out how things really were (possibly coming out of this naivety that he was in) he realizes that everything is fucked and not worth giving a damn about, hopeless. (Seems to have ties to "Night on the Sun" where at the end he talks about this "town being 500 miles underground...but that's alright," as in this town is all dead and buried but that's ok, I don't care anymore.)

"Well, good luck believing every word they said I hope you have enough space in your head I don't, no, but I know the score" - Maybe going back to his apathy, and saying to this woman that she can continue to care and believe what these people have to say and fill her head up with crap, but he doesn't have the room for it anymore (maybe because he has too many “real” thoughts as I like to put it, he is thinking of philosophical stuff while she is letting her head be filled up by what these other people have to say.) “Need me to fall down so you can climb up some fool-ass ladder?” — Seems to be alluding to a childish thought that the world is absolute, that for one to gain another must loose; like when a new sibling is born and the older one has the thought of now being “loved less” even though love cannot have a fixed amount, and for one to be loved does not mean you have to receive less.

Also, I just must comment on how I love the way that he wrote this whole song, adding in the “well”s to have a frank, apathetic tone. It sounds like he is speaking to this woman, not just about her, sounding so disappointed and withdrawn. I swear it gives me chills and nearly brings me to tears every time.

Shes got the chemical eyes And you're lookin okay From the bottom of the best to the worst What i can say? Well you cocked your head, to shoot me down, And i don't give a damn about you Or this town No more No, now i know the score

Well, good luck believing every word they said And i hope you have a enough room in your head i don't But i know the score

You need me to fall down so you can climb up Some fool ass ladder, well good luck I hope; I hope theres something better than that.

Cuz you cocked your head, To shoot me down and i dont give a shit about you or this town No more. No now that i know the score

Well shes got the chemical eyes And you're lookin okay From the bottom of the best to the worst What can i say?