Two-Faced Man [new song video]
🎼 LIVING-ROOM VIDEO #58: “Two-Faced Man” 🎼 A driving ‘song of conscience’ dedicated to all politicians everywhere. This is ostensibly a new song, though it has been lying unfinished in a ‘drawer’ for more than 15 years and is now complete — having had a number of verses added, many bits changed, and an arrangement made for it. I say more about it in the introduction in the video. Here are the lyrics:
That crevice in your face has grown
so huge that all your thoughts are shown —
your lack of morals clear for all to see.
And climbing in to find what’s there,
its treasures and its arts to share,
I marvelled at the lack of things to say.
I tried to match the halves in one,
but when I did the face was gone
and in its place a grinning skull did stare;
It seemed to call out to the crowd,
and mesmerised they came, heads bowed:
‘Do with me what you will’ was their response.
Oh two-faced man
Oh two-faced man
Oh two-faced man
You ask the world to vote for you,
contending what you say is true,
subverting all that decent folks hold dear.
Your down-home charm and smug-filled drawl
which fools the world (makes my skin crawl)
disguises all the killing fields you grew.
You send young folks off to the wars,
that place where guns and planes do roar,
and claim that they fulfil a higher cause.
The only cause you’ve ever known
by a one-eyed sorceress was sewn
and tailor-made in hell for you to wear.
Oh two-faced man
Oh two-faced man
Oh two-faced man
You make out like you rule the roost
but all you do is reproduce
the dark plans served up by your masters hid.
You only ask the world to vote
as a front so you can sugarcoat
the schemes your masters long planned anyway.
You never know which way to turn
so people see your heart and learn
that there is no good side for them to see.
It’s ‘Hobson’s Choice’, they take their pick;
they’d better learn to take it quick
before you have a change of face again.
Oh two-faced man
Oh two-faced man
Oh two-faced man
You live the lie; no one knows why,
your evil will good folks pass by
though they will by your booted foot be crushed.
That’s only how it seems to you,
although it really won’t be true,
for spirits by your type cannot be touched.
You represent a world which fades
away, and all your escapades
are only dirt which spewed from darkened hearts.
I’ve looked but could not find your soul;
you’re just an actor in a role,
and yet this foolish world gives you their votes.
Oh two-faced man
Oh two-faced man
Oh two-faced man
I’ve news for you: I’m not alone —
the minds that think and act have grown,
resisting your destructive way of life.
And if you were to kill them all
and put them up against a wall,
you’ll only dig your own grave deeper still.
When all the mayhem in the world
has run its course — its truth unfurled —
you’ll have to make a case for all you’ve done.
Your God (the one you thought you knew)
will say these words (and turn the screw):
“You thought you knew me, but I don’t know you”.
Oh two-faced man
Oh two-faced man
Oh two-faced man
© Alan Morrison, 2020
The Naked Troubadour 