Portrait In Black Velvet

Lyrics

[Verse 1] Come with me now into a piece of velvet And a plastic painter's daring dance of death We'll journey very far into the surface Those not used to diving, hold your breath [Verse 2] The lady of my dream paints scars of velvet On the mirror are the words she chose to speak And there the heavy hands that hang suspended Wrote the Easter undertaker's laughter breaks [Chorus] "Painter," she cried, "It's mourning" She stared like a saint undone Cried, "Painter, look, it's morning And we cannot find the sun" [Verse 3] I offered her my cap and tiny shovel Saying, "Surely this will hide you from the sun I obtained it from a banker in depression He was a memory from 1931" [Verse 4] She butchers up her meat in careful quarters For she knows the prize at stake is very high And she builds a worn cliché into a climax For she knows that she will barely get by [Chorus] "Painter," she cried, "It's mourning" She stared like a saint undone Cried, "Painter, look, it's morning And we cannot find the sun" [Post-Chorus] Lady, return my dream It wasn't free, it's not for sale Lady, return my dream And let me go on with the telling of my tale [Verse 5] Her gentle voice cried quietly to thank me "It's nothing," the hollow answer said I let her ride the railroad line nowhere And left the lost survivor on her bed [Chorus] Cried, "Painter, look, it's mourning" She stared like a saint undone Cried, "Painter, look, it's morning And we cannot find the sun" [Post-Chorus] Lady, return my dream It once was real, it held my life Portrait ends in a scream Two hearts sewn together with a knife