Mademoiselle Cliché de Paris / On the Corner of the Rue Cambon

Lyrics

[COCO, spoken] I refuse to serenade the deaf And search the eyes of the blind for recognition I will not demean myself trying to [COCO] Penetrate the skulls of these Neanderthals Or reach a heart that's coated with enamel Shall I drive myself to drink For some ruffians who think That chic is someone riding on a camel? [COCO, spoken] Do you expect me to conduct a course In who I am and what I've done? Shall I wander around Paris intеrrupting conversations with [COCO] "Pardon me"—and tell thеm my entire life? Of living with those relatives I dreaded 'Til I gazed in someone's eyes Packed a suitcase full of lies And came to Paris blissfully unwedded Blissfully unwedded to [COCO, spoken] Julian Lesage Julian regarded me as his proudest possession We wintered in Paris, summered in the Pyrenees [?] Lake Como Julian thought I was one in a million I knew I was one of a million [COCO] More than regal Less than legal Siren singing Caution flinging Mademoiselle Cliché de Paris Weak but able Ergo sable Laughing, winking Diamonds clinking Mademoiselle Cliché de Paris But this mademoiselle A sadder moiselle I very soon became Try as I may I just couldn't play That wayward game Or do the same As every standard Courtesan did Cloying, giddy Grinning, idi- Otically Was too much for me Than do all that for bed and board I'd rather be in bed and bored And never be A worn out cliché de Paris [JULIAN, spoken] Is this a game? If so, then stop You simply can't have said you want to rent a shop? A shop for whom? Now wait, chérie Just where, my friend do you intend this shop to be? [COCO] Not on the vulgar Rue St. Honoré Or Rue Royale, where all the riffraff roam It's much too snobbish on the Rue Faubourg And rather phallic on the Place Vendôme I'm always seasick on the Île St. Louis Too many tourists on the Rue de Rivoli Not the Seine or Madeleine The Opéra or St. Germain The Rue de Bac or Rue Richer The Rue de Lille? I'd rue the day Not in the center of the Place Gaillon But on the corner of the Rue Cambon