Stage Name

(album: What's It Gonna Take? - 2022)

It's a stage name
Not a real name
Could it be a nickname
Or a make-it-stick name
It's a stage name
Not a real name
Could it be a nickname
Have-to-make-it-stick name

Travel incognito
Move behind the scenes
Stay under the radar
If I wanna follow my dream
Leave it all behind me
Make my getaway
Maybe the grass is greener
From far away

It's a stage name
Not a real name
Could it be a nickname
Or a make-it-stick name
It's a stage name
Not a real name
Could it be a nickname
Have-to-make-it-stick name

Must have been off the rails
To believe in a movie star name
It may have seemed like a good idea
At the time
Well, further on up the timeline
It no longer jibes, but undermines
I guess I'll have to go back
To my proper real name

It's my stage name
It's not my real name
Could be a nickname
I-have-to-make-it-stick name
It's my stage name
It's not my real name
Might be my nickname
I-have-to-make-it-stick name

Why not ask Ringo and Sting
Tell me, what about Bing?
If every woman and man is a star
How do you know who you are?
If Thomas Woodward is Tom Jones
Then I know I'm not alone
And if Cliff is Harry Webb
And Clive is Georgie Fame
Maurice Micklewhite
What the hell?
Man, this is really insane
Have we gone off the rails
Or is this just a name game?

It's my stage name
Not my real name
Could be a nickname
Have-to-make-it-stick name
It's my stage name
It's not my real name
Could be my nickname
Have-to-make-it-stick— say it again
It's my stage name
It's not my real name
It used to be my nickname
I-have-to-make-it-stick name
It's my stage name
It's not my real name
It used to be my nickname
Now-I-make-it-stick name