The Actor

(album: Rudebox - 2006)

Principal actors to the stage please
Act One is about to begin in eight seconds

First you can't act
Now you can't stop
(What's my motivation)
I used to like you a lot
(I was the class nerd)
Exactly who I'm supposed to be
(I'm totally Strasberg)
You play a Doctor on TV
(What you're doing is so brave)
Deep down you're dirty but you try
(I'm a good person)
The truth would break you so you lie
(I want my work to matter)
It's in the choices that you make
(I want to inspire)
No talent, just fate

I don't know where you begin
I end, we start again
They need you, love
We all watch the actor acting
The actor acting

Good from far but far from good
(All I have is my instinct)
You love to act, I wish you would
(It's not acting, it's reacting)
Act like you're not from out of space
(When I'm on stage I feel alive)
You know ambition isn't grace
(For me it's the craft)
Made of sex, Maida Vale
(Would I do better in New York)
You are the alpha male
(I'm just too pretty for that role)
You are the good, you are the great
(The words have power)
Now let me fill you with my hate

I don't know where you begin
I end, we start again
They need you, love
We all watch the actor acting

Monroe
(Monroe)
Barrymore
(Barrymore)
Mansfield
(Mansfield)
D-D-D-D-Dame-D-Dame-D-Dame Judi Dench
(Judi Dench)
Madonna
Ritchie
(Ritchie....Ritchie, Ritchie, Ritchie)
Streep
Close
Hepburn
Burt Reynolds
Niven
Danson
Bundy
Bardot
Joaquin, Joaquin, Joaquin, Joaquin, Joaquin, Joaquin, Joaquin, Joaquin, Joaquin, Joaquin
Swank

I don't know where you begin
I end, we start again
They need you, love
We all watch the actor acting

I don't know where you begin
I end, we start again
They need you, love
We all watch the actor acting

In the future
Everybody will be anonymous
For fifteen minutes
You are, we all are, a test card
The stars of CCTV
We are the nature of the Beast