The World of Lies | A Year of Songs

Meet me in the world of lies...

There are lies. There are damnable lies.

And there are pretty lies you want to live inside forever.

You want them whispered to you. You want to hear them in your dreams. You want to find them scribbled on notes and stuck on the refrigerator in the morning.

And when they’re just a fading, bittersweet memory… you long to hear them again — one more time.

Internet Archive page for this recording

THE WORLD OF LIES

Meet me in the world of lies
let’s be hypnotized…

You know that love
is just a foolish game
it always fades away
I know that you won’t stay
but at least you’re here today

Meet me in the world of lies
let’s be hypnotized
Something in me dies
every time a dream slips by

I know that I’ll always be alone
I know life is just to die
a wise man gives up the world
but I guess I’m just not that wise

Meet me in the world of lies
let’s be hypnotized
Don’t let this dream die
meet me in the world of lies

Summer 1983

World of Lies

Written in the summer of 1983… I was looking for something to shore up the romantic end of my song portfolio, which, after the punk years, was looking a little threadbare.

But what came out was this song that laces cynicism with romanticism (me, I think the two go hand in hand — unlike love and cynicism, say) but manages, I like to think, to still suggest an honest, soul deep yearning. Or not.

It may seem strange, 22 years after its writing, that I’ve never gotten a proper, produced recording of this song onto tape or disk — but I have often included it in live sets. I keep thinking I’ll look up in the middle of performing it in some coffee house or dive and lock eyes with my next soul-mate, I guess.

This version gets the chords and words right but I’m still looking to the future to capture the song’s true essence. You should pardon the expression.