Fair Thee Well

The limelight fame
Is a cruel, cruel game
As the spotlight fades
Innocence a darker shade

Backstage to stage the curtains raise
The show goes on, the music plays
The puppeteer pulls the strings
The marionette crowd cheers & sings
The jester laughs upon the floor
The minstrel sings one more encore
Fair thee well theatre halls
Fair thee well to curtain calls

Once upon a storytime
A tale told in nursery rhyme
Gather 'round! Come one, come all
The story of a wooden doll
Once who whistled & lept for joy
Wishing to be a real boy
But, tricked into a peddler's game
Away from the home whence he came

Bought and sold to a gypsy show
But, little did the wooden boy know
Town to town he sang & danced
A puppet with no strings attached
From the carriage to the stage
And, back again to his bird cage
'Twas too late for him to see
The actor's life is not for me

Boys and girls, young and old
Turn into Pinocchio
The Honest Johns betray for gold
Welcome to the Stromboli show!
Dancing down the aisle to Pleasure Isle

Backstage to stage the curtains raise
The show goes on, the music plays
The puppeteer pulls the strings
The marionette crowd cheers & sings
The jester laughs upon the floor
The minstrel sings one more encore
Fair thee well theatre halls
Fair thee well to curtain calls

Circus chaos and crime
The cost is on the coachman's dime
Sold into the salt mine
The Pleasure Isle and carnival mile
Grows the nose of Pinocchios
Lies hide the truth inside
Tom foolery of loafer Lampys
Sprouts the tail of a donkey
The Jiminys & the blue fairies
Shan't always hear the pleas
Of foolish little boys and girls
Tricked in their naïveté
Dancing down the aisle
To Pleasure Isle

Backstage to stage the curtains raise
The show goes on, the music plays
The puppeteer pulls the strings
The marionette crowd cheers & sings
The jester laughs upon the floor
The minstrel sings one more encore
Fair thee well theatre halls
Fair thee well to curtain calls

The lights go down
All around
Back to the cage
Another crowd
Another stage