Larger Than Life

Uncle Morty used to send me to the movies
"Here's a nickel, kid, cheer up and go"
And though I was only seven
I discovered heaven
At the R.K.O.

Blue lights, pink lights
Stars in the ceiling
An organ as big as a Buick
And a screen as tall as the Great Wall of China
Red rugs, gold stairs
Porcelain angels
And everything bigger, and better
And larger than life!

At first I was strictly a Western man
But then, one Saturday afternoon
I saw "Defender of the Crown"
Warner Brothers, 1941, Technicolor
Starring Alan Swann

Daring, loyal
Kind but courageous
A hero as big as a Buick
With a cape, a sword, and a bevy of maidens
He was movies
Me, I was seven
And gee, he was bigger, and better
And larger than life!

See, life wasn't capes, and flashing swords
And parapets
Life wasn't Alan Swann or Robin Hood
Life was your father going out for cigarettes
And deciding he was going out for good
"Here's a nickel, kid
Cheer up and go"
Swann is playing at the R.K.O.

"With the morning sun at our backs, we will this day
Write history, with our swords and our honor
Now, let us not dally
For I have this day
An engagement to mount the crown of England"

This sort of talk just doesn't come up in normal conversation

Sure, it was possible!
If he met my mom in '34
Maybe had a fling with her in his cabana at the Chateau Marmont
Well, there was every reason to believe
There could be the remote possibility that the man who went out for the Chesterfields
Wasn't my real father at all
I wasn't some stupid kid whose father got tired of him and walked out
I was the bastard son of Alan Swann!

Daring, loyal
Kind but courageous
A hero as big as I needed
In the Technicolor embrace of a maiden
Swann, my hero
And possible father
He stood, and he fought, and he never ran
Oh no
He was bigger, and better, and larger than life
And he lived for me
At the R.K.O.