Masquerade

[00:12.98] Come in, little moth, beckoned to the flame

[00:18.47] Grace us with a dance, welcome to the masquerade

[00:22.97] Take wing, my angel, break off your chains

[00:25.97] Rapture is a haven where the great are not constrained

[00:28.48] Feel how the freedom of expression liberates!

[00:31.22] But the ebb and flow will come and go in waves

[00:33.73] Strip away the artifice - of what are you made?

[00:36.23] A medium of blood and flesh, let the world become a stage

[00:38.97] There's an art to war and a war to art the same

[00:41.73] But I am not the one with which a war you want to wage

[00:44.48] Make a weapon of the instrument you play

[00:46.97] But if the key's predictable the signature must change

[00:49.73] I've laid you down a canvas which shortly you will stain

[00:52.22] With a palette of your sweat and tears coursing through your veins

[00:54.97] Is an unconceived masterpiece, put the paint to practice

[00:57.73] Unadulterated till your hands take action

[01:00.47] Make crickets of the critics, all devoid of thought or vision

[01:02.97] Unfamiliar to our labor with irreverent opinion

[01:05.73] Plaster them with imperfect purpose

[01:08.48] Bare yourself, draw back the curtains

[01:11.22] Show us how tragic your story is

[01:13.73] After all I know you've wanted an audience

[01:16.47] Underneath your untested, unquestioned desire

[01:18.98] Lies a disdained creator - dishonesty conspires

[01:21.73] To supplies ingenuity with ugliest conformance

[01:24.23] Put your mask on, give us a performance

[01:27.23] You want perfection? Lost in pursuit of it?

[01:37.98] Take my direction, I can lead you to it

[01:42.97] The audience is not your friend, you just love their applause

[01:47.98] Cause an honest artist isn't what they want, better off with the mask on

[01:53.98] So take the mask off

[01:59.48] Upon the curtains' closure, tell me was it all a facade, little moth?

[02:09.47] When the masquerade is over will you keep it on or rip it off?

[02:14.98] Do you know your part in the play? The role for which you've been cast?

[02:20.47] Go forth, flutter and frolic, no more keep up an act

[02:25.73] As you become your mask, demand validation

[02:28.48] Back for an encore, standing ovation

[02:30.98] Dance to your heart's content with elation

[02:33.72] The phantom just began has manifestation

[02:36.48] The product of an operatic equation

[02:38.99] Your ballad's become an uncensored sensation

[02:41.47] Blessed in inception - damned in creation

[02:44.47] As you find violence your hand's motivation

[02:47.23] Rage is a symphony, glistening with crimson

[02:49.72] Your vigor is a gift with which you've been christened

[02:52.47] An artistic epiphany is blissful if you listen

[02:54.98] As the visionaries, are we ever crippled with precision

[02:57.73] But the gravest sin committed is abandoning conviction

[03:00.48] If you're guilty of it you'll be granted no admission

[03:02.98] Tickets are revoked for all irrelevant opinions

[03:05.72] Unoriginality is not a fixable condition

[03:08.73] I've disposed of my disciples, I'm without a muse

[03:14.22] They wore such unbecoming judgement, but I'm bound to you

[03:20.48] My fickle inspiration might just be found in you

[03:24.47] Little moth, you are my Songbird, now don't sing out of tune

[03:29.97] I'm searching for the perfect harmony, but all I can find is dissonance! It's my curse, my fucking curse!

[03:39.22] I must seduce the ear, delight the spirit

[03:42.97] A song is reviled if no one should revere it

[03:45.98] So I want you all, yet none at all, to hear it

[03:48.48] I've come to love a crowd just so much as fear it

[03:51.23] No gods or kings, only man

[03:53.48] No divine intervention with these mortal hands

[03:56.23] The spotlights hot and all eyes are drawn

[03:58.97] My makeups flaking, but my smile is on

[04:02.22] You want perfection? Lost in pursuit of it?

[04:07.47] Take my direction, I can lead you to it

[04:12.49] The audience is not your friend, you just love their applause

[04:17.48] Cause an honest artist isn't what they want, better off with the mask on

[04:23.47] (Vocals)

[04:29.73] Presto! Fantastic! Presto!