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The Actor

from City Lights by Padraig O'Connor

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about

This song is was inspired by a couple of actors I met, who weren't very good at acting themselves, but of course you always end up writing about yourself. It's yin and yang, the introspective shy introvert who hides in the wings, and the stupefied clumsy extrovert who takes centre stage. I always had the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde in mind when I wrote it, based on a Scottish doctor who purportedly prepared and dabbled in something analogous to cocaine, which threw him for a loop to put it mildly. It's about duplicity, identity crisis, and the trouble with addiction. It's also about the self, and the difficulty crossing the divide between thought and expression and authenticity in society, and it's also about four minutes long. There are lots of sound effects: UFO noises, blood curdling screams, a clown riding a unicycle, groans & gurgles, applause & apologies, sniffs, snippets, Shakespeare, the circus, cellos, the kitchen sink and Carry On Cleo. Video coming soon. Watch this space!

lyrics

You’re not the person you say, it’s like you put on a play

You’re not all that you appear, the curtain falls and you disappear from the stage

The morning after


You’re not a shy one are you? Who knows why someone like you

Spends all their time underground, takes their cue from the sound of the audience’s applause

You love to hog the spotlight, never forgetting your lines

And when the stage snow starts to fall, it’s like the belle at the ball, wallflowers peel off the walls


Chorus:

The play they’re showing tonight, it’s starring Mr Stagefright

And when you enter stage right, after a few of your lines (sniff sniff)

We know we’re in for a show, then enters Mr Ego. Tonight, it’s Jekyl & Hyde..


Don’t like to see you this way, acting like everything’s great

I just can’t figure you out, why do you need to act out

The role of Hamlet Act 3, screaming: “Infamy! They’ve all got it in for me !”


And when the morning arrives, old Romeo has retired

With his poisoned Juliet, but she’s just another actress

He leaves her there on the bed and crawls back into his head

He disappears from the stage the morning after

credits

from City Lights, released November 21, 2018

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Padraig O'Connor Madrid, Spain

Padraig O'Connor is an Irish singer-songwriter based in Madrid, Spain.

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