Masks (BBC Version)

Masks (BBC Radio One John Peel Session / 1976) - Van Der Graaf Generator

He's a man of the past

And one of the present

A man who hides behind a mask behind a mask

A clown a fool

Believing it cool to be down

Or that the game is

All about who laughs the last

So he tells all his problems

To his friends and relations

Exposes his neuroses to their view

Theye accept as fact

Every masochistic mumble of his act

How could they know what was false and what was true

Sometimes when he wakes

He feels he's walked into a dream

But all it takes

To remind him things are what they seem

Is the belief

That the man behind the mask can really dance

Pirouetting smile

He sees himself cavorting

Pierrot for awhile

Before aborting

To find relief

In the shelter of the dark most telling mask

After all the pantomimes are ended

He peels all the make up off his face

To reveal beneath

The tears running all down his cheeks

Alone he opens to the world

But it's much too late

He's been left in the end

Without a face