TEMPO: Slow

GENDER: Male

TOPICS: A parable about creativity

FEEL: Cool

Performed by TEN HORN HAT, the Clear Moon studio crew

LYRICS

I was cleaning out a hope chest in the attic yesterday
When I found a scrap of paper that I couldn't throw away
I got it at a hippie market many years ago
A thing in Phoenix Park they call the Bread and Puppets show

There's a skull and bones on one side that is rubber stamped in black
And a bleeding heart in red with a dagger through the back
And written on the heart is like something from a song
It says "Life is short, art is long"

Written on the heart, art is long

I stuck it on a poster by the window in the dorms
And later in the office by the gross production forms
Then I put it in my wallet, just to keep it safe
But the money made it dirty, and then the wallet chafed

Written on the heart, art is long

I was at a demonstration, the paper in my hand
When the movement leader stole the words to help him make a stand
Ambition is a funny thing, it hurts to get it wrong
Because life is short, art is long

Written on the heart, art is long

I was making a donation when it fell into the tray
The preacher laid it on the alter in an artificial way
He said, "I have found an icon, an omen for our flock"
And the bleeding heart and skull and crossbones made the preacher's talk

Standing with a starlet on the night of her award
She would die without a line, and the crowd was getting bored
So I handed her the paper with the lyric from the song
She said, "Life is dreadfully short, darling,
while art is marvelously long!"

It's just a scrap of paper, just some pictures and some words
Just like anything that calls us to find meaning in the world
When they put you in the garden, who will know that you are gone?
Life is art, art is long