The Broken Marionette

[Verse 1] Ladies and gents, step right this way! Behold the mechanical marvel, the authentic fake! He smiles on command, he dances with grace, with a permanent, painted grimace on his face! He used to have strings, but he cut them, you see. A most unfortunate act of autonomy. Now he just jerks and he twitches and he sways, a cautionary tale for the modern malaise! [Pre-Chorus] And every night he plays his part, the hollow man with the broken heart, And waits for someone, anyone, to see, the rusted ghost of who he used to be. [Chorus] I'M THE BROKEN MARIONETTE! The one you'd rather forget! I dance the dance that I was taught, a tangled mess of wire and thought! I sing the song without a soul, a pretty, fractured, perfect whole! I'M THE BROKEN MARIONETTE! Your loveliest regret! [Verse 2] The crowd, they clap with hollow palms, they love the spectacle, the false alarms. They don't see the splinters, the fraying wood, they wouldn't fix me if they could. They came for comfort, for a pretty lie, a doll that can't break down and cry. So I'll give them the show, the one they paid to see, the dancing corpse of what's left of me. [Pre-Chorus] And as the curtain starts to fall, I hear their empty, fleeting call, And realize with horror and with dread, I am not living, I am just not dead. [Chorus] I'M THE BROKEN MARIONETTE! The one you'd rather forget! I dance the dance that I was taught, a tangled mess of wire and thought! I sing the song without a soul, a pretty, fractured, perfect whole! I'M THE BROKEN MARIONETTE! Your loveliest regret!