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This eerie, country-sounding story of a person's reconciliation to worldly imperfection and compromise pays homage to classics of the genre such as 'Bully of the Town'. | MP3.com CD: Decalogue - buy it!
CD: Decalogue
Label: CD on Demand
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Story Behind the Song
This is about where the descent begins. The narrator is perplexed. Something has changed but its hard to tell what. The things that have previously seemed good are tainted; there is a strong need to make sense of it. The first thing in this situation is to define the enemy. Then at least things become clearer. As you close with him you start to get to know him better. His motivation, why is he doing these things? The awful part is when you realise how closely you are mirroring his moves. Which is the chicken and which the egg? Its getting harder to tell.
What is the most galling is that the rest of the world seems to enjoy this villain. Your childhood sweetheart, whom you could not but assume would come round eventually starts wearing make-up and staying out late. Is she with this man? She is never at home when you call.
And how come hes got so much money? Your friends, who agree about his essential badness behind his back, can be seen shaking his hand and making deals. Hes carving up land, selling it back to those whom he bought it from at a profit. He actively encourages drug-taking, to which you can respond theyll get their come-uppance. But what if they dont? What if theyre having a better time and they live longer?
When the narrator comes out of this song he is a changed man, and this not necessarily for the better. Idealism has been replaced by pragmatism, hes doing deals too. Theres no such thing as clean money.
But at least he understands himself a little.
Lyrics
There's a stranger here in paradise,
He's got a long and furry tail
I saw his cloven hoofprints by the beach
Where there's manna bread on sale
And now there's rampant competition
Where once we had fair play
You should have seen the look on Cain's young face
When he blew his brother away
And I can smell the putrefaction in the orchard
Yes I can see the look of fear in old men's eyes
And I hear mothers crying to their children
Who is this stranger here in Paradise?
There's a stranger here in Paradise
But he's playing hard to get
I've been searching for him far and wide
But I've never found him yet
Now I see traces of that stranger's spoor
As I go from town to town
You know I see his trace on every face
That greets me with a frown
And all the little girls are offering their innocence
To this stranger who corrupts them with his lies
He works with powder and with paint on their appearance
Who is this stranger here in Paradise?
There's a stranger here in paradise
And walls rise up at his command
That he might keep his lowland sheep
And his stolen contraband
While round him ashes turn to ashes
And dust returns to dust
You know he builds his world from stainless steel
While ours is filled with rust
And all his architects and planners are designing
What the engineers must build into the price
While the likes of you and I are left to wonder
Who is this stranger here in paradise?
There's a stranger here in paradise
He's got a pitbull and a gun
And you will never get away from him
No matter how you run
And all the dwarfs that walk around with him
Have got ears as sharp as nails
When a girl got caught for whispering
They tied her to the rails
And at their belt they carry bags of magic powder
And if you sniff some it can make you feel so nice
It makes you wonder if you have just been dreaming
When you heard about that stranger in paradise
There was a stranger here in paradise
Until I got to know him well
And now he's gone and told me everything
I must know to live in Hell
You'll no more catch me getting wistful
Than see me take off to the moon
For the days when I saw Eden's shores
From my hot air balloon
He's reconciling need and greed and man's employment
I'm going to help this man to sell what he supplies
His only market is yours and mine enjoyment
Maybe that's the only stranger here in paradise
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