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    "Stranger in Paradise"genre: Bluegrass
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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!buy it!
    CD: Decalogue   Label: CD on Demand

    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 Idealism has been replaced by pragmatism, hes doing deals too.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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