I refuse to serenade the deaf
And search the eyes of the blind for recognition
I will not demean myself
Trying to penetrate the skulls of these Neanderthals
Or reach a heart that's coated with enamel
Shall I drive myself to drink
For some ruffians who think
That chic is someone riding on a camel?
You expect me to conduct a course
In who I am and what I've done?
Shall I wander around Paris interrupting conversations
With "Pardon me" and tell 'em my entire life
Of living with those relatives I dreaded?
Till I gazed in someone's eyes
Packed a suitcase full of lies
And came to Paris blissfully unwedded?
Blissfully unwedded to Julian Dessage
Julian regarded me as his proudest possession
We wintered in Paris, summered in the Pyrenees
Sprang in Belviel, fell in Lake Como
Julian thought I was one in a million
I knew I was one of a million
More than regal
Less than legal
Siren singing
Caution flinging
Mademoiselle Cliche de Paris
Weak, but able
Ergo, sable
Laughing, winking, diamonds clinking
Mademoiselle Cliche de Paris
But this Mademoiselle
A sad-emoiselle
I very soon became
Try as I may, I just couldn't play
That wayward game
Or do the same
As every standard courtesan did
Cloying, giddy
Grinning idiotically
Was too much for me
Then do all that for bed and board
I'd rather be in bed and bored
And never be a worn-out cliche de Paris
♪
Is this a game?
If so, then stop
You simply can't have said you want to rent a shop
A shop for whom?
Now, wait, cherie
Just where, my friend, do you intend the shop to be?
Not on the vulgar Rue Saint-Honore
Or Rue Royale, where all the riffraff roam
It's much too snobbish on the Rue Faubourg
And rather phallic on the Place Fadeau
I'm always seasick on the Ile Saint-Louis
Too many tourists on the Rue de Rivoli
Not the Seine, the Madeleine, the Opera House, Saint-Germain
The Rue de Bac, the Rue de Chet, the Rue de Lay
I know the day
Not in the center of the Place Gaillon
But on the corner of the Rue Cambon