Pretty little cage Pretty little cage Smile for the blade Pretty little cage You like me better when I’m framed Hung up nice and overnamed Gloss on the lips, hands on the glass Look, don’t touch, but you still ask You call it charm when you stare too long Call me rude when I call you wrong Say “lighten up,” say “take the praise” I see the leash in your pretty phrase You want a doll with a heartbeat You want a mouth that won’t speak You want a flame with no heat Too bad That’s not her They built the pretty cage She brought the teeth They wrote the rules She learned to read beneath They want her soft They want her small They want her body Not her voice at all Oh, what a shame She won’t behave They named her pretty She made it a cage Pretty cage Pretty cage Pretty cage She made it a cage Don’t tilt your head like you’re confused She knows the game, she knows the view Compliment wrapped round a chain Sugar on a rusted claim They say she’s trouble when she pushes back Funny how truth sounds like an attack They want the picture, not the storm They want the skin without the thorns They want a smile with surrender They want a saint in a dress They want the mirror to flatter Not the girl in the flesh You built the pretty cage I brought the teeth You wrote the rules I learned to read beneath You want me soft You want me small You want my body Not my voice at all Oh, what a shame I won’t behave You named me pretty I made it a cage Look at me now No, really, look Not like a prize Not like a hook Not like a thing You get to rate Not like a door Not like a plate I am the drum I am the snare I am the warning Under your stare I am the scar I am the stage I am the key Inside the cage Pretty enough to sell it Mean enough to say no Sweet enough to hear it Sharp enough to let go Pretty enough to bait them Loud enough to break through They wanted something quiet Now she’s screaming back at you They built the pretty cage She brought the teeth They wrote the rules She burned the page beneath They want her soft They want her small They want her body Not her voice at all Oh, what a shame She won’t behave They named her pretty She made it a cage Pretty little cage Pretty little cage Smile for the blade She made it a cage
