[singer A] She spun her story strand by strand With threads she stole from every hand A gown of gossip, gold, and gleam — She sold the town a borrowed dream The dress she wore, the weaver made The songs she sang, another played She took the credit, took the bow The mirror loved her anyhow She climbed on backs and called it grace She wore a borrowed jeweled face The town believed the shining lie — She never let them wonder why Then to her grand and gilded ball The Bone Piper came to call Uninvited, bone-white, thin — "Let's see the skin beneath the skin" Strip it back, thread by thread Show the truth you never said Gilded web, borrowed gleam — Nothing's real, it's all a dream When the bass drops, so do you — Every stolen thread shines through Dance, my lady, dance it well — The Piper strips you where you fell [transition] [singer B] She spun her story strand by strand With threads she stole from every hand A gown of gossip, gold, and gleam — She sold the town a borrowed dream The dress she wore had been hemmed by lamplight By a widow with bent fingers and a thimble bite The songs she sang still carried the piano's worn-out keys A barroom tune with dust in the seams She took the credit, took the bow Left lipstick on the mirror's brow The town kept staring at the polished scene — Never asking where she'd been She climbed on backs and called it grace Pinned another woman's pearls to her face The square kept nodding at the pretty show — Never seeing the loose ends show He raised his pipes, the lights went low The music turned to undertow Her golden gown began to slide — Thread by thread, she could not hide The weaver's cloth, the singer's song Returned to whom they'd owned so long She stood in undyed wool, alone — A queen unseated from her throne Gold to dust Silk to string What you stole Loses wing Dance it off Let it fall — The plain truth Threads it all Strip it back, thread by thread Now the truth is all that's said Plain homespun where gold had been — This is what's beneath the skin She left the ball in undyed wool The town, at last, had seen her full When the Piper plays, the gilded fall — Vanity unravels all They say she weaves an honest thread And earns the cloth she wears to bed No borrowed gold, no stolen gleam — She spins at last her own true dream
