[Intro - pristine strings, recital posture, cold beauty] Piano at five Violin at seven Suit and tie at ten Perfect by eleven [Verse 1 - measured, precise, every word placed] Pressed shirts Pressed feelings Ironed out the creases Before anyone could see them Sit straight Smile right Thank you for the opportunity Thank you for the light I learned every note Before I learned my name Played Bach in a living room That no one lived in [Pre-Chorus - clinical observation] They said lucky They said blessed They said look at everything you have I said yes I always said yes [Chorus - beautiful and airless] Gilt Gold on the outside Guilt Hollow if you knock Every inch of me was covered In something someone else picked out Gilt Polished to a shine Guilt Can't tell them apart A cage this beautiful You forget it's not a house [Verse 2 - the architecture of control] Recital at twelve Standing ovation I played every note right Felt nothing Mother in the front row Hands folded Smiling like she built Something that would never break And I thought This is what love looks like Someone building you Into the shape of their recovery Father's portrait on the mantle I look just like him She dressed me in his future And called it mine [Pre-Chorus - the realization that arrives too late] No one locked the door That's the trick The door was always open But the hallway was designed So you'd never think to look [Chorus] Gilt Gold on the outside Guilt Hollow if you knock Every inch of me was covered In something someone else picked out Gilt Polished to a shine Guilt Can't tell them apart She made the cage so beautiful I thanked her for the bars [Bridge - spoken, recital calm, devastating] (spoken, measured) I can play Paganini from memory. I can tie a Windsor knot in the dark. I can hold a conversation at a dinner party without saying a single thing that's true. I was built for rooms that don't have oxygen. (sung, cracking slightly) And the worst part isn't the cage The worst part is I decorated it myself Hung pictures on the bars Called it taste Called it upbringing Called it gratitude When do you stop being built And start being? I don't know I never learned that part It wasn't in the curriculum [Final Chorus - pristine but something shifting underneath] Gilt Gold on the outside Guilt Can't feel what's below Thirty years of gilding And I don't know what's underneath Gilt She meant it as love Guilt I wear it as skin A beautiful cage With a beautiful bird Who forgot He had a throat [Outro - single violin note, perfect, held too long] Piano at five Violin at seven I played every note right ...I just never played mine
