[Verse 1] A lion came in through the automatic door Past the oranges stacked like little warnings He wore the afternoon across his shoulders And read the headlines pinned above the floor The butcher froze beside the numbered trays The lion chose the sirloin, then the marrow He ate the labels first, the red display And left the barcode shining like an arrow [Chorus] Don’t believe the paper in the window Don’t believe the voice behind the glass A mouth can turn a feast into a crisis A photograph can teach the crowd to pass [Verse 2] He cleaned the shelves from aisle four to seven While cameras blinked from underneath the sign The anchor called it proof of fallen heaven The manager called it excellent design A child asked why the lion looked so peaceful Her father said, “They’ll tell us what it means” The lion licked the grease from off the freezer And disappeared between the washing machines [Chorus] Don’t believe the paper in the window Don’t believe the voice behind the glass A mouth can turn a feast into a crisis A photograph can teach the crowd to pass [Bridge] Count the witnesses Count the edits Count the words that never made the page If the lion is a monster in the caption Who put the meat behind the cage? [Final Chorus] Don’t believe the paper in the window Read the stains beneath the polished claim The lion ate the evidence for dinner And every screen invented him again [Outro] At closing time, the doors unlocked themselves The empty hooks swung gently in the cold A headline slept beside the chewing gum And nobody could say what they had sold
