I sang in the Kabarett when the city burned In Berlin the nightclubs were all I'd learned The brownshirts marched and the curtains fell And I packed my bags for a Hollywood hell They said "go west, girl, the angels will sing" But angels don't sing here — they pull your strings I came with stars in my eyes and a one-way ticket Now I'm singing for men who don't care if I'm broken The studio says "smile, honey, the camera's on" But the camera's a mirror and the mirror's a lie I traded my accent for a contract in ink And now I'm a doll in a factory that don't think Out of the frying pan, into the fire Out of the fire, into the mire They say "you're free now, you're safe in L.A." But the wolves just wear different coats here There's a man in the hills who buys broken songs He says "sing for me, baby, all night long" The papers call it romance, the cops call it clean But I know what it means when the curtains fall The wives say I stole what was theirs to keep And the studio says "honey, you're ours to make" They print my face on the marquee lights But they don't print the contracts or the endless nights A detective came once, sharp suit, sharper eye He said "I can get you out of this, give it time" And for a moment the city looked almost kind But the city don't keep what the city finds Out of the frying pan, into the fire Out of the fire, into the mire They say "you're free now, you're safe in L.A." But the wolves just wear different coats here They said he drove too fast, that's what they said But I saw the brake marks where the road bled The papers said "hero," the studio said "shame" And I said nothing — what could I name? Now I sing for the sharks in a room full of teeth And nobody knows what's underneath So here's to the Kabarett and the city that burned Here's to the lessons that no one learned Here's to the angels who don't sing at all Just pull the strings and watch us fall I came from Berlin with a voice and a dream And I'll die in L.A. as a face on the screen The factory keeps running, the cameras keep rolling And nobody's leaving, and nobody's whole Die Engel singen nicht... Die Engel singen nicht... Nein... sie singen nie...
