[INTRO — 8 bars instrumental. Walking upright bass alone, slinky and unhurried. Brushed kit enters bar 3. Processed pizzicato stab on the 4 of bar 6. Warm pad bloom in bar 7.] [VERSE 1 — close-mic alto-soprano natural voice, talky-sung wry phrasing, sparse: walking bass, brushed kit, processed pizz on accents, no chorus elements] You walked in wearing McQueen Shoulders cut clean to the bone I'd seen the campaigns — Shanghai, black-and-white That mouth, that jaw, that gaze You ordered the wine, you ordered for me Hand on my arm when I told a story You ate slow, you watched me speak You knew the year on the bottle, the right fork You said no one had asked you about yourself in years A beautiful man, the kind They build a billboard around [PRE-CHORUS 1 — additive bloom: filter opens, hats accelerate, processed pizz layers in, smooth reverse riser into the chorus] And I'm older than you By a decade, by far I've read this shape of evening before [CHORUS 1 — vocal opens to declamatory art-pop register, falsetto stack enters above in thirds and sixths on hook word "beautiful," sidechain pump on the kick, snare on 2 and 4, 808 sub on accents] Beautiful man Beautiful man Charm worn like a borrowed coat Cut to flatter, cut to float Beautiful man Beautiful man I read the door In your second pour [VERSE 2 — return to close-mic talky-sung, walking bass, brushed kit, no chorus elements] There was a wife in a house you wouldn't name Older by twenty, kinder than you She'd found you at a Milan shoot at twenty-three Married you in a chapel above the lake She gave you Capri, she gave you Antibes She gave you the watch and the year in Rome You wore the life like silk against skin Until you tore it past the seams Beautiful man, beautiful man Mouth where her money couldn't reach [PRE-CHORUS 2 — tension cut: production drops to bare bass and breath, single clap-snare roll accelerating, breath sample before chorus slam] A stranger told me in Mayfair What you'd done — a small, expected affair I said — ah [CHORUS 2 — full canopy slams back with snap, falsetto stack above in thirds and sixths on hook word, layered breathy ad-libs panned wide] Beautiful man Beautiful man Had a good thing, lost the script Slipped your collar, took the trip Beautiful man Beautiful man Back to Shanghai On a soft alibi [BRIDGE — stripped: bare upright bass, single piano motif, breath. First half intimate close-mic. Lead voice lifts to fragile falsetto on "I know" — aching, hovering. Returns to chest on "I knew when you ordered the wine." Second half: slight warm pad bloom enters, no kit, vocal regains wry verse register, the pivot from ache to refusal.] The text came in March You said I'd been kind You said — be careful, men can't be trusted Darling I know I knew when you ordered the wine I read it twice and left it read Watched the typing dots flicker out You wanted absolution by eleven You wanted the kind woman in your next dinner story I'm not for that role [FINAL CHORUS — full canopy returns with the brightest falsetto stack above, layered ad-libs panned wide, hat 32nds in fills, 808 on every accent] Beautiful man Beautiful man London now — white walls, lily stems A new name signing the lease The kitchen, the park view, the doorman Already learning her tastes Beautiful man Beautiful man You're not surprising You never were [OUTRO — production thins back to walking bass and breath. Final vocal as an exhaled "beautiful man" with a falsetto ghost above. Spoken-low tag at the very end.] Beautiful man Beautiful man (falsetto ghost) Beautiful man There'll be another by spring (spoken low) I'm not even surprised
