Trappings - Intellectual

[Verse 1]

He could have been so great, he could have had it all

He had it on a plate, but he threw it at the wall

And he can't know why, but he still said "yes"

To the easy lie and the poisoned vest...

The trappings of success

They offered him the deal ("Here's the contract")

Just like an autograph ("Sign on the line")

No need to think or feel ("Advances are abstract")

Or do anything but laugh ("The future defined.")

He's in possession, yes he's possessed; ("We got ya")

They had no fear, he was so impressed

By the trappings of success

You'll see him down the clubs or at the premiere (It's just another movie, it's just another act)

Strumming in a pub (He's a man of the people), everywhere that's anywhere (Just as long as the people don't talk back)

On the Rio shore or the Rome express

With a Chinese whore or a Greek princess –

These are the trappings of success

But he's got no home and he's got no friends

And the human mass repel him

Now he's on his own and can't comprehend

Did he sell out or was he celled in?

(He's a prisoner in a gilded cage

He's a prisoner... he's all the rage.)

He's waiting for his plane and his first-class seat;

They've blown out his brains with sticky kiddies' sweets;

Oh, the limo, the coke, the celebrity guest-list

The toady jokes and the gutter press...

The trappings of success

These are the trappings of success

And there's no way out of this one

The trappings of success

The trap of fame;

(In) the trap... big game