Telling Stories

I'm telling myself stories about the future What will disappear and what will last Everything around me's getting newer And I'm telling myself stories about the past I recall a time when me and you were Making bets on eternity I'm telling myself stories that are bluer I'm telling myself stories about me The high-stakes drama was a let down We don't know what was real and what was fake The plot turned on some dime novel romance Now we're telling ourself stories for our sake And I'm waiting for another sun to set down And some new moon to do its job for free I'm telling myself stories about the city And I'm telling myself stories about me The gun is hid inside the maid's gray bonnet The family's country mansion is for sale The bankers and the nouveaux riches all want it The drunken old aristocrat's in jail And the audience all think they know who did it And everyone feels sorry just in time Word is there will be a general pardon For everyone who toes the party line And I'm telling myself stories that will end soon And in some of them I'm only in act III I don't know who's the hero or the villain I'm telling myself stories about me But in all of them I give her my last dollar And then recite a sad soliloquy In all of them I choose death before dishonor In all of my stories about me