in the
last year of my youth
I learned the final lesson of the
levels to the truth
My father was a farmer he'd
go tilling in the ground
My mother was a neighbour
she'd go visiting around
But I didn't care
For I had found the answer to a
plowboy's lonely prayer
She was the daughter of the Mayor
The Mayor fought my courtship for
he'd made other plans
He saw her married to a better man
than a boy with farmer's hands
I said - - I hate your father,
it's so hard not to strike him
She said - - You know I love you be
cause you're so much like him
And so I'd go sneaking in the evening
And there she'd stand a crying in
the dawn as I was leaving
The Mayor of Candor lied
When he offered me his only daughter
The Mayor of Candor tried
To take her across the water
What a thing to do to a young
man in love
What a thing to do to your daughter
One day with father on his
tractor and mother off again
I go to find the mayor
and work out what I can
But he is not at his office,
he is not at his home
When I find him in the countryside
he is not alone
He is holding a woman and ima
gine my surprise
As she jumps back from his arms I
look into my mother's eyes
The Mayor of Candor lied!
All my thoughts of outrage,
embarrassment and pain
Were washed away by what
came roaring through my brain
The Mayor's at my mercy
and I hear my own voice say
'Your run for re- election is
just one month away.'
And the world will never know
of what I've seen here sir
But I'll be with your daughter is
my meaning clear, Sir?
The Mayor of Candor lied.
My mother looks in horror at
the compromise we made
But the Mayor's rueful smile
says the piper must be paid
I had a month of joy in heaven from
this deal I'd made in hell
What was to happen then my friend
a prophet could not tell
The day after his re- election
and the victory celebration
The Mayor takes his family on a month
long foreign va cation
Oh Sarah - - you know how
much I love you
There is no one I'd ever
place above you
Oh Sarah - - you don't even know me
To have you there's nothing
that's below me
The day that they return
I stand waiting in the road
I watch the car drive up I watch the
passengers unload
Of course she isn't there of course
I should have known
The Mayor says that she has stayed
the decision was her own
He says she's finishing her schooling on
that unseen foreign shore
And I'll tell you very frankly boy,
you'll not see her anymore
The Mayor of Candor lied.
I spit out my hatred and my fury at his lies
But he says you tried to blackmail
me you're just as bad as I
He says 'Go and do your damnedest
Boy, throw your mother to the streets
You know it's been too many years
I had to be discreet'
And as he stands there saying
we're just two of a kind
It hits me like a thunderbolt
exploding in my mind
As I look into his aged wrinkled
mirror of my own face
He laughs and sneers and says
- - Of course dear son
Where do you think you came from
in the first place?
The Mayor of Candor