Shamboozled

You’d never guess it from their tattered jackets
Four shadows sharing the glare
How they rode skyward chariots
And vaulted the moon on a dare
Well, I tell you, it was a sordid affair
How the clown confronted the crown
And both of their heads came tumbling down

Oh, go ahead and laugh
We’re a four-panel cartoon
Carried away in a hot-air balloon
Y’all be singin’ a different tune
When we’re mining diamonds all over the moon

You’d never know it from their signs and seals
Dilated eyes and visionary zeal
Spaced-out trails and quantum tangles
Loose use of phrases and estimated angles
Winding threads where the point evaporates
You’d never know they haunted the underworld
And crashed the pearly gates

Oh, go ahead and laugh
We’re a four-panel cartoon
Carried away in a hot-air balloon
Y’all be singin’ a different tune
When we’re mining diamonds all over the moon

All these variables to be shamboozled by
You’d never know it from the grit of the nitty
You’d never guess from the thick of the thin
All the worn-out grandeur and grime
Serving both shallow and sublime
Platinum-plated platitudes adorning our ears
Vying to be the ones that live on through the years

Is it the glint or the glimmer you follow?
Is it the voice or the silence you heed?
Where do I sign up for a leader
Who leads me and leaves me to lead?
Yeah, you might have thought otherwise
If they told you they even had a clue
Of what I’m telling what I’m telling to you
Never mind the teller, it’s the telling that’s true

Oh, go ahead and laugh
We’re a four-panel cartoon
Carried away in a hot-air balloon
Y’all be singin’ a different tune
When we’re mining diamonds all over the moon