The Stranger

Well we all have a face
That we hide away forever
And we take them out and show ourselves
When everyone has gone

Some are satin, some are steel, some
Are silk and some are leather
They're the faces of a stranger
But we love to try them on

Well we all fall in love
But we disregard the danger
Though we share so many secrets
There are some e never tell
Why were you so surprised that you
Never saw the stranger?
Did you ever let your lover see
The stranger in yourself?

Don't be afraid to try again
Everyone goes south
Every now and then
You've done it...why can't
someone else?
You should know by now...
You've been there yourself

Once I used to believe I was
Such a great romancer
Then I came home to a woman
That I could not recognize
When I pressed her for a reason
She refused to even answer
It was then I felt the stranger
Kick me right between the eyes

Don't be afraid to try again
Everyone goes south
Every now and then
You've done it...Why can't
Someone else?
You should know by now...
You've been there yourself

You may never understand how
The stranger is inspired
But he isn't always evil, and
He is not always wrong
Though you drown in good intentions
You may never quench the fire
Don't give in to your desire when the
Stranger comes along


Performed by Billy Joel
Written by Billy Joel
"The Stranger" 1973

Tapestry

My Life has been a tapestry of rich and royal hue
An everlasting vision of the ever-changing view
A wondrous woven magic, in bits of blue and gold
A tapestry to feel and see
Impossible to hold.

Once, amid the soft, silver sadness in the sky
There came a man of fortune
A drifter passing by
He wore a torn and tattered cloth
Around his leathered hide
And a coat of many colors
Yellow-green on either side

He moved with some uncertainty, as if he didn't know
Just what he was there for, or where he ought to go
Once he reached for something golden hanging from a tree
And his hand came down empty.

Soon within my tapestry along the rugged road
He sat down on a river rock, and turned into a toad

It seemed that he had fallen
into someone's wicked spell
And I wept to see him suffer
Though I didn't know him well

As I watched in sorrow there suddenly appeared
A figure gray and ghostly beneath a flowing beard
In times of deepest darkness, I've seen him dressed in black
Now my tapestry's unraveling...he's come to take me back!

...He's come to take me back!

Performed by Carole King
Written by Carole King (1971).