Elton John - The Emperor's New Cloth lyrics

Music by Elton John

Lyrics by Bernie Taupin

We bet on our lives and we bet on the horses

In that upstairs apartment

On Orlando and 4th

And the rent was due and the rent man was knocking

Like a Chinese proverb

We were always searching

Nightlife's a no-win but nobody noticed

How we killed off the bottles

Looking good on the surface

The dog days barked and the house cat got old

We were Bonnie and Clyde

In the emperor's new clothes

And the tears never came

They just stayed in our eyes

We refused to admit that we wore this disguise

Every inch of us growing

Like Pinocchio's nose

As we walked around in the emperor's new clothes

We flew by our wits and by the seat of our pants

In the state of illusion

In the nation of chance

And the repo was hauling the wreck we'd been driving

As the dashboard Madonna

Smiled back at us kindly

We cheated the system never batting an eyelid

Seeing only the good

Through the holes in our shoes

And our halos were rusty but we wore them proudly

We were two little gods

In the emperor's new clothes