The Hollywood Window
© Stephen Cox 1999
There's a flickering light on a blanket of darkness.
Like moths to a flame, we come closer to see...
It's not quite a mirror, more a shimmering shadow
Of everything we could ever imagine we'd be.
The light leads us on, to a world of wonder
Where our common dream is the message it sends.
And time and time again, the past, present and future
Circle round in an echo that will never end
Inside the Hollywood Window.
We all share the view out of the Hollywood Window
We can't help but try to live like the stories it tells.
And Sunday morning, we share what we all saw Saturday night:
Like a new scripture, there's a new revelation it sells.
You've never really been seen till you've been seen in the Hollywood Window,
Where you're suddenly real, and you'll never be unknown again.
15 minutes of fame; but if you win at the game,
the spotlight will always shine bright,
And you will take your place on the electronic stage,
where your story will never end
Inside the Hollywood Window.
From painted walls on the side of a cave
A half a million years ago
Came a language that grew to hold the memories we knew
We wanted our children to know.
And the chants that we taught the children
Were still chanted long after those children were gone.
And we gathered around the fires at night,
And acted out the words to the song.
Then we took the song and we wrote it down
So the words could always stay the same,
But then languages came, and then languages changed,
Till there were too many words instead of just one name.
And then who ever could write got to decide
what was right ,
So whoever could read it could know.
But if you couldn't read, you'd get the message you need
From the actors when they put on their magic lantern show.
Then we stole the sound from the choir
and the light from the fire
To make pictures that could dance and sing.
Now moving pictures and sound turn our world upside down
When they become the only message they bring.
And somewhere an ancient artist is watching,
Because the pictures he scratched on the wall
Have turned into the world that we live in,
And now that dream is creating us all
Inside the Hollywood Window.
There's a flickering light on a blanket of darkness
Like moths to a flame we come closer to see.
It's not quite a mirror, more a shimmering shadow
Of everything we could ever imagine we'd be.
We don't really see the first world outside,
Where the picture always stays the same,
When our second nature fills our eyes and ears
And makes the first seem boring and tame.
And our screens keep on getting clearer,
Bigger and better in every way.
Till they surround us all in their brave new world
Where it's so easy to sit and stay
Inside the Hollywood Window.