About this song
He was the first mortal to cheat death, slipping past the Lord of the Underworld in a borrowed cloak. Now a god woven from lies, Phenax offers a single, chilling promise: watch the mask, not the man, because the man was never there.
Lyrics
[Intro] [Verse 1] Come a little closer, friend, the lamps are running low, there's a face beneath this golden one I'd never let you know. I died once like the rest of you, and down I went to stay, but I gave away my name and every yesterday. I slipped inside a borrowed cloak the ferryman let fall, and walked back past the Lord of Death — he never saw me at all. [Pre-Chorus] So smile when they tell you it's all written in the stars — I'm the one who wrote it, and the lie was always ours. [Chorus] Watch the mask, not the man, and the man was never there, just a kindly little promise and a knife behind the care. I am the doubt behind your eyes, the worry in your sleep, the secret you were certain that you'd manage not to keep. Trust me, trust me — that's the only word I need — and I'll take the truth like memory, one quiet grain to bleed. [Verse 2] I never tell a lie outright — I leave a door ajar, a promise with a hollow in it, true as far as far. The gamblers light their candles and the cheats all say my name, and worry does my labor when I never lift a flame. You think you hold your story tight, your past, your who-you-were — I grind it down to nothing, soft as ashes in the air. [Pre-Chorus] The honest god of sunlight wants you certain, wants you whole — I'd rather watch you wonder till there's nothing left to hold. [Chorus] Watch the mask, not the man, and the man was never there, just a kindly little promise and a knife behind the care. I am the doubt behind your eyes, the worry in your sleep, the secret you were certain that you'd manage not to keep. Trust me, trust me — that's the only word I need — and I'll take the truth like memory, one quiet grain to bleed. [Bridge] You ask me what's behind the gold — go on, then, lift the edge. There's nothing there. That's the gift. I cut myself from every pledge. No name, no grief, no morning, and no debt the dark can claim — the only soul that ever cheated death forgot to keep his name. [Bridge build] And every mortal weaving lies has worn a little of my face, so the marsh kings rise in golden masks and take their hollow place. [Final Chorus] Watch the mask, not the man, and the man was never there, just a kindly little promise and a knife behind the care. I am the doubt behind your eyes, the worry in your sleep, the secret you were certain that you'd manage not to keep. Believe me, believe me — you already chose to — the deception was the offer, and you opened it like new. [Outro] Look at the stars and you'll swear that you can see me there — a god that built himself from a face that isn't there.
