Pop Lie - Okkervil River

All sweetly sung and succinctly stated

Words and music you calculated

To make you sing along

With your stereo on As you stand in your shorts on your lawn

Get completely incorporated

By some couple who consummated

Their first love by the dawn

A falling star wished upon

And flashed in the sky and was gone

And mouths wet and blonde hair braided

By the back room, the kids all waited

To meet the man in bright green

Who had dreamed up the dream

That they wrecked their hearts upon

He’s the liar who lied in his pop song

And you’re lying when you sing along

You’re lying when you sing along

So, here’s the car seat, so cruelly weighted

And here’s the faces already faded

At the end of the day

When they just threw away

The only good thing that they owned

And now they’re pinned down and strangulated

But at the food court, the float’s inflated

People line up to see

The man who dreamed up the dream

That they wrecked their hearts upon

He’s the liar who lied in his pop song

The liar who lied in his pop song

And you’re lying when you sing along

Oh yeah, you’re lying when you sing along

Week by week, it climbs up and comes on And we’re feeling alright, though we know it’s all wrong

I’m ashamed to admit that I cannot resist what I wished were the truth,

but is not

And I truly believe we’re not strong

And we’ll sing till our voices are gone

And I’m singing in that manicured lawn

This is respectfully dedicated

To the woman who concentrated

All of her love to find

That she’d wasted it on The liar who lied in this song