From the recording After All This Time
Cinderella (1992) – I wrote this back when I considered myself an “artist” (ok, maybe I still do, a little bit). I had read the poem by the same name written by Anne Sexton and felt it needed the prince’s response. I could never play it well on guitar and wanted to try it without the band which led to this piano-based version.
Lyrics
Cinderella
Hey, Cinderella, for 20 years we tried
Alone here with our “ever-afters”
And no chapters on children or times we’d have to lie
To keep ourselves believing
Cinderella, is all your magic finally gone?
Cinderella,
sometimes I think you must have know this all along
and all those gowns I bought you don’t fit you anymore
as you waste away to nothing
and I’ve sold off my kingdom to fight my father’s wars
but I’ve paid for losing battles long enough
Cinderella, is all your magic finally gone?
Cinderella,
sometimes I think you must have know this all along
but what if I held you Cinderella?
What if we dance the walz again?
Would it make up for our mistakes
or would we just go on pretending
that there’s nothing more here Cinderella
than the story had to tell?
Is this fantasy nothing than fantasy?
So fill the empty pages with all the things we said
That left us cold and bitter
And all our emotions just analyzed to death
And trampled under foot like so much ballroom glitter…