From the recording Peace is Not a Fashion
This came from an Anne Sexton poem by the same name. I felt it needed the prince's response.
My favorite story about this recording is the "bells" note at the beginning of the second verse. The studio didn't have any bells/glockenspiel, but they had wind chimes. I found the right note (D) on it. I held all the other chimes and Erik hit the D with a drumstick. It looked ridiculous but worked perfectly.
When I brought this song in, I couldn't play it very well, but the guys loved it immediately. They were honest, though, saying they had no idea how to arrange it. When we brought it to the studio, they said, "Tell us what to do," which was extremely rare for us. I tell that story because it demonstrates how much Hard Rain was always about how we could best serve the song. Pretty cool.
Lyrics
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 known this all along
But what if I held you, Cinderella?
What if we dance the waltz 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 underfoot like so much ballroom glitter…
Cinderella, is all your magic finally gone?
Cinderella
Sometimes I think you must have known this all along