[Verse 1a]
The walls are white, the corridors are clinically clean
And no-one will tell you what they mean;
These are also spaces in which mysteries occur
Snapshots caught as shutters click and whir
[Verse 1b]
I came in here to see just how the other half are hung
To hear how our history's hymns are sung
While preparing for your preview you'll be slipping on a gown
Loosening your hair to wear it down
[Chorus 1]
You may not be an oil painting
Your loveliness may leave no lasting mark on mankind
But as your face is framed I see a lifetime in it
I'd not trade a single minute
The camera does not lie;
You are no oil painting
But neither am I
[Verse 2a]
A girl floats past with hair aflame and lips of royal blue
Soon you'll be horizontal, too
And if have to carry you to church, I know you'll be no weight
Get thee to an altar-rail before it is too late
[Chorus 2]
You may not be an oil painting
Your loveliness may leave no lasting mark on mankind
But as I scan your skin I see the lifelines beckon
I'd not trade a single second
The camera does not lie;
You are no oil painting
But neither am I
[Middle]
An everyday enigma caked in blood and yolk and white
Did she ever rage against the dying of the light?
Fossilised in amber, flaking from her smile
Her looks were only leased to her awhile
[Chorus 3]
You may not be an oil painting
Your loveliness may leave no lasting mark on mankind
But with your thoughts laid out in colours blinking
I catch myself for a second thinking:
In spite of constant danger
Life is so much stranger
And somehow much more wonderful than art