what if everything they taught in history
never actually happened?

historic buildings being built,
memorials erected
all to keep the illusion intact

what if every morning
the world is re-constructed,
making us believe it’s been
here for years and years … and years

what if it hasn’t, what if it wasn’t,
what if it isn’t
all they told us it has been?
what if we never knew?

what if it’s fake, oh, what if it’s real?
now what will we do if everything’s a grand deception?
what if this merry-go-round is just
one big magic trick?

by the late ’80s
most of my childhood
was lost to the tide of time

butterfly hairclips, slinky bracelets
Showbiz Pizza, Rollaway Skateway
who’s to say they even existed?
well, who’s to say they didn’t?

what if every morning
the world is re-constructed
making us believe it’s been
here for years and years … and years

what if it hasn’t, what if they weren’t
just old figments of a journey
into imaginary dreams?
what if nothing is what it seems?

what if it’s fake, oh, what if it’s real?
now what will we do if everything’s a grand deception?
what if this merry-go-round is just
one big magic trick?

it’s all in our heads
this place in our hearts
that stores all our memories
at least the parts we can’t forget
they spin around in my head …
getting vacuumed up
when I go to bed …

this merry-go-round is just
one big magic trick