THE BEAUTY



performed on:

Opening with Nick Parker alone on an electric guitar wailing his heart out, this slowly devlops into a highly theatrical full-band performance, sinking at one point into an acoustic bridge and then returning with a beautiful extended solo from Janet. One of Plaastik's most complicated and elaborate recordings ever, this was released as a single to the chagrin of MCA, but it was cut down from over ten minutes to just over six, with two verses and the coda excised. Most fans despise this version, understandably, especially since 2001 live performances tended to be closer to the length of the single than of the album, which seems like an insult to the year of planning Nick put into this track alone, but the song did reach an impressive #38 (by now, the single was almost anachronistic; the LP had been #1 for two months straight and at this point was still at #3). A music video for the track, featuring a gritty and beautifully photographed tour of downtown Los Angeles, has never aired because of nudity.

When the song was revived live in 2005, it was finally given respectable treatment in an intimate, delicately powerful arrangement.


I want to do more than I can
I want to be more than I am
wanna chew up what I can't digest
wanna see everything in the world

and I look around
and see the beauty
in every girl I know
it's more than I can take
the fire is sky-high
the sky is infinite
I'm infinite
she's infinite
but what about this?

I'm drunk, drunk on delusion
drunk on pornography of the mind
drunk on my expansion
drunk on my displacement

she's something else
got that tight ass
and smart as a whip
happy and sweet and human
but so is she

what a day for a daydream
a deaddream
but don't think, don't think
just act
act like what you are
act like you're slime

and I look around
and see the beauty
in every girl I know
it's more than I can take
the fire is sky-high
the sky is infinite
I'm infinite
she's infinite
but what about this?

she surrounds me
I'd suck her forever
burstin' forth like a river
she's the one for me
and her and her and her
all in my mind
all in my sad mind

and I look around
and see the beauty
in every girl I know
it's more than I can take
the fire is sky-high
the sky is infinite
I'm infinite
she's infinite
but what about this?

I don't remember what I told her
I don't remember how I felt
I don't remember when I fucked her
I don't remember me
I don't remember you
I don't remember her
but I love everybody
'cept for me
and I hate what love does
I hate love
I hate love
I want to slip away
I can't face up
and they come and they come and they come and they come
but I accepted with a gentle tongue
night after night after the Curtain went down
fucking and learning
fucking and regretting

and I look around
and see the beauty
in every girl I know
it's more than I can take
the fire is sky-high
the sky is infinite
I'm infinite
she's infinite
but what about this?

and she's more beautiful
than god
and you're more beautiful
than the devil
and I want it all
don't care how
I want both worlds