50,000

Another obituary in the paper today

One more for the list of those already fallen

Another of our comrades is taken down

Like so many others of our calling

We tweet our anecdotes, our commentary

Or we sing his songs in some sad tribute

While the tabloids are holding a story of kiss-and-tell

He's no longer able to deny or refute

Fifty thousand voices rising

Every time he'd sing

And every word he ever wrote

Reflected back to him

How well I remember the stadiums we played

And the lights sweeping across a sea of fifty-thousand souls we'd face

A serious drug you could never kick

Or one that you couldn't imagine you'd ever replace

We flew like kites on the wings of amphetamine

Secured only to a bass line and a snare drum beat

But really what did any of it mean

When there's a higher philosophy in reflection and defeat?

Fifty thousand voices rising

Every time he'd sing

Every word he ever wrote

Reflected back to him

Still believing that old lie

The one that your own face betrays

Rockstars don't ever die

They only fade away

Reflecting now on my own past

Inside this prison I've made of myself

I'm feeling a little better today

Although the bathroom mirror's telling me something else

These lines of stress, one bloodshot eye

The unhealthy pallor of a troubled ghost

But where did I put my spectacle case?

Now I'm half blind and as deaf as any post

Fifty thousand hands are raised

To a man that's just like you and me

We create the gods we can

And give them immortality

Still believe in that old lie

The one that your own face betrays

Rockstars don't ever die

They only fade away