(Verse 1)
Blue mascara on a silk pillowcase
I’m memorizing the lines of a ghost’s face
You’re leaning in the doorway, shadow and bone
The king of a castle that’s never felt like home
You’ve got that 1960s silver-screen stare
But there’s a coldness in the way you brush your hair
I’m wearing your jacket, the one with the tear
Waiting for a version of you that isn’t there.
(Chorus)
Honey, you’re a stranger in my favorite dress
A beautiful disaster, a velvet-covered mess
I know your name, I know your coffee order too
But I don’t recognize the soul inside of you
Oh, it’s tragic, babe, how well we play the part
Falling for a stranger with a cinematic heart
(With a cinematic heart...)
(Verse 2)
The record player’s skipping on a jazz standard tune
We’re dancing in the kitchen under a paper moon
You kiss my temple, but your eyes are on the door
Like you’re looking for a life you lived once before
Is it the fame, the pills, or the California sun?
That made you forget I was the only one
You’re a mystery novel with the last page torn out
Leaving me in silence, drowning in the doubt.
(Chorus)
‘Cause honey, you’re a stranger in my favorite dress
A beautiful disaster, a velvet-covered mess
I know your name, I know your coffee order too
But I don’t recognize the soul inside of you
Oh, it’s tragic, babe, how well we play the part
Falling for a stranger with a cinematic heart.
(Bridge)
(The music swells—heavy drums, dramatic violins)
Don’t look at me like that, like you’re just passing through
Like I’m a rest stop on the way to someone new
I’ve got your initials tattooed on my skin
But I don’t know where you end and where I begin
You’re a ghost in the hallway...
A ghost in the sheets...
A secret that the canyon keeps.
(Outro)
Just a stranger...
(He’s a stranger...)
Put on your dark sunglasses, baby.
Drive the car into the sea.
You look so pretty when you’re leaving me.
Stranger...
So strange.
