song written by Dave Cousins
D G D
Is it the painter or the picture
Em D
Hanging in the gallery?
Em D
Admired by countless thousands
Em D
Who attempt to read the secrets
G A
Of his vision of his very soul.
G D
Is it the painter or the picture
Em D
Hanging in the gallery?
Em D
Or is it but a still life
Em D
Of his own interpretation
Em D
Of the way that God had made us
G A D
In the image of His eye?
G D
Is it the sculptor or the sculpture
Em D
standing in the gallery?
Em D
Touched by fleeting strangers
Em D
Who desire to feel the strength of hands
G A
That realised a form of life.
G D
Is it the sculptor or the sculpture
Em D
standing in the gallery?
Em D
Or is it but the tenderness
Em D
With which his hands were guided
Em D
To discard the unessentials
G A D
And reveal the perfect truth?
G D
Is it the actor or the drama
Em D
Playing to the gallery?
Em D
Heard in every corner
Em D
Of the theatre of crueltypar
G A
That masks the humour in his speech.
G D
Is it the actor or the drama
Em D
Playing to the gallery?
Em D
Or is it but the character
Em D Em
Of any single member of the audience
D
That forms the plot
G A D
Of each and every play?
G D
Is it the singer or his likeness
Em D
Hanging in the gallery?
Em D
Tongue black, still and swollen,
Em D
His eyes staring from their sockets,
G A
He is silent now, will sing no more.
G D
Is it the singer or his likeness
Em D
Hanging in the gallery?
Em D
Or is it but his conscience,
Em D
Insecurity, and loneliness,
Em D
When destiny becomes at last
G D A D
The cause of his demise?