I'm all chalked out on the ground by the curtain call
But all the sharp observations are a paper trail forty stories tall
Yeah, where any conclusions might slip through my fingers
As I'm listening to the stories she's telling now

It's a beautiful life
It's a beautiful lie

When it's late, she's still talking about California
Where her distance to the myth has never been greater
From the sea to the boulevard, stretching her arms to the desert

It's a beautiful life
Such a beautiful lie
It's a beautiful life
But she's leading me one step behind
With the promise one day we'll arrive

And if she ever runs out of California
She's always got, she's always got last summer
And a state of mind with occasional tremors

It's a beautiful life
Under restless and fluorescent skies
She's all coloured all into the lines, lines, lines, lines, lines
It's a beautiful life
And she's leaving me one step behind
With the promise one day we'll arrive
One day we'll arrive, one day we'll arrive
Ooh, ooh, ooh...
Ooh, ooh, ooh...
Ooh, ooh, ooh...

When I get there, I...
When I get there, I...
I'm always one step behind