Matt stands upon a table to sing. His hair is shaved close to his head. He hasn't shaved in weeks, and his beard and moustache send out wild red-gold streamers that glisten moodily in the low light. He starts to strum...

Who thanked the Lord for the clothes
That she wore and mended? Nellie...
With her big old-fashioned eyes
Who won the heart of a crowd torn apart,
Took a bow? Nellie...
There's a different world backstage

I see the flood lights burning
I hear the band play on
Now Nellie takes her bow

She said she really could not stay
She had a brand new play to play
And so she paints her face and smiles
And she'll be someone else in a while

Just a lonely girl who could not face a broken world,
And so she acts out all her dreams
And wishes that's how it had been
But when the audience disappears,
It seems as though she doesn't even care.

Nellie just sent me a line
To tell me she was doing fine
She got the lead and on Broadway,
And now they're digging her today
And as she turns the final page,
Living someone's life upon the stage

I see the flood lights burning
I hear the band play on
Now Nellie takes her bow...