Behind the Mask

As you may have noticed, several of my songs fit together into a musical. I've got the scene setter, a plot mover from shortly before the climax of the show, the hero's song, and even a song for the villain of the piece.

Gretchen (justifiably) complained, asking "Where's the heroine's song?" I tried explaining that I'm not exactly equipped to sing the heroine's song. This didn't fly. And, of course, women in filk frequently sing songs that are written for men.

There was the matter of actually writing the song. And three of the four songs above were written at Chambanacon or on the way there. (The fourth, which was the second to be written, I wrote at Concertino. So all of the songs have been written at cons.) Somewhere past Joliet, I turned off the radio and started this song, which I finished up at the con.

Please mentally capo this two octaves...

     Cmaj7
I am learning day by day
        Am7/G
And I'm stronger in each way
       Dm7
Than I was the day I met him.
         G
Still he fears I might forget him.
     Cmaj7
I am left now to divine
        Am7/G
What is going through his mind,
       Dm7          Fm6
For he never says a word
       Em7              Dm7
And he thinks I haven't heard.

	(Chorus)
	            Cmaj7
	What is the man behind the mask?
	           C7
	Leaving me questions I can't ask:
	            Fmaj7            Fm6
	If I should stay or I should go.
	          Em7                 Dm7
	Answers I think that I should know.
	G           C9
	Daily, he's cruel and he is kind
	          Am7/G
	And he is always on my mind.
	           Dm7            G
	Wishing he didn't have to hide
	           Dm7     G     Cmaj7
	So I could see the man inside.

All I am learning has a cost
And I'm afraid of what he's lost,
Of the mask he's overlaid
To conceal the price he's paid.
As he stands prepared to fight
To protect us from the night,
He becomes a thing to fear
And no one dares come near

(Chorus) To visit the man behind the mask.

(Bridge)
Fmaj7                   Em7
And I wish that I could show him,
Dmaj7                      C9
But I'm not certain that I know him,
Dmaj7                    Fmaj7
For the mask he wears is much more plain to see
     G                        Em7   Dm7   G
Than what he thinks of me.

(Chorus)

Teaching me power and control.
Is it enough to make him whole?
Tracing the patterns of the spell.
Would he still notice if I fell?
Gold and silver in the air.
Does he remember how to care?
And what is it that I see
When I see him look at me?

(Chorus twice to coda)
           Dm7     G     Em7
So I could see the man inside.
           Dm7              G             Cmaj7
So I could finally learn to see the man inside.