If You Take Away the Make-Up (Then the Vampires They Will Die)

We sent cassette tapes to the oil rigs and the Arctic outpost camps
Applied the basic rules of disco, attached harmonics to our amps
Upstaged the werewolves of Wisconsin with applause we couldn't buy
Cause if you take away the make-up, then the vampires they will die

We heard them sing in their fake
Accents where the storefront placard hangs
They kept alive the Brave Casino Sound
For Leslie Conway Bangs
But when the lights came up,
The truth set in and record sales declined
Cause if you take away the make-up, then the vampires they will die

With any luck we'd see Chicago by the morning but we were late
We missed The Cocktails at the Lounge Ax
We'd been playing clubs from town to town
And chasing bats from state to state

We took the first bus out of Memphis, stood in line like we were dead
And with a boarding pass in one hand you looked up at me and said:
"Without the Revlon girls at Macy's Peter Murphy won't survive"
Cause if you take away the make-up, then the vampires they will die
And if you take away the make-up, then the vampires they will die
And if you take away the make-up, then the vampires they will die