Sounds Expensive - Stephin Merritt

I would like for you to have this emerald ring

It was crafted many years before the Ming

Since the story’s far too sad to tell

I’ll sing

It was made for the blind concubine Lola Li

Who was famous for being a little choosy

Her rejections were something no man could survive

So the ring-maker had himself buried alive

It’s a terrible tale

Full of passion and gore

That sure sounds expensive!

We can’t wait to hear more

In a few generations it came to a monk

Who said things of this world

Are all baubles and junk

So he gave it to Lola Lo

Some general’s wife

Which was quickly discovered

He paid with his life

It’s a tale of violence

A thing we deplore

But it sounds expensive!

What are you stopping for?

A bad playwright gave it to his new ingenue

The impossibly bad actress sweet Lola Lu

But the playwright said something

He shouldn’t have said

And now both the playwright and

The actress are dead

It’s a kind of thing

No one can make anymore!

And it sounds expensive when it

Falls to the floor