The act so often becomes the folly. It moves along with a set pace, with a gait the makes it feel natural and spot-on. It flows sweetly, but leaves a film that's hard to understand at the time. There's a bitter aftertaste if it goes on too long and before long, the hidden levers that run the act are revealed in slips and errors. When all of the artifice burns away like a fog, everything becomes evident, plain to see. Too many times, we've fallen for the act, for the production that -- in the right hands -- is a work of art. It can be a terrific clinic in control and manning a narrative. It almost always backfires. The manipulation and the heavy hands start the fraying of the cords, with every white lie or otherwise taking out another gash. The trust between two people can wear hard, wash away like a beach.
The relationships that Busy Living lead singer Mike Moonves sings about are occupied by the kinds of people: The ones who are moving the pieces around the board and the ones who are effectively the board. The people who are getting rolled up, who are the board, are wising up. They're no dummies. They might be willing to play along a little longer, if they were just given a little more credit -- as in the song, "Lie Better." They tend not to be innocents though. They are playing both roles and it makes trust seem awfully arbitrary, even when there is a general desire for everything to work out. Moonves sounds like he's placing a realistic approach in the story of the couple in "Let You Down." Much of what's going to happen there is going to be in vain. Good intentions will be hollow and the thin ice will be laid out like the only road into and out of town.