Ah! But Underneath Songtext
von Cleo Laine

Never judge a book by its cover
The thing that counts is what′s inside
Never judge a lady by her lover
It isn't a reliable guide

The lady may decide her obligations
Are merely to reflect his expectations
If his idea of ecstasy
Is to see what he expects to see
Well, ignorance is bliss
But think of what he′ll miss

She was smart, tart
Dry as a martini, ah but underneath
She was all heart
Something by Puccini
Ah, but underneath

In the depths of her interior
Were fears she was inferior
And something even eerier
But no one dared to query her superior exterior


She was chic, sleek
Anything in fashion
That was just a shell
Take a close peek
You could see the passion
That was one as well

To conclude, you'd soon discover
The secret of her appeal
Was the wonder which lay underneath
Which she wasn't about to reveal

That was her liability
The curse of versatility
She′d only allow a man to see
Enough to fan his fantasy

She made compliance into a science
One of the giants
Loud or lewd or lah-dee-dah-dee
Everything to everybody

As changeable as a chameleon
With all that entails
But nobody saw what was really underneath all the veils


She was grand, bland
Brave or brisk or brittle
Anything required
Both concerned and strictly non-committal
And a little tired

She was deftly deferential
Or so they wrote on her wreath
No one ever glimpsed her potential
But when stripped down to the essential
Mind you, this is confidential
Way down underneath

She was-
She was-
She was

Sometimes when the wrappings fall
There′s nothing underneath at all