Versions

Version	Length	Source	Availability
Studio	4:05	Mark Seymour Undertow album.	Moderately common. Available new in CD and digital form.

Recommended Version.

Commentary

From Mark’s track by track guide to Undertow:

Someone who takes the fall when a plan or conspiracy comes unstuck. He’s the bloke (or lady) up front who is left hanging in the breeze after the focus groups have run off like deer in the forest. Was Charles the 1st truly guilty of treason? Was Lee Harvey Oswald the only shooter? Did Fraser’s henchmen set up Billy McMahon? Or what about Kristina Kenneally? Now there was a lamb to the slaughter. Sometimes the patsy is willingly duped.. because he is a greater victim of his own vanity than the frailty of those who plot around him.

Lyrics

Who knows how the fire got started?
A bunch of gurus in a darkened room
You can sell anything
If you massage the spin
All you need is a patsy to groom

Someone to do the talking
Ready and willing to crawl
The dinosaur’s wearing a brand new suit
And the stars are ready to fall

Check out his face on the billboard
Check out his sequins and bows
Well the gurus will watch every move that he makes
Just to see how the campaign grows

Seemed like battle worth fighting
Like a good idea at the time
The balloon went down
It was all over town
Someone had to swing for the crime

We’ll go down for the sin of believing
But we’ll rise for the last curtain call
We were under his spell singing Heartbreak Hotel
For the last patsy to fall

His knees will be broken by sunset
Still he giggled like a choir boy
The whistle was blown
The patsy got thrown
Now the chairman is crushing his toy

You could hear Beethoven roll over
There was too much smoke in the room
The gurus were there gasping for air
Stumbling around in the gloom

They said the risk was worth taking
So we’ll stand for the last curtain call
We were under his spell
Singing Heartbreak Hotel
For the last patsy to fall