In the little town of Candor, in the last year of my youth
I learned the final lesson of the levels to the truth
My father was a farmer; he'd go tilling in the ground
My mother was a neighbour; she'd go visiting around

But I didn't care
For I had found the answer to a plowboy's lonely prayer
She was the daughter of the Mayor

Now, the Mayor, he fought my courtship for he'd made other plans
He saw her married to a better man than a boy with farmer's hands
I said, "I hate your father, it's so hard not to strike him"
She said, "You know I love you because you're so much like him"

And so I'd go sneaking in the evening
And there she'd stand a-crying in the dawn as I was leaving

The Mayor of Candor lied
When he offered me his only daughter
The Mayor of Candor tried
To take her off across the water
What a thing to do to a young man in love
And what a thing to do to your daughter

One day with Father on his tractor and Mother off again
I go to find the mayor to work out what I can
But he is not in his office, he is not in his home
When I find him in the countryside he is not alone
He is holding a woman and imagine my surprise
As she jumps back from his arms, I look into my mother's eyes
The Mayor of Candor lied!

All my thoughts of outrage, embarrassment and pain
Were washed away by what then came roaring through my brain
How the Mayor's at my mercy and I hear my own voice say
"Your run for re-election, sir, is one month away"

"And the world will never know of what I've seen here, sir
But I'll be with your daughter; is my meaning clear, sir?"

The Mayor of Candor lied
When he offered me his only daughter
The Mayor of Candor tried
To take her off across the water
What a thing to do to a young man in love
And what a thing to do to your daughter

My mother looks in horror at this compromise we made
But the Mayor's rueful smile says the piper must be paid
I had a month of joy in heaven from this deal I'd made in hell
What was to happen then, my friend, a prophet could not tell

The day after his re-election and the victory celebration
The Mayor takes his family on a month-long foreign vacation
Oh Sarah — you know how much I love you
There is no one I'd ever place above you
Sarah — girl, you don't even know me
To have you, there's nothing that's below me

The day that they return I stand waiting in the road
I watch the car drive up, I watch the passengers unload
Of course she isn't there, of course I should have known
The Mayor says that she has stayed; the decision is her own

He says, "She's finishing her schooling on that unseen foreign shore
And I'll tell you very frankly boy, you'll not see her anymore"

The Mayor of Candor lied
When he offered me his only daughter
The Mayor of Candor tried
To take her off across the water
What a thing to do to a young man in love
And what a thing to do to your daughter

I spit out my hatred and my fury at his lies
But he says, "You tried to blackmail me, you're just as bad as I
Go on and do your damnedest, boy, throw your mother to the streets
You know it's been too many years I had to be discreet"

And as he stands there saying we're just two of a kind
It hits me like a thunderbolt exploding in my mind
As I look into his aged wrinkled mirror of my own face
He laughs and sneers and says, "Of course, dear son —
Where do you think you came from in the first place?"
The Mayor of Candor lied
When he offered me his only daughter
The Mayor of Candor tried
To take her off across the water
The Mayor of Candor lied
Yeah, the Mayor of Candor lied
What a thing to do to a young man in love
And what a thing to do to your daughter