You're not a stranger to me
And you, well, you're something to see
You don't even know how to please
You say a lot, but you're unaware of how to leave

My darling lives in a world that is not mine
An old child misunderstood...out of time
Timeless is the creature who is wise
And timeless is the prisoner in disguise

Oh, who is the beauty...who the beast?
Would you die of grieving when I leave?
Two children too blind to see
I would fall in your shadow...I believe

My love is a man who's not been tamed
Oh, my love lives in a world of false pleasure and pain
We come from different worlds...we are the same
I never doubted your beauty...I've changed
I never doubted your beauty...I've changed
Changed

Who is the beauty?
Where is my beast?
There is no beauty
Without my beast
Who is the beauty?
Who...
Ahhh...
Oh...la bete...la bete

Where is my beauty?
(La bete...la bete)
Where is my beast?
(La bete...la bete)

My beauty...my beauty
My beautiful...beautiful...beautiful
Beautiful beast

---

WEBMISTRESS speculates:

In the liner notes to TimeSpace, Stevie writes: "...Mick and I years later [after I had written this song were] at the Red Rocks...he stayed with me all night (in the rain) to do closeups...everyone else had left. Who is the beauty, and who is the beast?" So, the song is about Mick. They had a mutually beneficial relationship in that he helped her feel loved when Lindsey was writing such songs as Not That Funny about her, and she remembers the quick affair tenderly, as this song shows. When it's played out, he's "unaware how to leave." She uses a lot of imagery to describe this quirky guy - someone who is "out of time," "an old child," both a "beauty" and a "beast...who's not been tamed." His world is unreal, but in a way he's like Stevie. She thinks he's beautiful, but again, she's changed - she no longer needs him as a lover. Still, when he's gone, she misses the "beauty" that was part and parcel of "the beast."