When all the help in the world won't get you by When all the friends that you lean on let you down, You'll wonder why I see you there with your painting box And your oils and brushes and your artist's smocks What'll you do if the Muse gets lost When I'm gone You painted me in the way you said you knew I don't believe that I saw myself In anything you drew I say you never quite caught it right You say you see me in a different fight What'll you do with your black and white When I'm gone You paint by numbers I never noticed it before You paint by numbers It's just a closing of an open door When you're looking round You won't see me no more You paint by numbers Staying here in this room just makes me pole I never really could fat into your geometric scale I see you measure my profile up And you mix your paints in a broken cup What'll you do if the brush gets stuck When I'm gone You paint by numbers I never noticed it before You paint by numbers It's just a closing of an open door When you're looking round You won't see me no more You paint by numbers