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