The Grand Illusion
by Styx

Album: The Grand Illusion (1977)
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  • Welcome to the Grand illusion
    Come on in and see what's happening
    Pay the price, get your tickets for the show
    The stage is set, the band starts playing
    Suddenly your heart is pounding
    Wishing secretly you were a star

    But don't be fooled by the radio
    The TV or the magazines
    They show you photographs of how your life should be
    But they're just someone else's fantasy

    So if you think your life is complete confusion
    Because you never win the game
    Just remember that it's a grand illusion
    And deep inside we're all the same
    We're all the same

    So if you think your life is complete confusion
    Because your neighbors got it made
    Just remember that it's a grand illusion
    And deep inside we're all the same

    America spells competition, join us in our blind ambition
    Get yourself a brand new motor car
    Someday soon we'll stop to ponder what on earth's this spell we're under
    We made the grade and still we wonder who the hell we are Writer/s: Dennis De Young
    Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 9

  • Stukka63 from St.augustine,fla.Just my opinion.
    Styx is a really kick ass band.
    Amazing talent. But for whatever reason, they were considered light weight.
    Kinda like no one took them serious.
  • Stukka63 from St.augustine,fla.@sam the worst luck this band encountered was losing Dennis DeYoung.
    It’s just a fact.
    Who would want to see an Aerosmith show without Steven Tyler?
  • Justin from Durango, Cothanks sam for bringing up the bad luck they had in later years. seriously I was at the concert in Mancos, Co where a random gust of wind from a summer thunderstorm blew over the roof on the stage they were playing on injuring a couple band members
  • Kent from Fort Wayne, InDue to the ipod generation, my daughter,13, discovered styx on mine. She loves most of the same songs I do. I plan to take her to a concert if they get to this area again. I missed them when they were at Ball St.
  • Sam from Hipsville, CaWas checking out artistfacts on the band------didn't know in later years all the bad luck they encountered. That's really a shame.
  • Cody from Janesville , WiMy uncle got me into styx, loved em ever since, saw them live when i was seven, then 10 years later at seventeen, great live show
  • Don from San Antonio, TxWow that's cool about the letter, Eddie! I went next door to my neighbor's house who had a killer stereo and he played me this title track and I was BLOWN AWAY! I was just a kid so it had MAJOR impact.
  • Mara from Coruscant, Englandstyx is so cool!
  • Eddie from Acton, Me When I was 9 years old, I looked at the back of "The Grand Illusion" album, and found an address to which I could write Styx, which I promptly did.
    It wasn't the first time I had written to a band, but it was the first time I got an actual written reply. It was obviously not a form letter, because various questions I had asked in my letter (including when were they releasing a live album) were answeed.
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