Download "Portrait"
Portrait by alt-J
Release Date
Performed by
alt-JAbout
‘Portrait’ was recorded under the FILMS moniker, and is the earliest (pre-) alt-J recording out there. The track has a far greater rock influence, but it just isn’t in the same league as any of the tracks on An Awesome Wave. alt-J were later forced to drop the name FILMS due to copyright issues with...
Portrait Lyrics
Tell me how you wanna be portrayed, now
You can have it all, you know that you can have it all
That I love you, yeah, I love you
Donatello, Frida Kahlo, Holbein
You can have it all, you know that you can have it all
That I love you, yeah I love you
Now paint me a picture
And draw yourself drawing a piece of paper with pencil
‘Cause you can’t afford to misrepresent me
I want an imitation of reality
Gather all your kings and other things
That you know my good
You might tell me what, ‘cause
Do you think that these are my good nature
You establish my good nature
Buy me aristocracy
Now listen to me, yeah
Your whores come and go to sit with me
I wanna be seen in a hundred years
As you see me now, so don’t hesitate
Paint my portrait
So paint me now
You didn’t want to know, you didn’t want to see
You threw it in the fire, you threw it in the fire
And then you took my eyes, so I could never be
The painter of your boy
And then I go:
King, for king, oh, king, bring the guillotine
You didn’t want to know, you didn’t want to see
You threw it in the fire, you threw it in the fire
And then you took my eyes, so I could never be
The painter of your boy
And then I go:
King, for king, oh, king, bring the guillotine
Bring the guillotine