Growing up I was impressed by Cindy’s Sherman’s Untitled Film Stills, but they’d drifted to the back of my mind until I caught a recent documentary about her work.

I’ve uploaded this tribute as a very basic demo rather than a straight acapella but separated the vocal and guitar part in the zip file in case anyone out there wants to sample either.

Some girl going somewhere with a cheap suitcase
Under a B movie sky with a turned away face
What’s about to come around the bend?
Is her life about to start or her world about the end?
What’s out there the other side of the door?
What’s that library book she’s reaching for?
Different hair, different hat
What just happened here? What’s she looking at?

Is she a working girl, a gangster’s moll?
A vamp or a cast-aside, broken doll?
A maid in mismatched underwear
Hard to know what to read into that dead-eyed stare
What’s in that letter on the bed?
What made her drop her shopping? Turn her head?
Now she’s lighting up, now she’s leaning back
There’s not enough to go on but too much to unpack

Dime a dozen dames
In Cindyscope they’ve got no names
Cindy’s playing games
Hiding in the spotlight

The door’s scuffed, it looks like it could
Be a tough call in a rough neighbourhood
In a monochrome city where they build ‘em high
Is that a make up smudge or is that a black eye?
Sitting pretty on a lowdown wall
It looks like she’s waiting for the sky to fall
Looks like a secret getting out of control
Looks like the credits are about to roll

Only there’s no movie, there’s only a still
One big small moment of show and no tell
Make of it what you will, there’s no wrong or right
Just some girl going somewhere in black and white
Looking out of a window, trailing a scarf
Face in shadow, you can only see half
Now she’s dressed to impress but impress who?
If she can be anyone, why can’t you?

Dime a dozen dames
In Cindyscope they’ve got no names
Cindy’s playing games
Hiding in the spotlight