A mask is easily placed,
On a betrayed and broken face.
A disguise to hide the past,
When you mapped out my skin and made the memories last.
Some things are never erased,
And I have run when I've been chased,
By recollections of you and me falling off our homemade castle

And even when I'm walking straight I always end up in a perfect circle.
Oh I try but I just can't wait,
To break out of this perfect circle.
'Cos giving into old temptation,
Is like that common twitch.
Oh the silly stupid realisation,
The more you scratch the more you itch.

Why am I fighting, what's it for,
Must let my mask drop to the floor.
My scars I shouldn't hide from the people who are on my side,
Rolling up my sleeves to fight against,
All the things I locked up and all the things I fenced.
But it's time to let it out so we can build a brand new castle.

And even when I'm walking straight I always end up in a perfect circle.
Oh I try but I just can't wait,
To break out of this perfect circle.
'Cos giving into old temptation,
Is like that common twitch.
Oh the silly stupid realisation,
The more you scratch the more you itch.

And even when I'm walking straight I always end up in a perfect circle.
Oh I try but I just can't wait,
To break out of this perfect circle.
'Cos giving into old temptation,
Is like that common twitch.
Oh the silly stupid realisation,
The more you scratch the more you itch.

The more you scratch the more you itch

--

The song which is my current alarm clock, an astonishing song in live, and my favourite from Pictures album.

I love this song, and I think that it is also one of my favourites from Pictures.

Molly McQueen helped co-write this song, I think.

Yeah she did That makes me remind that I have never been interested in who is and what did this Molly. Should I ?

Ye, she is very good. But don't let Lela hear you say you don't know who she is

I'll try !
But as I called off the search when I found Katie, I have a good reason

I also love this song.

And I still remember when I heard it the very first time. It was on July 23rd 2007 at the wonderful concert in Berlin/Spandau!

What for a wonderfull evening

It´s also one of my favourite songs .

When first hearing Pictures, this and WIMAY were the two tracks that stood out lyrically for me. A definate grower with awesome guitars and a killer rhytm. Would not be usprised if it became a live standard...

A good opportunity to ask what is actually meant with "When you mapped out my skin and made the memories last." I don't understand that line...

Maybe I am barking up the wrong tree completely, but the way I read it this song is about a flirtation with a former lover, and the delightful experiences and emotions that moment brings with it.

"When you mapped out my skin and made the memories last." is simply a reference to the man's touch against her body, his exploring hands, and how they brought back memories of happy times.

The songstress is the one betrayed, but this unexpected moment of passion masks the sorrow that went before. Hence the circle refers to ending up back where you once were, with the same person.

The song lyrics has so many double entendres, I have no idea where to start. Quite a catchy tune, I really like the melody, lyrics and her performance.

...to explore every inch of a lover's naked body, I presume and given the corporeal nature of the lyrics, I can only laugh to think "The more you scratch the more you itch" refers to crabs.

the song is indeed about bad circles that happen in life, but it's actually about acne too she told that at the gig in Paris. And I guess that "When you mapped out my skin and made the memories last." may refer to the scars too ?



I'm convinced it will

Well as you may have realised, I do like a double entendre but I've never heard any in these lyrics. Yes ok, mapped out my skin is a reference to a lover's touch. With the scratch and itch line, I always think of this more as a sign of obsession; you keep returning to the thing which is causing you 'aggravation' (eg an old love affair).
"Perfect Circle? ", well ok, you may have a point (ooo-er)

Hmm, in Hannover, she said it's a song about the difficulty to break one's habits. Which is a bit weird since I think there is much more behind it.

Isn't it what she says in the preview clip ? I don't remember. But it must be about that too, the difficulty to break the habit of breaking your acne circles

I really like the song one of the 3 best songs on "Pictures" , it has "bar atmosphere"

I love the song too and it´s one of my favourites from Pictures.
I love to play this song myself on the guitar and everytime when I play it, I enjoy the last chord - a Dm7 - It sounds very "bluesy"

Makes me remember that I gotta begin the guitar

For me the second best song on Pictures and a masterpiece. I know, that the lyrics are rather sad, but for me the song just makes me feel fine.

Funny also is, that in that concerts in summer 2007, duw1427 mentions, Katie played only two songs from the new album. WIMAY and PC, her both best songs from the album.

What leeds me to the question. When it is released as single?? I can already imagine a cool video!!!

Also funny is, that Molly never wanted to put it on her album, so that Katie put it on hers. Thank you, Molly!!!!

The song was originaly intended for Molly's album that didn't happen so Katie used it on Pictures. Molly will have her album out soon, btw, she's now signed to Sony Publishing.

A lot of the lyrical content of Perfect Circle is trademark Molly Mcqueen, she's a brilliant lyricist and Katie's voice adds a touch of class to make this one of the BEST Katie Melua tracks of all time. The reworking of the guitar work in the live version has stepped this song up several 'notches' to what I consider to be the best track she sings live... EVER.

The song is about addictions, habits and even obsessions and one's inabillity to break them. It's true, apparently, that a section of the lyrics were inspired by acne, particularly the line "The more you scratch the more you itch"

I LOVE this song, and I would dearly love to see the two of them work together again in the future.

Yeah I totally agree. The live versions of this song are incredibly astonishing ! I admitt I didn't know Molly before but the idea of more common work betweem them sounds really exciting. By the way, I think about a longer version of the song in live, I mean with longer solos/improvisations. They already do it but I'd love to listen to a version with 2 full minutes of a Jim Watson impro, supported by Katie who'll be playing the guitar like a virtuoso etc. You should try this song as an alarm clock, I have used it for several months already and it's one of the best way to start the day

Agreed as well. Definitely one of my favourites of Pictures. There’s some kind of smartness to it which I really like.
Being the first (or second, don’t remember exactly) song of Pictures heard live (Berlin last year) that might have had an effect to it as well. It caught my attention the very first second, just as WIMAY did.
I don’t know why they did not release those 2 songs on a single yet, even though they chose it for the 2007 concerts.

And for the 2008 concerts too fortunately But I also don't know why about singles... later I hope

Must be the only song of its kind!

After the last version we heard of this song, I'm pretty sure it'll become the greatest live songs of Katie But I was wondering what version will be played for the second part of the live tour 08 ? An accoustic version with 2 guitars, an astonishing version with the band ? I don't think that a simple version with Katie and her guitar will be chosen (like in the Europe 1 interview). What do you wish ?