The Great Pretender
The Band Lyrics

The Band's song "The Great Pretender" tells the story of someone who is trying to hide their true feelings and struggles by pretending to be happy and successful. The lyrics suggest that this person is desperately lonely, but they are afraid to let anyone see how they are really feeling. The line "My need is such, I pretend too much" suggests that the person is using their facade as a coping mechanism and that they are aware of how fake they are being. The chorus reveals that despite their efforts to hide their pain, the person still deeply feels the loss of someone important to them. They are wearing their heart like a crown and pretending that the other person is still around.

The repetition of "Too real is this feeling of make believe" emphasizes the internal struggle of the person trying to keep up their facade. They are feeling overwhelmed and unable to keep up the act. The use of the word "gay" in the line "Just laughing and gay like a clown" is interesting in that it has taken on different connotations over time. When the song was originally recorded in the 1950s, "gay" simply meant happy or carefree. Today, the word has come to refer specifically to members of the LGBTQ+ community. This demonstrates how language can evolve and change over time.