".
The words represent a feeling so strong, one will almost cry at the enormity of desperation in a time of war, for love and lust. This crisis turns panda monius with the mention of a honkey tonk perade. This one sided "love relationship" becomes inferior without a solid foundation. One person can not support one self w/o the use of both legs. The love has taken a background role, behind all the bells and whistles of an arcade of physical satisfactions. The singer does not ask for her partner to believe in her for she recognized the reality of the situation. Fantasy can no longer hold her hope alive and she tries to simply give up.
Moon = love.
Sea = relationship.
Sky = fantasy of what will never be.
Tree = desire.
Parade = pandemonium .
Melody = background, unimportant.
The singer also saw the chaos caused by her feelings; she is now battling between fantasy and reality. Yet in her heart, she knows; it's "as phony as can be." She tried simply to give up, but her love and infatuation for the affection dwarfs her perception of reality. This insanity leads her to keep false hope for the destination of true love.
It is all but coincidental that Tennessee Williams uses this to say when furthering Blanches character. In scene seven, after Stanley leaves the truth, he presents them to Stella. All the while, Blance is in the bathtub, out of ear's reach, singing. It's only a paper moon. She represents all the pseudo relationship qualities found when analyzing the lyrics, for she knows in her heart the truth, yet her constant battle between reality and fantasy, truth and fiction, physical satisfaction and meaningful love, & mind and heart, strains her to the point of tearing down her tower of sanity. As Stanley relays the truth blanches lies and deceit, Blanche sings a song of phony meaning, supporting Stanley's euphony of in reality as Blanche is off singing in here reality as fantastic it seems.
