Strobes, strings and lavish imagery surround a narrator who doubts the source of their feelings. The sheet explicitly identifies this as the original version. All twenty-five lines are retained, including the final drug-related punch line; the song contains adult innuendo. The source credits the words to Lehrer but supplies no recording edition or date, so this is an undated reading text.
I see flashing strobes
And mirrored globes
And stereo merry-go-rounds.
A choir sings
And a thousand strings
Make luxuriant, prurient sounds.
You're, like --- beautiful
This is real, this is right, this is it!
You're, like --- beautiful
This is it, but I have to admit
Though you're hugging me
And there's sunsets and rockets and thunder
Something's bugging me
And I think of tomorrow and wonder:
Some kind of magic has captured us
Thrilled and enraptured us
But ---
Is this emotion devotion
As deep as the ocean,
Or what?
Was that a tender caress
Or only a grope?
Baby,
Is it love ---
Or is it the dope?