"Painted From Memory" is a song written by Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach. The song tells the story of a person who is captivated by someone's beauty and tries to capture it in a painting, but realizes that appearances can be deceiving. The lyrics suggest that the person painted a picture of someone they found to be incredibly beautiful and tried to capture their essence. However, they come to the realization that the person depicted in the painting is not as they seem. The subject of the painting, the person they desired, is gone and lost to them forever. The individual's eyes, the windows to their soul, are now smiling for someone else. Despite knowing this, the person can't look away just yet. The song implies that the person portrayed in the painting and the subject's true nature are not aligned. The line "Funny, how looks can be deceiving" emphasizes this realization. The narrator acknowledges that the painting was created purely from memory, not from an accurate representation of the subject. They now understand that appearances can be misleading. Overall, "Painted From Memory" explores the themes of longing, desire, and the disappointment that can come from misplaced affections. It reflects on the notion that true beauty lies beyond what meets the eye and serves as a cautionary tale about the perils of making assumptions based solely on appearance.
