However, it was later discovered that Bess may have accidentally shared the code with this particular medium prior to the séance (ho-hum). She would eventually conclude that it was impossible to communicate with the dead. "Houdini" is one of KB’s most emotional songs and her vocal for the track certainly reflects this.
Houdini
I wait at the table,
and hold hands with weeping strangers.
Wait for you
to join the group.
The tambourine jingle-jangles.
The medium roams and rambles.
Not taken in,
I break the circle.
I want this man
to go away now.
With a kiss
I'd pass the key
and feel your tongue
teasing and receiving.
With your spit
still on my lip,
you hit the water.
Him and I in the room
To prove you are with us too.
He's using code that only you and I know.
This is no trick of his.
This is your magic.
I'd catch the cues,
watching you,
hoping you'd do something wrong.
Everybody thinks you'll never make it,
but every time,
you escape:
"Rosabel believe,
Not even eternity
can hold Houdini!"
("Rosabel, believe!")
Through the glass
I'd watch you breathe.
("Not even eternity . . .")
Bound and drowned,
And paler than you've ever been.
(". . . can hold Houdini!")
With your life
the only thing in my mind –
we pull you from the water!
(Houdini!)
You ("Hou-di-ni...")
And I
And Rosabel believe.