1. |
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Just beyond that wide river Styx
Is a place where sick men like me get our kicks
It’s a waiting room like you’ve never seen before
With a twenty five piece band and a ten thousand square foot ballroom floor
Oh, there’s a lady all dressed in red all gussied up with a bullet in her head
Looks like she could use a drink ... or a dance with the dead
Oh, lucky me, I’m the fella in black
who knows how to tango with a flask full of jack
I sauntered up slowly ... and this is what I said:
“Don’t be afraid. It’s only death.
It’s just as natural as your first breath
Life’s a bitch and then you fall
but hell’s a myth, the afterlife’s a ball
And now you’re lookin’ like you’ve never heard of a two step before
have another drink, don’t think, just get on your feet.
We’re gonna show ya what they’re for!
If we're allGod's children, God is a cannibal
He'll never stop eattin' 'cause his belly's never full
But if you've fallen from the land of the slaves,
Well there ain't no God here; you've been saved!
Don't be afraid. It's only death.
It's just as natural as your first breath.
Life's a bitch, and then you die,
But Hell's a myth and Heaven is just a lie.
And now you’re lookin’ like you’ve never heard of a two step before
have another drink, don’t think, just get on your feet.
We’re gonna show ya what they’re for!
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2. |
Zyrah!
02:35
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Once upon a long time ago
there was a gypsy queen with skin like snow
Fair and smooth, cold for sure
Venus never had nothin’ on her
My God, she was a deadly dame
men traded souls just to hear her name
and when they did a world of flame
engulfed their hearts and the Devil sang...
Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Zyrah!
There was a time I couldn’t see at all
‘til I swallowed that gypsy’s crystal ball
and then I saw that the mirror on her wall
was the only weapon that could make her fall
I took it in hand and climbed her stair
in the dark she called out, “Who goes there?”
She fell in love just like the rest
now she clutches that mirror to her breast
She talks in tongues while her flesh decays
She hasn’t left that room in days.
Eyes made of a man’s wet dreams
The lids were two sharp guillotines
Lips slick with Kerosene
threw sparks every time she screamed
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3. |
Flames of Hell
03:21
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Back before the streets had names
you used to get lost in the rain
Oh, the cul-de-sac was always the same
And each time you would swear in vain
that you would never find your way back there again
Oh, look how far you came.
It’s rainin’ cats and dogs, you made another wrong turn again
If you can’t prepare for the journey, prepare for the end.
God ain’t no naive rube, he sees everything you do
He’s like Santy Claws, but he pay’s you for your sin.
All that remains is shadows and rain
and no one can blame you for saving yourself
but the flames, yes the flames of Hell.
You can leave all that shines to go diggin’ in those dark dirty mines
but what you trade will be worth more than gold
Touch all the life you can, clutch it in your clammy little hands
but in the end, my friends, you will grow old.
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4. |
Ancestral Ray
06:30
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Sweet baby boy, rattle snake in his hand,
grinnin’ from the bottom of the cradle. I stand
like a proud father would who slipped into fatherhood like a trance.
If a proud father could, he would give his boy a fighting chance.
I’m feelin’ scared, I can’t remember what for.
I think there’s somethin’ dark movin’ under the floor.
My boy’s outa snakes and he’s hungry for more.
But my bones were set broken at birth, so I can’t move to the door.
I’m beggin’ him, “Please son, behave.
I’m doin’ all I can to save
all our ancestors gave.
Can’t you hear them callin’ you from the grave?”
Tears are wellin’ up like tar in his eyes.
My blood is runnin’ thick as the fog outside.
There’s a ghost in the corner, and she’s tellin’ me to run and hide.
My boy’s eyes are red now, and he’s growin’ in size.
I recall the crooked sound of a music box by my bed,
and the demons in my daddy’s eyes that his crooked smile hid.
And I can see the snakes movin’ underneath his skin.
I guess I was Faust then, but now I’m him.
Yes, now I’m him.
I wake to the whispers of my boy’s forked tongue.
There’s a chill in the room makin’ the spiders run.
There’s a pause like the silent space after you cock a gun.
I’m thinkin’ to myself, “My God, what have I done?”
I turn for the door as the crib starts to crack,
then I feel his claws fall across my back.
I catch a glimpse of myself in his eyes, then it all goes to black.
A baby’s cry echoes from my grandaddy’s shack.
I’m askin’ him, “Son, do you think you’re brave
to cast out all that I gave?
Well, you can’t kill the slaves
‘cuz we’ll be callin’ you from the grave.
We’re your ancestral ray.”
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5. |
Schtuken Nist In Harts
02:53
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6. |
Old Bayou
03:21
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There’s a mad puppeteer toiling in the swamp
in a shack made of human bone and the puppets that he haunts
They hang like crucifixions from their fraying threads
but unlike the saints, these ones aren’t dead
Down in the old Bayou, down in the old Bayou
Down where nightmares come true in the old Bayou
Down in the old Bayou.
There’s an aligator older than the French-Canadian war
and every harvest moon he knocks at the puppet master’s door
The puppet master feeds him on the blood of girls and boys
The gator’s eyes are beating hearts, his scales are broken toys
Locked in his cold marionettes,
are those lured by his sweet voodoo
He severs the soul from the flesh
Don’t get lost my child walkin’ in the old Bayou
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7. |
Interlude
00:50
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8. |
Boney
03:03
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Old Bonaparte was a funny old fool
he only stood five feet and had a broken tool
but when he sat on the old barstool
he could drink ya bully ‘neath the table
Aye boys ya gotta be hard
always pack a blade when you’re going to the bar
fly that flag let ‘em know who you are
and kiss them ladies when you’re able
T’was a balmy night in the south of France
Louise had the floor, Boney wanted the dance
We were all out numbered but we took our chance
and the town was burning by morning
If I don’t get me grog tonight,
I swear by god there’s gonna be a fight
If I don’t kiss them rosy lips
I swear by god I’m gonna sink this ship.
If we don’t make Paris by dawn
We’ll be crowned kings in the noon day sun
Louise ya bastard ya better run
and the rest of the world take warning.
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9. |
The Plague
02:20
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10. |
The Wedding Song
03:36
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I kept these roses now they’re dried and grey
All the color that was in ‘em, it all ran away
Left my heart chalk full of Kerosene
So strike a match and turn my love to confetti
There ain’t no lady, there ain’t no girl
there ain’t no dame in the whole damned world
that could love a man, a man like me
There’s plenty of fish as well as sharks in the deep blue sea
Over, my dreams are over
I tried to hold her, but now I just owe her
what’s left of me. I know I’ve no dignity
but I’d trade it willingly,
if she would just spend one night next to me.
Love ain’t no prom night, love ain’t no dance
Love ain’t no cherry bowl smothered in romance
Love’s a whip and you’re a slave
and it cuts the heart long after the grave.
There ain’t no fairy, there’s just this tale
no one was buyin’ so they put it up on sale.
And now you see, nothing’s for free
There’s plenty of fish as well as sharks in the deep blue sea.
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11. |
Skeleton Cage
04:17
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I hold my soul in a cage of skeleton bones
and when I open my eyes, I see the Lord of Death outside
All of my days are crushed under the waves
and this sweet story of mine is lost in an ocean of time
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Clay Rose Boulder, Colorado
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