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AMERICAN GOTHIC

Lyrics

WE ARE THE FALLING RAIN #

Stuart Pearson
 

We were the tarred and feathered in the pillory

Now we are the drunks invading the distillery.

 

We are the falling rain (believe us)

We are the falling rain

We are the rips and tears and the creases

We are the falling rain.

 

We are the eyesores chewing up the scenery

We are the weeds infesting the machinery

Round round round we go

And down down down we go.

 

We are the falling rain (believe us)

We are the falling rain

We are the bane of all who impede us

We are the falling rain

 

We are the flat-earthed view of  your discovery

We are the pot-holed road to your recovery

Round round round we go

And down down down we go.

 

We are the falling rain (believe us)

We are the falling rain

We know our reputation precedes us

We are the falling rain

We are the snake that bites the unwary

We are the falling rain

We are the match inside the library

We are the falling rain

 

TICKING AWAY

Stuart Pearson

 

Like a murder of crows

Squawking ten feet apart

I carved an armored perimeter

With my bruised, aching heart

The rags of a man

Stained with constant defeat

What becomes of a photograph

Trampled on the cold concrete?

​

Then it begins

Like a clock in my brain

Just ticking away

Just ticking away

Blood fills my head

Like a bomb in my brain

Just ticking away

It’s ticking away

And then

Sleep returns to stifle me again

 

I’m a smudged fingerprint

Just a shadow with eyes

I wear a name that nobody calls

When they’re tucked in at night

We’re all that we hide

Padlocked doors made of skin

If my hands were outstretched and bare

Would you welcome me in?

​

The pulse keeps time

Like a clock in my veins

Just ticking away

Just ticking away

Blood fills my head

 

Blood fills my eyes

Every channel the same

Just ticking away

I’m ticking away

Impressed

Tomorrow my name joins with the rest

 

WHERE ARE YOU +

Stuart Pearson/Hunter Lowry

 

Where are you

Where are you

 

I'm here in the hallway

The shadows conspire

You tiptoe on edges

A bird on a wire

 

Where are you

 

And you think you are free

Don't see me

Think you've gotten away

 

Where are you

 

I'm here in the alley

I'm under the bed

I stalk the illusions

Inside of your head

When you walk out the door

footsteps echo behind

 

Where are you

 

And you're no longer safe in your safety zone

Can you feel my breath on your hair

 

Where are you

 

But you know why I come here

and you know why I stay

 

Where are you

 

Now I dwell inside

I can see out your eyes

Endlessly wearing you as disguise

And laugh as you struggle

To make me go away

 

Where are you

Where are you

Where are you

 

LOCHINVAR +

Stuart Pearson/Hunter Lowry

 

The Spanish moss hangs heavy in the trees

The scent of jasmine carried on the breeze

The bones of soldiers finally at peace

And Lochinvar is my home

 

I hear your voice as it whispers in the halls

I see your shadow thrown against the wall

The moment passes

There's nothing there at all

Because Lochinvar is your home

 

You dance in lantern light

From frame to frame

And never tell me I'm to blame

To blame

To blame

 

I left you here and went marching off to war

Like many millions marching off before

But here you battled

No bayonet or sword

Because Lochinvar is your home

 

Through stone and timber and

Blood and bone

You wander eternally alone

Alone

Alone

 

A hundred mothers will rock upon the porch

Ten thousand soldiers will march into the North

Still Ebenezer walks

Carrying his torch

Til Johnny comes marching home

Til all the Johnnies come marching home

Because Lochinvar is his home

CROPSEY  +

Stuart Pearson/Hunter Lowry

 

It smells like voodoo up in here tonight

Sign of the cross

That fence that fidgety wood

Rickitey brick

And battery flattery

Splat goes your manboy

In the cannery

That's right

This ain't ice and

You ain't the faker you wanna be

No

You ain't the Big Below yet

You listen up

Listen up

Listen up

That's the hat you get

After all this commotion

This is the tent you walked your numbers through

No more shady days in the sun

You ain't gonna like it when he here

You ain't gonna like it when he disappear

(You gonna shake your fist)

(You gonna shake your fist)

On a sweet shack lap party like this

It's the day that Cropsey comes

Comes the Day of Cropsey

 

You don't wanna be in that

Hen house penthouse rent a mouse Beauregard

You get the tubes into the trains

And let mules drag away that dream

You ain't no farmer

Look at these beans

What you doing here

All up in the high kick boots

Don't you know the ground

You too tight

You got the magnet brain

Don't you swing that carnival door

The Baby Tomorrow

This will swat your catastrophe

You ain't gonna like it when he here

You ain't gonna like it when he crawl in your ear

(You gonna shake your fist)

(You gonna shake your fist)

All over Robot Parties like this

It's the day that Cropsey comes

Comes the Day of Cropsey

 

THE ABANDONED CAROUSEL * +

Hunter Lowry

 

They say they never found him

On the day he wandered off

His mother gray and sobbing in the rain

The neighbors are suspicious

And the skeptics always scoff

But we know that it’s happening again

 

The merry-go-round horses

Snort in paralyzed defeat

Their hooves forever pinned to metal ground

But we know that you better beat

A hasty retreat

If you ever see those horses come unbound

 

It’s a midnight ride

At the abandoned carousel

You know you’ve heard the stories

That the older people tell

That midnight ride

That all the nursery rhymes fortell

It takes you around

And around and around

 

The children always whisper

About the ones that just get lost

We know that they aren’t just a runaway

But somehow even knowing

Of the price that ride could cost

Makes it doubly hard to turn away

 

It’s a midnight ride

At the abandoned carousel

You know you’ve heard the stories

That the older people tell

That midnight ride

That all the nursery rhymes fortell

It takes you around

And around and around

 

THE DEVIL WHAMMY

Stuart Pearson

 

Why do you look for Heaven

Why do you look for Hell

 

My head had fallen in a crater

My heart had hidden in a hole

I conjured the administrator

Of every sick and wicked soul

He said Ha Ha Ha

He said Ha Ha Ha

He said Ha Ha Ha

He said Ha Ha Ha

You wanna do the Devil Whammy

You wanna do the Devil Whammy

You wanna do the Devil Whammy

You wanna do the Devil Whammy

All Right

All Right

All Right

All Right

 

He said there isn’t an affliction

That doesn’t leave a scar behind

You’re gonna to carry an addiction

To this saucy bump and grind

I said Ha Ha Ha

I said Ha Ha Ha

I said Ha Ha Ha

I said Ha Ha Ha

I wanna do the Devil Whammy

I wanna do the Devil Whammy

I wanna do the Devil Whammy

I wanna do the Devil Whammy

All Right

All Right

All Right

All Right

 

Put your hands in the air

Spin your head round and round

Shake your hips back and forth

And try not to fall down

 

There’s no escape from the eruption

As I look out on the Expanse

The thrall of mischievous seduction

Of this evil little dance

They cry Ha Ha Ha

They cry Ha Ha Ha

They cry Ha Ha Ha

They cry Ha Ha Ha

We wanna do the Devil Whammy

We wanna do the Devil Whammy

We wanna do the Devil Whammy

We wanna do the Devil Whammy

All Right

All Right

All Right

All Right

WE’LL MEET AGAIN

Stuart Pearson

 

You disappeared

No trace left behind

You are ambrosia

I'm gristle and rind

You are the breath I'm aching to breathe

Something so good, something better than me

Think you're gone gone gone away

We'll meet again

 

You are the summit

That I couldn't climb

You are the luster

I am the grime

You are the book where I've read every page

You're the canary

I am the cage

 

You are the boundary

Where pain meets desire

You are the gossamer

And I am the fire

You were the siren that led me astray

Now I'm the hunger

And you are the prey

 

RUNAWAY GIRL +

Stuart Pearson

 

A silhouette grows

Into a runaway girl

My headlights dancing in the rain

The road is an S.O.S.

Of mud and debris

Spit out by this orphaned hurricane

The sky paints charcoal swirls of gray

Where rays of  light withdrew

I bid a hello to the runaway girl

“And I To You”

 

I said “Where are you going”

“Tell me where have you gone”

Her lip curled with her curt reply

I didn’t react

I just kept driving on

Although I couldn’t fathom why

As time dragged chains

Through this grim terrain

A single thought burst through

If she’s just another runaway girl

Where is she running to

 

“Why did you choose this road

Is crisis all that you know

How far will you go”

 

“Why do you look for heaven

Why do you look for hell?

 

Two headlights approach me

With a runaway girl

Their headlights dancing in the rain

Given this S.O.S. of mud and debris

They won’t be dancing here again

The sky is its sickly charcoal gray

The hurricane blew through

The driver pulls over

“Sir I bid you hello”

And I

And I

To you

You should runaway girl

You should runaway girl

You should runaway girl

 

3 FEET FROM A VEIN +

Stuart Pearson/Hunter Lowry
 

I was born in an orphanage
Jumped a train on a burning bridge
For some echoes and some acreage
Three feet from a vein

​

I was the gleam in a dusty eye
An evening of coyote lullabies
A wild burro flicking off the flies
Three feet from a vein


Gather round, you angels, sing

​

I casted shadows that were seldom seen
Slim and dirty like a Philistine
St Peter fetch me in a limousine
Three feet from a vein

​

A rusty bucket with a sun bleached soul
A leprechaun without a pot of gold
Always chasing down a mother load
Just three feet from a vein

​

If dreams came true
It would rain Mezcal
And this ghost town would come alive
And they'd name that mountain after me
Singing songs about the day I died

​

A man will do what his daddy did
Because he did what his daddy did
Because he did what his daddy did
Three feet from a vein.

​

That’s all I ever was
All I ever tried to be
What’s it like up there
Is there room for me

​

It’s a starbright celebration
Come home to me

​

ONE OLD COYOTE
Stuart Pearson

Our planets collided
Throwing heat like the sun
This never could happen
Then never did come
There's one old coyote
He looks up and bays at the moon
Oooo

​

I still believe in you
I swear I believe
And though it seems crazy
I swear I believe
And one old coyote
Calls from the ravine
Oooo

​

How can I be angry
At the passage of time
You want what your heart wants
And leave memories behind
And one old coyote
Looks up and entreats the moon
Oooo

​

I still believe in you
I swear I believe
Though you won't return to me
I'll choose to believe
And one old coyote
Lies down to receive his sleep
Oooo

​

​

​

All instruments, loops and midi work by Stuart Pearson
*lead vocal by Hunter Lowry
+additional vocals and backing vocals by Hunter Lowry
# fiddle by Dan Hamilton

All songs © 2023 Margie & Art Publishing

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