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