I:

(Male voices speaking)

“Open her up, why don’t you?”

scraping noise

“Don’t you know what happens when you open up a Virgin?”

scraping gets louder

…

Int:

“At the Cross her station keeping,

stood the mournful Mother weeping,

close to Jesus to the last.”

(Stabat Mater Dolorosa)

V1:

Take me off the Tabernacle, sir, and be gentle, please.

Inside me is a Host.

Look, my eyes are hallowed grounds... (holograms)

Eat me, passion.

Crush me, lamentation.

(Male voice #1 speaking) “Throw the fat in the fire and get it over with.”

(Male voice #2 speaking) “Look at her casket, lily white as snow.”

(Male voice #3 speaking) “But look at her mausoleum- dark as Mammy’s immortal soul.”

The light is coming in…

The darkness won’t let me out.

I see my heart in the clouds and a hand over my eyes.

A dove flies so high…

It’s Him, Father, oh, Father mine…

Be gentle, please...

LET ME OUT.

Int:

“Through her heart, His sorrow sharing,

All His bitter anguish bearing,

Now at length the sword has passed.”

(Stabat Mater Dolorosa)

Int:

(with building volume and intensity)

Maiden, Mother, Crone... (x7)

V2:

“I am my mother’s daughter.”

What does that mean to me?

“Love is there, love will always care.”

A Psalm woven just for me.

“They sold her down the river.”

That’s why I can’t tear my bright eyes away.

…

“If Love so kind to all, then why you dead?”

…

sound of casket rumbling

C:

Love is patient, love is kind,

(Coming forth to carry me home…)

But not to the barracoon.

Love will keep us together,

BUT IT’S TORN ME APART.

And can you hear America singing?

Telling Mary who she should be?

Well, open up my guts and let’s just see…

What you find inside of me.

V3:

“O how sad and sore distressed

was that Mother, highly blest,

of the sole-begotten One.”

(Stabat Mater Dolorosa)

Put me in the ground…

My Son, oh, my Son…

B:

(Read aloud) (“As for her death, whatever explanation one may give of it will amount in the end to saying that she died of love.“)

(Read aloud) (“This is what you really love, my young man, but you do not love beauty for its own sake.”)

You love my blood.

You love my rags.

You love my womb and how it sags.

I’m sick of living in a Frankincense box.

“If you so hated, then why you glad?”

…

sound of casket bursting open

C:

Love is patient, love is kind,

(Coming forth to carry me home…)

But not to the barracoon.

Love will keep us together,

BUT IT’S TORN ME APART.

And can you hear America singing?

Telling Mary who she should be?

Well, open up my guts and let’s just see…

What you find inside of me.

Int:

“Christ above in torment hangs,

She beneath beholds the pangs

of her dying glorious Son.”

(Stabat Mater Dolorosa!)

O:

(Read aloud)

“Listen to me when I say that love isn’t something we invented, it’s observable and powerful, it has to mean something.

Maybe it means something more, something we can’t yet understand.

Maybe it’s some evidence, some artifact of a higher dimension that we can’t consciously perceive.

Love is the one thing we’re capable of perceiving that transcends dimensions of time and space.

Maybe we should trust that, even if we can't understand it.”

#music #lyrics #originalcontent

Plucking, strumming banjo, clapping

V1:

Hey, folks, let me tell you a tale of the day bad dog Benny came to the cul-de-sac

well a big black mutt came thunderin’ in

his paws were big enough to shake the ground

he came marching in and I do swear that ol Benny had a target on his back

he’s a mean, lean, snarling machine

and oh, you should hear him growl!

C:

Oooohhh, he howled at the moon!

Oooohhh, he howled at the moon!

Just listen to Benny blow!

Oooohhh, hear him growl!

V2:

Cujo’s cousin came to the cul-de-sac one afternoon, huffin’ and a’ puffin’

bad dog gave everyone a bite!

You could see him chase a poor pussy down the road

and he made little Cindy cry and drop her ice cream cone!

So the townsfolk say,

“Oh, that bad dog Benny gotta go!”

So they run him off over the hills

but that old loudmouth wouldn’t quit his growlin’!

And this is how he sounds:

C:

ooooohhh, he hollered at the moon!

Oooohhh, he hollered at the moon!

Don’t mean to sound all doom and gloom,

but boy, hear that beast howl at the moon!

V3:

So the next morning they got themselves a pitch

Gave that dog the ol’ one-two hitch

ran him around the side of the bend

And told him never to come ‘round here again!

And what do you think that bad dog did?

He went up and kicked up a fit!

Hear him now, you hear him, child?

Hey, let’s all do it now-

C:

Ooooohhh, he hollered at the moon!

Oooohhh, he hollered at the moon!

Benny came and Benny went!

My God, how that damn dog did growl!

#music #lyrics #originalcontent

Intro:

Heard from my doctor you gotta pant like a dog so you won't choke...

So depress your tongue, relax your jaw,

And let me make you my bitch.

(Laughter)

V1:

Why do I turn into a voodoo doll when I look at you?

(I like to stick pins and needles in my skin...)

With my hands around your neck…

Blunt force trauma, eyes like loose marbles rolling around in your skull.

(ah...)

I’m too scared to dream…

(Veiled in gauze and kerosene)

Pull out all my teeth to make room for you.

My jaw aches...

You make my heart break.

V2:

Hey, I’m calling up your line-

“Would your kids call me a bastard if I didn't pull out in time?”

Should I call you a cunning linguist?

(Laughter)

I hate the taste of fruit and the water within,

Hate the feeling that drips on my spiderweb skin.

When you go underwater, do your lips still move…?

I feel your heartbeat like a buckshot fluttering in my hands...

I fear it will-

(bang!)

C:

Legs swimming around my neck,

Fingers rowing down my back,

Love will never be enough

I need a heart attack (yeah)

Fingers cutting my hair

And lips treading on my neck,

Pleasure principle!

Pleasure principle!

V3:

He left a kiss mark on the bottom of my glass.

I gave him sacred gratitude.

“Break you open, see what’s inside.

Let me eat your rot.”

B:

Wide open (let me see your eyes)

Don’t move (not finished with you yet)

Irreversible (can’t stop what we started)

Perversion (crossed the line)

Every rose has its thorns...

C:

Legs swimming around my neck (magnetic)

Fingers rowing down my back (do it with no hands)

Love will never be enough,

I need a heart attack (yeah)

Fingers cutting my hair and lips treading on my neck (all tied up in knots)

Pleasure principle!

Pleasure principle!

“Are you done with me yet?”

O:

A snake in your garden.

Lilith under your bed...

“Did you imagine me, am I all in your head?”

Int:

(An animal growls several times, becoming more aggressive)

“Have you always looked at me like that?”

#music #lyrics #originalcontent

Intro:

Lifted up upon the wings of grace...

Hey! Hey!

Let’s go!

Connect a string to that bird’s tail

So you can grab on and fly into the clouds...

Two doves, one tail.

So long, so long…

He flies like a bird, turns on a dime when it’s time,

A runway built for wings.

sound of plane taking off

Interjection:

It’s a bird, it’s a plane!

(x3)

steady drum beat

V1:

Can we connect from so far away?

Tin can lines don’t reach.

Everyone’s in our ears

Talking about right and wrong…

It’s a weird little lie

Making a wish on the violet sky.

Can it be a bluebird, can it be that hard?

You landed in my yard and started to sing a tune.

God, is this a sign?

Who says we must all fall down?

We can fly on under the eyes of Heaven

Together in harmoney...

Joined at the heart, melting in the air,

Singing tweet, tweet, tweet without a care.

steady snap/clap sounds with bass

Int:

Get high so you don’t hit the ground,

hit the ground flat…

(x3)

V2:

Broke my eyes on the old horse’s back.

It goes on and on for miles,

See on and on for miles…

Nothing is left but love,

Nothing else remains except for love…

C:

Wave to the children down below

On a dove’s tail, flying through the snow

Heavy blankets of ice and a chill so cold

Trying to find a place to land,

A warm place to call home…

(X2)

B:

A beauty you can’t see from up close

It’s always been there,

An auricular hallucination,

An ocular sensation,

You can’t catch something so free with your bare hands…

C:

Wave to the children down below

On a dove’s tail, flying through the snow

Heavy blankets of ice and a chill so cold

Trying to find a place to land,

A warm place to call home…

(x2)

O:

Harps and strings plucked softly

Escape to the stars on the wings of grace…

I just wanna escape to the stars with you...

#lyrics #music #originalcontent

V1:

There is no end to the kindness of strangers

Strangers are kind to all

There is no beginning to express gratitude

if you are grateful to all.

A walk in the park feels like ice cream all day

When you remember this saying:

C:

Time is kind to all

Time is good to me

Time will soothe me gently

Time will rock me to sleep

—piano instrumental—

V2:

Like an acorn falling from a tree

Time will take care of you

Time will take care of me

Like a seed planted in the ground…

Soft grass, Earth’s bare feet

C:

Time is kind to all

Time is good to me

Time will soothe me gently

Time will rock me to sleep

—instrumental—

B:

The sky is blue with cream cheese clouds

I’ll breathe it in and shout real loud-

Oh, time never runs out…

No, no…

Time is here to stay,

(hey, hey~)

and Time will always care

(yes, yes it will...)

—instrumental quickens and intensifies to a crescendo—

C:

Time is kind to all

Time is good to me

Time will soothe me gently

Time will rock me to sleep

—instrumental change to quiet fadeout, wind rustling through trees and grass sfx—-

#music #lyrics #originalcontent

I:

the sound of fireworks in the distance

…

old school record starts to play, ballroom music

…

V1:

A man for all seasons, that’s what I am

Walking with the stagecoach’s reins in my hand

Hoping to find a place to lay my feet

Oh, wandering free…

But your face is an old-time disgrace

With pearls for teeth and hands on your waist

Let’s sit over in the meadow where the stream runs blue

Lift your hearts where one meets two

Put your toes in the water, so fresh and clean

Listen to me, honeypot,

Just listen…

Instrumental continues

V2:

A woman for all wishes, that’s what I am

Running with bare feet across the hot desert sand

There’s something gentle in your smile, gentle in your hips

The way you move and the way your hat dips

Oh, take away that suitcase,

Leave it right there on the shelf

Come on, let’s sit on the park bench and watch the bluejays fly

Just listen to their song, honeypot,

Just listen…

Instrumental continue, accompanied by the sound of birds

C:

Oh, you’re my moon June in deep summer’s gloom

Hot as a honeysuckle, sweet as a peach

Moon June in deep summer’s gloom

Burning like my cheeks.

A moment, love, let’s stop and stare

See the moon kiss your lips,

Stars dancing in your hair.

B:

Moments pass by without a care

Hey, oh, hey

We can go anywhere

The world’s so young, time’s moving fast

Please, Lord, let these good times last.

C:

Oh, you’re my moon June in deep summer’s gloom

Hot as a honeysuckle, sweet as a peach

Moon June in deep summer’s gloom

Burning like my cheeks.

A moment, love, let’s stop and stare

See the moon kiss your lips,

Stars dancing in your hair.

PC:

…

Hey, honeypot, did you grab a map?

A compass, keys, hey, tell me where-

Where do you want to sleep?

Oh, anywhere!

With you, it’s good,

I’m chugging along just fine.

So move along, train, take us home

Take us into the sunset where all lovers roam...

Here we go!

Int:

train whistles, starts to move on the tracks

C (repeated quietly and slowly):

Oh, you’re my moon June in deep summer’s gloom

Hot as a honeysuckle, sweet as a peach

Moon June in deep summer’s gloom

Burning like my cheeks.

A moment, love, let’s stop and stare

See the moon kiss your lips,

Stars dancing in your hair.

O:

Honeymoon,

Honeymoon,

Mmm...mmm...mmm… (a soft humming)

#lyrics #music #originalcontent

C:

Pushing, pushing, pushing out.

Mom needs a break.

Pushing, pushing, pushing out.

Flip her circuits and watch her go

Wind up, wind up, wind up,

watch her go.

Get it all out.

V1:

When the Oxytocin hit, it was perfection.

Mom-to-be became Mom, indeed.

Bringing home baby

Bringing up baby

New clothes in the crib.

She loved him like a seashell,

smooth and breakable.

When she laid down at night and hear his cry

she held him close, a lamb in her arms.

“Don’t cry, baby, don’t cry for me.

I’ll get rid of everything that scares you-

you’ll see, you’ll see.”

V2:

She kept the house clean with Pine Sol

No dust bunnies to be found

But baby kept crying, tears overflowing,

and Mom didn’t know what to do.

So she sprayed the house down

and threw out her trash,

and told the dog to hush his mouth.

Her little baby boy went to bed all night

and Mom thought she had it figured out.

And when her boy laughed and played with a smile on his face,

Mom felt her heart lift like a dove-

“Keep smiling, my love!”

Int:

(repetition of “keep smiling, my love”) x4

(baby giggles)

V3:

On the night of a full moon, her boy got strange.

He started crying and crawling, feeling hot to the touch.

His sweat scared Mom, made her go into fits.

“What do I do, what do I do?!”

Int:

(repetition of “what do I do”)x3

(baby crying)

B:

It’s good to get rid of things

(Rid of things, rid of things.)

Let’s throw this out

(Throw it out, throw it out.)

Mom doesn’t need it

(need it, need it)

She’s going to keep baby safe

(keep baby safe…)

PC:

Out goes the sheets

Out goes the table

Out goes the chairs

Out go the forks and spoons and knives

No more dog

No more pillows

No more flowers

C2:

It’s the feedback loop.

Open circuit

Closed circuit

Feedback loop

Positive or negative

It’s all the same

Can’t stop

This chugging train

Int:

Look out my window, look at my real self.

She’s sitting there on the top shelf…

V4:

His fever broke

Mom holds his hands

Warm and soft

Like cookie dough

The house is empty

Except for Mom and Me

I wonder where

she threw the keys?

She can’t stop the need

that warm feeling inside

that slips out her mouth and into her eyes

That desire to purge what she can live without…

I wonder when she’ll throw me out of the house?

Int:

(baby crying and baby giggling alternate in a layered, repeated echo)

C3:

Pushing, pushing, pushing out.

Mom needs a break.

Pushing, pushing, pushing out.

Flip her circuits and watch her go

Wind up, wind up, wind up,

watch her go.

Get it all out.

It’s the feedback loop.

Open circuit

Closed circuit

Feedback loop

Positive or negative

It’s all the same

Can’t stop

This runaway train...

O:

It’s good to get rid of things

(Rid of things, rid of things,)

Let’s throw this out

(Throw it out, throw it out.)

Mom doesn’t need it

(need it, need it)

She’s going to keep baby safe

(keep baby safe…)

#music #lyrics #originalcontent

V1:

Sitting on the faultlines in the middle of a crossroad

it ain’t easy to figure out the way

everything moves so fast

feels like we’re all slipping away…

phone lines don’t ring

and the city’s too far-

everything’s just too vast.

But take some time, child, to remember this:

C1:

what goes in always comes out

where one line starts, another will end

if we all follow the string and see where it goes

there’s a neverending rainbow

yeah, it’s fractals,

the fallacy of separation, everything inside me.

V2:

Drop a penny in the bucket and make a wish

wish we could all see the end

ah, que sera, sera

some folks think it’s all up to chance

no wheels turning, no time to catch

but take some time, huh, take it slow

and remember this:

C2:

what goes up always comes down

when you pick a flower, another grows

on and on and on we go

it’s all a fallacy, separation’s not true

just look at this beauty,

look at me and you

PC/B:

walking, talking, parallel lines

running, jumping,

perpendicular lives

people holding hands, looking to ask why…

why, why, why?

...

It’s all because of the…

C1+C2:

what goes in always comes out

where one line starts, another will end

if we all follow the string and see where it goes

there’s a neverending rainbow

yeah, it’s fractals,

the fallacy of separation, everything inside me.

what goes up always comes down

when you pick a flower, another grows

on and on and on we go

it’s all a fallacy, separation’s not true

just look at this beauty,

look at me and you

O:

(soft instrumental playoff)

#music #lyrics #originalcontent

Intro:

Hey.

You.

Yeah, you.

What’s that pulling at your strings?

snip, snip

(Laughter)

Oops!

V1:

There’s a little piece of you inside me,

So I think I could write your autobiography-

B-i-o-g-r-a-p-h-y.

Yeah, you’re always inside of me.

(But how can you write my autobiography?

There’s no piece of you inside of me…)

That’s where you’re wrong.

Your mind can’t see.

B-i-o-g-r-a-p-h-y.

B:

So why don’t we get past the cobwebs,

dust them out of the way?

Why don’t we crawl on our hands and knees

on and on until our bones decay...

Together we’re four,

and four makes eight-

on and on until our minds wear away...

C1:

Homespun housepet,

Spin, spin, spin.

Housebroken hellcat,

Spin, spin, spin.

You win, you win,

You always win!

We’re all waiting for the bite-

Waiting for you to claw your way out-

Tooth and nail, too tough to fight.

Untie the knots, untie the knots,

Spin, spin, spin.

V3:

They tangled you up and put spiders in your head,

Nested in your eyes and in your bed (get them out...)

Feeding on the little fly,

Jealous of the wings he uses to say goodbye.

We’re all so dumb, dumb, dumb.

I’m having so much fun, fun, fun.

Watch ‘em weave a web so thick,

Watch ‘em put it over my face (can’t breathe)

Watch ‘em put their fangs in us,

Watch us as we bite the dust.

B:

I am my Father.

You are your Mother.

He is her Brother.

She is his Sister.

We are Traitors.

You’re all Traitors, too.

Oh,

They must have put you in a cocoon,

Strangled shame until your fingers turned blue.

Ah...

Sealed you up just so they could

hear you-

scream

C2:

Trapped like a fly,

Spin, spin, spin.

Entangled in your own web,

Spin, spin, spin.

Dead Ethyl is what I call your kind-

Some insecticide ought to do just fine!

Feeling you bleed out-

Trapped, trapped, trapped...

Under a glass is where I caught you-

Trapped, trapped, trapped.

B:

Four eyes from you...

Four eyes from me...

Eight eyes for the widow

peaking out from the crack-

Glass shatters

C3:

Pins and needles in their backs,

Spin, spin, spin.

Controlled by the cobwebs,

not knowing why.

Entangled in your own web,

Dirty bastard, dirty mind,

Spin, spin, spin.

You win, you win

You always win!

You dirty cheater,

you always win!

B:

Don’t hide from me.

No, not from me.

How dare you bite the hand that feeds

After all they’ve done to me?

How else can I write your biography?

B-i-o-g-r-a-p-h-y.

*(Let’s cut off one of your legs and see

how fast you can crawl away from me…)*

V4/C4:

Oh, it’s making me sick!

The poison is killing us, setting you free…

Dead Ethyl, Dead Ethyl, whatever did I do to you?

Oh, I’m glad my death could set you free-

so, go on,

and get up off your knees!

Homespun housepet,

Spin, spin, spin.

Housebroken hellcat,

Spin, spin, spin.

You win, you win,

You always win!

We’re all waiting for the bite-

Waiting for you to claw your way out-

Tooth and nail, too tough to fight.

Untie the knots, untie the knots,

Spin, spin, spin.

O:

If you want to live and thrive,

let the spider run alive.

(Sound of something hatching)

#music #lyrics #originalcontent

V1:

Cough, cough

Ok.

I’m just a man hanging from a tree.

Okay?

Do you get where this song’s going yet?

I’m just a man hanging from a tree.

Okay?

Ok.

I’m just a girl with her legs open.

Okay?

Ok.

No bud left between.

Do you get where this song’s going yet?

Ok.

Now, listen up.

Shiny, happy people,

this is a story about the sledgehammer

and how it finds its way between your teeth.

This is the story about the ice pick

that finds your brain in the dark and goes

sound of someone screaming

This is a story about people living bad

and how it only gets worse when you start to beg.

Yeah,

We’ve been living rough

Sleeping with no bed.

We’ve been feeling tilted

With a sledgehammer to the head.

Sledgehammer to the head,

Sledgehammer to the head,

When are we gonna talk about the sledgehammer to the head?

Int:

Censor beep

“Warning: this content may be disturbing to some people.”

V2:

So they hid the paper trail

and left us with the dirt

Said, “Don’t worry, everyone, I’ll write an IOU note.”

But they don’t see the man hanging from a fucking tree

or the ghost of the oak that haunts you and me.

Let’s go again-

I’m just a girl with no body and no face to call my own.

Do you know where this song’s going yet?

No?

Called out of line by politicians,

I used to trust time.

“Just wait, be patient, you’ll get your day soon-”

But now it’s all too late and I’m coming for you too.

C:

This song’s about the bellies that will never get full

This song’s about the leaky faucet covered with mold

and the kids who eat lead chips on the floor

while their parents get food stamps and try to hold the door

for men with no love,

no creed except for greed

no love for the sledgehammer

unless it’s hitting me.

Sledgehammer politics, politics,

it’s those goddamn politics,

bust a kneecap and they call that politics!

Int:

Mayor Daley voice

“Oh, great, another goddamn hippy!”

V4:

Haha, I’m just playin’!

Nah, seriously-

Hit me.

Ahem

I’m just a refugee bleeding on the boat.

Do you know where this song’s going yet?

Do you know where this song’s going yet?

Well, hey,

Well, okay,

I’m just a man with a hand around his neck

No room for me to breathe.

Ok?

Ok.

shouting/chanting/protest sample insert

V4:

So what are you gonna do now?

What are you gonna say?

Keep your chin up, boy,

Keep your chin up, girl,

Keep in mind what I say.

Kill your masters, slave,

and free yourself, too.

Take that sledgehammer that caved your face in

and use it like it was used against you.

B:

Now I know what you’re thinking…

“The sledgehammer can’t hit me!

I’m too big!

I’m too mean!

I’m too thin and too lean!”

Yeah.

Ok.

Run away from the crime scene.

But you won’t be running

when you find yourself in a cage-

Because that goddamn sledgehammer

will come down hard and break your legs…

Sound of someone screaming in pain

Now, what did I say?

C:

This song’s about the bellies that will never get full

This song’s about the leaky faucet covered with mold

and the kids who eat lead chips on the floor

while their parents get food stamps and try to hold the door

for men with no love,

no creed except for greed

no love for the sledgehammer

unless it’s hitting me.

Sledgehammer politics, politics,

it’s those goddamn politics,

bust a kneecap and they call that politics!

(x2)

Int:

Censor beep

“Alright, people, keep it moving!”

O:

“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”

#lyrics #music #originalcontent