The Raven
Album - 28 gennaio 2003 - Debaser id 47803

Caught in the crossbow of ideas and journeys
Sit here reliving the other self's mournings
Caught in the crossbow of ideas and dawnings
Stand I

Reliving the past of the maddening impulse
The violent upheaval
The pure driven instinct
The pure driven murder
The attraction of daring
Stand I

Why didn't you call on me
Why didn't you call on me
Why didn't you call on me
Why didn't you call

A wild being from birth
My spirit spurns control
Wandering the wide earth
Searching for my soul
Dimly peering
I would surely find
What could there be more purely bright
In truth's day-star

Why didn't you call on me
Why didn't you call on me
Why didn't you call on me
Why didn't you call

Why didn't you call on me
Why didn't you call on me
Why didn't you call on me
Why didn't you call

Edgar:
And then I had a vision

Roderick Usher:
Ah Edgar
Ah Edgar, my dear friend Edgar

Edgar:
It's been a long time, Roderick
I've ridden many miles
It's been a dull and soundless day for autumn
The leaves have lost their autumn glow
and the clouds seem oppressive with their drifting finery

Roderick Usher:
I know, my friend
Though I own so much of this land I find
the country insufferable
I deal only in half pleasures

Edgar:
Speaking of half pleasures
would you care for a tincture of opium?

Roderick Usher:
Nothing would please me more than to smoke
with an old friend

I've experienced the hideous dropping of the veil
the bitter lapse into common life
unredeemed dreariness of thought
I have an iciness, a sickening of the heart

Edgar:
It's true you don't look well, Roderick
but I am your friend
no matter the occasion or position of the stars
I'm glad you wrote me
but I must admit to concern

Roderick Usher:
I cannot contain my heart
Edgar, I look to you for solace
for relief from myself
What I have is constitutional
a family evil, a nervous affection that must surely pass
But I do have this morbid acuteness of senses
I can eat only the most insipid food
clothes only of the lightest texture
The odor of flowers I find oppressive
My eyes cannot bear even the faintest light

Madeline Usher:
[moaning]

Roderick Usher:
Did you hear that?

Edgar:
I hear
I am listening, go on

Roderick Usher:
I shall perish
I will perish in this deplorable folly
I dread the future
Not the events, the results
The most trivial event
causes the greatest agitation of the soul
I do not fear danger except in its absolute effect terror
I find I must inevitably abandon life and reason together
in my struggles with the demon fear

Perhaps you'll think me superstitious
but the physique of this place
it hovers about me like a great body
some diseased outer shell
some decaying finite skin encasing my morale

Edgar:
You mentioned your sister was ill

Roderick Usher:
My beloved sister, my sole companion
has had a long continuing illness
whose inevitable conclusion seems forsworn
This will leave me the last of the ancient race of Ushers

Madeline Usher:
[moaning]

Edgar:
She looks so much like you

Roderick Usher:
I love her in a nameless way
more than I love myself
Her demise will leave me hopelessly
confined to memories and realities of a future
so barren as to be stultifying

Madeline Usher:
[moaning]

Edgar:
Oh, what of physicians?

Roderick Usher:
Ah, they are baffled
Until today she refused bed rest
wanting to be present in your honor
but finally she succumbed to the prostrating power of the destroyer
You will probably see her no more

Edgar:
Sound and music take us to the twin curves of experience
Like brother and sister intertwined
they relieve themselves of bodily contact
and dance in a pagan revelry

Roderick Usher:

I have soiled myself with my designs
I am ashamed of my brain
The enemy is me
and the executioner terror
Music is a reflection of our inner self
unfiltered agony touches the wayward string
The wayward brain confuses itself
with the self-perceived future
and turns inward with loathing and terror
Either by design or thought
we are doomed to know our own end
I've written a lyric

Edgar:
May I hear it?

Roderick Usher:
It is called "The Haunted Palace"

In the greenest of our valleys,
By good angels tenanted,
Once a fair and stately palace --
Snow-white palace -- reared its head.

Banners yellow, glorious, golden,
On its roof did float and flow;
(This -- all this -- was in the olden time long ago)
And every gentle air that dallied,
Along the rampart plumed and pallid,
A winged odor went away.

All wanderers in that happy valley
Through two luminous windows saw
Spirits moving musically
The sovereign of the realm serene,
A troop of echoes whose sweet duty
Was but to sing
In voices of surpassing beauty,
The wit and wisdom of their king.

But evil things in robes of sorrow,
Assailed the monarch's high estate!
And round about his home the glory,
Is but a dim-remembered story.

Vast forms that move fantastically
To a discordant melody;
While, like a ghastly river,
A hideous throng rush out forever,
And laugh -- but smile no more.

Nevermore.

Edgar:
It's cold in here

Roderick Usher:
I tell you minerals are sentient things
The gradual yet certain condensation of an atmosphere
of their own about the waters and the walls proves this
Thus the silent yet importunate and terrible influence
which for centuries has molded my family
And now me

Madeline Usher:
[screaming]

Roderick Usher:
Excuse me

Madeline Usher:
[vomiting]

Roderick Usher:
She is gone
Out, sad light
Roderick has no life

I shall preserve her corpse for a fortnight

Edgar:
But Roderick..

Roderick Usher:
I shall place it in a vault facing the lake
I do not wish to answer to the medical men
nor place her in the exposed burial plot of my family
We shall inter her at the proper date
when I am more fully of a right mind
Her malady was unusual
Please do not question me on this

Edgar:
I cannot question you

Roderick Usher:
Then help me now

Madeline Usher:
[moaning]

Edgar:
One would think you twins

Roderick Usher:
We are
We have always been sympathetic to each other
Have you seen this?
It is her

Edgar:
It is a whirlwind
You should not
You must not behold this

Roderick, these appearances which bewilder you are mere electrical phenomena not uncommon
Or perhaps they have their rank origins in the marshy gases of the lake
Please, let's close this casement and I will read and you will listen
Aand together we will pass this terrible night together

What's that?
What is that?
Don't you hear that?

Roderick Usher:
Not hear it?
Yes, I hear it and have heard it many minutes have I heard it?
Oh, pity me miserable wretch
I dared not
Oh no
I dared not speak
We have put her living in the tomb
I have heard feeble movements in the coffin
I thought I heard
I dared not speak
Oh God
I have heard footsteps
Do you not hear them?
Attention
Do I not distinguish that heavy and horrible beating of her heart?
Madman
Madman
I tell you she now stands without the door

Madeline Usher :
[moaning and screaming]

This is the place where she lay her head
when she went to bed at night
And this is the place our children were conceived
candles lit the room brightly at night

And this is the place where she cut her wrists
that odd and fateful night
And I said, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, what a feeling
And I said, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, what a feeling

This is the place where we used to live
I paid for it with love and blood
And these are the boxes that she kept on the shelf
Filled with her poetry and stuff

And this is the room where she took the razor
and cut her wrists that strange and fateful night
And I said, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, what a feeling
And I said, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, what a feeling

I never would have started if I'd known
that it's end this way
But funny thing, I'm not at all sad
that it stopped this way

This is the place where she lay her head
when she went to bed at night
And this is the place our children were conceived
candles lit the room brightly at night

And this is the place where she cut her wrists
That odd and fateful night
And I said, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, what a feeling
And I said, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, what a feeling

Just a perfect day
drink sangria in the park
And then later when it gets dark
we go home

Just a perfect day
feed animals in the zoo
Then later a movie too
and then home

Oh, it's such a perfect day
I'm glad I spent it with you
Oh, such a perfect day
You just keep me hanging on
you just keep me hanging on

Just a perfect day
problems all left alone
We can do this on our own
it's such fun

Just a perfect day
you made me forget myself
I thought I was someone else
someone good

Oh, it's such a perfect day
I'm glad I spent it with you
Oh, such a perfect day
You just keep me hanging on
you just keep me hanging on

You're going to reap just what you sow
You're going to reap just what you sow
You're going to reap just what you sow
You're going to reap just what you sow

[Poe:]

Once upon a midnight dreary
as I pondered, weak and weary
over many a quaint and curious
volume of forgotten lore
while I nodded, nearly napping
suddenly there came a tapping
as of some one gently rapping
rapping at my chamber door
"'Tis some visitor," I muttered
"tapping at my chamber door
only this and nothing more."

Muttering I got up weakly
always I've had trouble sleeping
stumbling upright my mind racing
furtive thoughts flowing once more
I, there hoping for some sunrise
happiness would be a surprise
loneliness no longer a prize
rapping at my chamber door
seeking out the clever bore
lost in dreams forever more
only this and nothing more

Hovering my pulse was racing
stale tobacco my lips tasting
scotch sitting upon my basin
remnants of the night before
came again
infernal tapping on the door
in my mind jabbing
is it in or outside rapping
calling out to me once more
the fit and fury of Lenore
nameless here forever more

And the silken sad uncertain
rustling of the purple curtain
thrilled me, filled me
with fantastic terrors never felt before
so that now, oh wind, stood breathing
hoping yet to calm my breathing
"'Tis some visitor entreating
entrance at my chamber door
some lost visitor entreating
entrance at my chamber door
this it is, and nothing more."

Deep into the darkness peering
long I stood there
wondering fearing
doubting dreaming fantasies
no mortal dared to dream before
but the silence was unbroken
and the stillness gave no token
and the only word there spoken
was the whispered name, "Lenore."
this I thought
and out loud whispered from my lips
the foul name festered
echoing itself
merely this, and nothing more

Back into my chamber turning
every nerve within me burning
when once again I heard a tapping
somewhat louder than before
"surely," said I
surely that is something at my iron staircase
open the door to see what threat is
open the window, free the shutters
let us this mystery explore
oh, bursting heart be still this once
and let this mystery explore
it is the wind and nothing more

Just one epithet I muttered as inside
I gagged and shuddered
when with manly flirt and flutter
in there flew a stately raven
sleek and ravenous as any foe
not the least obeisance made he
not a minutes gesture towards me
of recognition or politeness
but perched above my chamber door
this fowl and salivating visage
insinuating with its knowledge
perched above my chamber door
silent sat and staring
nothing more

Askance, askew
the self's sad fancy smiles at you I swear
at this savage viscous countenance it wears
Though you show here shorn and shaven
and I admit myself forlorn and craven
ghastly grim and ancient raven
wandering from the opiate shores
tell me what thy lordly name is
that you are not nightmare sewage
some dire powder drink or inhalation
framed from flames of downtown lore
quotes the raven, "nevermore."

And the raven sitting lonely
staring sickly at my male sex only
that one word
as if his soul in that one word
he did outpour, "pathetic."
nothing farther than he uttered
not a feather then he fluttered
till finally was I that muttered as I stared
dully at the floor
"other friends have flown and left me
flown as each and every hope has flown before
as you no doubt will fore the morrow."
but the bird said, "never, more."

Then I felt the air grow denser
perfumed from some unseen incense
as though accepting angelic intrusion
when in fact I felt collusion
before the guise of false memories respite
respite through the haze of cocaine's glory
I smoke and smoke the blue vial's glory
to forget
at once
the base Lenore
quoth the raven, "nevermore."

"Prophet," said I, "thing of evil
prophet still, if bird or devil
by that heaven that bend above us
by that God we both ignore
tell this soul with sorrow laden
willful and destructive intent
how had lapsed a pure heart lady
to the greediest of needs
sweaty arrogant dickless liar
who ascribed to nothing higher
than a jab from prick to needle
straight to betrayal and disgrace
the conscience showing not a trace."
quoth the raven, "nevermore."

"Be that word our sign of parting
bird or fiend," I yelled upstarting
"get thee back into the tempest
into the smoke filled bottle's shore
leave no black plume as a token
of the slime thy soul hath spoken
leave my loneliness unbroken
quit as those have quit before
take the talon from my heart
and see that I can care no more
whatever mattered came before
I vanish with the dead Lenore."
quoth the raven, "nevermore."

But the raven, never flitting
still is sitting silent sitting
above a painting silent painting
of the forever silenced whore
and his eyes have all the seeming
of a demon's that is dreaming
and the lamplight over him
streaming throws his shadow to the floor
I love she who hates me more
I love she who hates me more
and my soul shall not be lifted from that shadow
nevermore

I'm a little balloon and I get puffed up
squeeze me and bend me it's never enough
Put your lips around me, blow me up
but if you prick me I will pop

I'm a little balloon full and firm
here is my aft and here is my stern
Here's my lips and here's my hose
put me down or I will burst

If you prick me I will burst