Lyrics from the Splinterskin album
'Wayward Souls'
1-Chanting Bells Call Shadows Time - instrumental
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2-Dancing Dead Men
An old toymaker made his puppets, pieced together from old wooden parts.
He carved their faces, full of fear, failing to feel how others feel.
And he used a sharp blade…shimmering…
Bright and blinding in the lamps and candle light.
He wound and bound their legs and arms without a sound.
Some had suits, but most had hoods…covering their faces as a hood should.
At night the man would rest, leaving open the puppet chest.
…At night…At night....At night.
They pushed up the lid…and climbed out the top…
Silent as they did…the dancing dead men, the dancing dead men.
They swept through the streets, and through the homes…creeping and roaming.
Searching for their youth, and their grave...or another child to take their place.
Hiding in the shades, and in the trees, some in groups and some alone.
They climbed on the roofs, and down chimneys…
Some dug in the dirt and under the homes...
And under the bed, of little girls and boys,
Sleeping with their toys, soon they’ll be…
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3-The Crumbling Cabin
In the woods, which spread…Fallen timber dead.
Leaves lay much higher than the eyes.
And so, it spread, filling in their heads.
It became a poison, and their life's demise.
Deep beneath the soil, This earth was said to boil.
And mists formed above, smelling of death.
With the dead buried in, this souls wearing thin.
Yet something below is well alive…well alive.
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4-Something in the walls
Calmly, it said to me, through the darkened hallway in my home.
I heard a rhythm of tapping, or maybe a scraping in my walls.
A crackling of a throat perhaps, from my closet behind my hats, could it be?
Birds bending a branch, my cat in the attic, or maybe the leaves.
But my mind starts to …shiver, like my bones in the winter.
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5-Moonlight Rain
instrumental
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6-The Thing that Wasn’t
In the forests, they hid a secret, from those who tried to get inside.
In the caverns, they served a spirit…The One who resides, deep and confined.
When the night came the fires that they lit, and the moonlight shined, upon the shrouds of nine.
With the ashes from the fire they writ, with and ageless rhyme, of another kind.
The clouds came and the sky, it did split, and the bell tower chimed, as the shrouds aligned.
Out came the thing that wasn’t...and the shadows shined, till the end of time
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7-Broken Down Hearse
Desecration is not such a bad thing.
Have you ever heard of burning the worms?
Inhale the corpse stench into your brain.
I warned you little children not to smoke.
Funeral mists up on the hill.
Winters a little colder still.
Funeral pyres burn much higher than the fires,
And the caskets rain and foam into the sweet, sweet wind.
I change the tire on my hearse….
Broken on the side of the road again.
A pitchfork scraping against the roads…
Sounds a little bit different then my shovels.
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8-Still at the Window Sill
A candle burns on the window sill.
The memory holds the old feelings still.
At night, she holds the fire tight.
Staring out into the moonlight.
And she thinks the wind called out her name.
At the edge of her bed is a man with a cane.
As he opened his mouth, and called out her name.
She awoke in her bed each night the same.
The chill in the air came from nowhere…
It blew through the room, and through her hair.
She felt his arms, but she could not see.
And the eyes in the dark wont let her be.
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9-Hoofbeats
instrumental
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10-The Eyes That Hide
There is a place, far, far away…the home to a race who avoids the light of day.
Where dark forests lay, beyond the sunrise…those trees, they say, hide the others eyes…
And they watch so carefully, in our minds and dreams…oh, they watch so carefully.
Their Father, they say, birthed one-thousand young.
Hollow reeds they play, and sorrow notes are sung.
The eyes they hide have the powers to enlight…
Yet their secrets confide to the darkness of the night.
They wait so patiently…Within every tree…Oh, they hide so cleverly.
A cold winters chill, In the middle of fall,
Pay no mind to the shadows you just saw.
It’s just your head playing tricks again.
You don’t know where you are or where you have been.
And they watch so carefully in our minds and dreams.
Oh, they watch so carefully.
They watch so carefully.
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11-The Skarekrow(October Roads)
I sleep a somber sleep, and throw my cares into the wind.
Yet, I struggle to find peace, oh please where have you been?
I stare into the trees, as the leaves grow old.
I've yearned for years it seems, searching for the soul I sold.
...For the soul I sold.
And I dream alone, on October roads.
I scream for home, down October roads.
The weeping willows weep all sad and torn.
The crows call out so calmly singing as they mourn.
Well, I believed and I've seen, Yet that pain remains...
And the dark clouds are covering every day the same.
…Every day the same.
The rain runs down my sleeves, soft sounds hit the ground,
Spider webs, their weaves with natures rust all around.
Water puddles in my shadows, feeding the vines and weeds,
Tangled in my arms and hair... its all I'll ever need.
I'll wither and grow old on October Roads,
There is warmth in the cold, on October Roads,
I'll reap what I sow, on October Roads.
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12-A Horrible Night to Have a Curse
I walked through a town of crumbling shops, to hunt for the man of old.
The people there all lived in fear, you could tell by the tales they told.
The sky was orange and burning red, the air smelled of the sea.
Darkness soon would cover the town, and inside they all would flee.
With crosses and garlic and wooden stakes I gathered my items for war.
With a few silver coins and golden charms, I’ll need nothing more.
The castle on the hill, it made me ill with unease and eagerness.
I could not think of turning back, nor could I truly rest.
With the moon in my view I traveled through the woods of loneliness,
Silver daggers on my side and garlic around my neck.
As I grew near the castle, that crumbling lair, I heard the wolves all howl.
Ravens called all out and I knew the dead were on the prowl.
I came to a bridge of crumbling bricks and walked so carefully.
As I tried to hold my breath, the fog surrounded me.
I closed my eyes, and used my mind to guide me on my way…
Into the castle of the living dead, that never saw the light of day.
Then I entered a room with dirt and trees…bones and stones cluttering.
And in the dirt I found a tomb, and the ancient man laughing.
He screamed aloud in words unknown and waved up his hand,
I was suddenly swept up from this place, into another land.
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13- Black Bird Sorrow Song
Instrumental
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14- The Man on the Porch
A man with a pipe, rocking in his chair
Wind blowing leaves, into his hair…
"Oh, I sense a storm, something out of the norm"
The cold air holds a scent of death,
You can taste it with each and every breath…
"Smells like burning worms, makes my stomach churn."
Buzzards in the trees, waiting for a corpse,
The old man watches from the safety of his porch
"Youll all have to wait, for today is not my day."
Behind the man's shack...scattered gravestones,
Colored with dead trees, and protruding bones.
"Well I guess I know why the grass wont grow"
…And down pours the rain...but it’s not the same…
Voices in the backyard, cries and moans
The old man avoids all the things he's known
"Oh, its just the wind...don’t you get unhinged."
The dead creeping up from their crypts
Their digging graves with shovels and picks...
And the dead carried him away…there he'll forever stay.
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15-A Trail of Trees
Instrumental
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16-Wayward Souls Time: 3:51
As I look outside my window and stare into the sea,
I can feel the pale moon glow, bleeding down through me.
And I rest within the night, knowing all is wrapped in shadow.
With a silhouette of the woods in sight, just beyond the river’s flow…
Warning all the wayward souls.
The comfort of the autumn breeze, all the whispers in the wind,
Blowing through all the fallen leaves, their message hides within.
And eventually all green turns brown, and when alone so strange the sounds.
The ageless trees are reaching down, sharing all the things they know...
While warning all the wayward souls.
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17-Dancing Dead Men (reprise)
Instrumental
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Lyrics written by Splinterskin