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It's a sin to tell a lie
Until we trick out the truth
That depends on what you do and don't believe
What you have hidden up your sleeve
Younger than your shadow and as
Sweet as your tooth
What have you forbidden from my view?
What have you kept from me?
What have I held from you?
What will they say when they haul you away?
Will anyone miss you
Or kiss you
To say, "Goodbye?"
With a tear or a coin for your eye
When they finally trick out the truth
There are witches in the air
Jack o'lanterns on the stairs
And a wig to turn your hair electric blue
Ghouls are sighted
Children frighted
Superheroes and villains
Wondrous women by the millions
Who fade to the parade
And join the masquerade
Right outside your door
A werewolf and his claw
Painted faces with a penny chew and Kensington gore
Mussolini and his mistress in defeat
And a witness with a cutlass arrange a winding sheet
Singing "Leaning On A Lampost On The Corner Of The Street"
The Marxists cheer a working girl
Groucho, Chico, Harpo and Karl
She's tattooed from her head to toe
She's inky like a girl I know
A contagion of invidia
Just like the famous Lydia
Just like Helen, late of Troy
The Myna Bird, the Myrna Loy
Bud and Lou were wrestling in the parlour
Playing cards with Gustav Mahler
We are calling every hand and every hold
To a silent movie pianist
Accompanying the action
From our description and distraction
Playing vamps and trills and rambles, sound effects and rags and rumbles without even breaking stride
Just as the bloody vampire nips his bride
We were so scared that we knelt down to pray
With a bishop by Bacon
Who caused some dismay
Who summons up tormented souls doused with feathers and molasses
And the ashes of unholy crosses
Somebody has to die
Before we trick out the truth
I'll be coming back and I will turn the screw
Longer than the shadow of some pulp fiction sleuth
Standing in a costume of your choice
Lady Godiva on a horse
And Godzilla, of course
For should we part at the end of the day
When angels attend you to whisk you away
We are falling down deep
Like children into sleep
And the candy has been counted
And the bonfire will be haunted
By orphans who are heard but never seen
Each and every Halloween
What will they say when they haul you away?
Will anyone miss you
Or kiss you
To say, "Goodbye?"
With a tear or a coin for your eye
When they finally trick out the truth
When they finally trick out the truth
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