Go start your life over in the Adirondacks. I thought we made quite a pair--but I was wrong about that. And do you think I can't tell every time you come back? Or that by not saying his name you'll keep our love in-tact? You could've just told the truth or got someone to teach you to act. Go ahead and stay in the Adirondacks.

I went straight from beer to coffee 'cause every song that singer sang he was singing them straight to Marjorie. And I don't think I was the only one who found them just a little bawdy. But I wish I'd' have answered your telephone calls--'cause now you don't even try to call me. You know, I thought all that I owed you I could just repay in charm--I said I'm a loser, babe, but I won't do you any harm. And then you said you couldn't saved me and I grabbed your arm. And it might've been a bad decision--droppin' my britches at that party askin' if there's 'something you were missin' you said 'I see you still don't listen and I bet you still don't dance.' And I tried to tell you, Marge, it's just all those parties and shows you go to everybody's always so close (it's so crowded in there) it's hard to hold your hand. I thought I'd find me something stronger I thought I'd take a chance--dancing in the flames rather than frying in a pan. They found me face down in a ditch trying to phone you on a tin can. And from dusk 'til dawn there's a bottle to my lips 'til I forget what a mouth is and all night long I'm laid up in your front yard 'til the sprinklers come on. And I can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens me. And I can hold onto you--knowing how much you mean to me. And I went straight from beer to coffee but all the things I'm doing, babe, they're just the things that you taught me and all those doors you opened--they're all the best things you brought me. And that one time you laughed and asked 'why haven't you ever fought for me?' So then I charged the stage. Through all the blood I couldn't see just how far your jaw had dropped. You said somebody call a medic--somebody call a cop. I know you always hated when I asked for you to get on top. You always had to get me to talk to the man when we took your car into the shop. And I went straight from beer to coffee when I woke up and I still had a heart beat and I knew you weren't coming back to get me out of this well that you tossed me in.

(Music and lyrics composed by John Darnielle) Cave mouth shines by pure force of will I look down on the world From the top of this lonesome hill and you can run and run some more From here all the way to Singapore But I will carry you home in my teeth. In the great hall you drink red wine and chew meat off the bone. I beat down a new path to your castle and I come naked and alone. I lay my son on the bier and I burn the wreath. Fire overhead, water underneath. And you can stand up or you can run--you and I both know what you've done. And I will carry you home in my teeth.

I always wanted to be someone on which you could depend. And you'd laugh and rub my arm and say 'even if I could, babe, to what end?' You always had a good head on your shoulders You were never one to go back from the light And baby, oh baby, there's no love left in your eyes. Baby there's no love left in your eyes Now they just look right past me to the wall for a clock or an exit sign and I tremble and I shake and say 'I'm sorry.' 'Sorry's' all I've said since you've been mine and baby, oh baby, there's no love left in your eyes Like a church bell ringing loud to say 'our love has died--' I should've seen it down the street, I should've taken it in stride. When did I become one of your daytime friends? Perhaps it's just cognitive decline?

And we've both taken all we can stand. And I know it's harder for you to pretend. And I know someday I'll be a much stronger man--but I'll still never hold you again. And these four walls surrounding me keep closing in. But I know you've got your own pride to defend. And I know someday I'll be a much nicer man--but I'll still never hold you again.

I'm confusing the memories inside my head. One's of the one of love--the one who shares my bed. But sometimes her laughter turns to HERS instead. Well I try my very best just to stop the memories in their tracks. Or I pretend that I don't even notice but it's all an act. And the third time that it happened she was breathing down my neck. She tried to turn back the years and I laid down and relaxed. Listen: All alone, in a barroom and I'm naked and unfed--up above a solitary light bulb's burning and it's burning bright blood red. And they took the keys to my car so I'll crawl home instead. And as I lay down to sleep in my double bed I'm confusing the memories inside my head. And I thought I heard you singing so I turned around to check. And it was your pink gown swaying in the wind but it was her above the neck.

Go start your life over in the Adirondacks. I thought we made quite a pair--but I was wrong about that. And, baby, just tell me why you didn't just pay in cash when you decided to buy that little one bedroom shack. You could've just told the truth or got someone to teach you to act. So go start your life over in the Adirondacks.

I said 'love, do you think that it runs out?' And I said 'love, do you think it'll follow us down?' And she said, 'well, you know: Sarie the Faerie the one with the flaw she had our lord and savior at her beck-and-call--and by rights she would've inherited the throne but she packed up her bags one day and she just walked on. And Sarie the Faerie she was gone for so long that she came back to town and she was singing all her own songs and her father he twitched and he shook and said 'that's my daughter in name but not in look.' So Sarie the Faerie the one with the flaw--she hugged her father and then she crawled back to her room and she put on her shoes. And, you know, when you go, you take the music and leave all the sounds and the notes stick in my throat whenever you come back around. And I don't know what's worse Gettin' lost or being found and it's driving me insane trying to find who to please and who to blame and I'm a goddamn frog--just a lump on a log--and I'm just hoppin' along Up and down the street, in between your feet, I've got nobody to meet hoppin' up and down the street, i'm just a frog on a leash but I do keep my eyes out for oncoming traffic. Someone might run me over like I'm some kind of savage and then feel bad about it.' And I said 'Love--do you think time's running out?' And I heard a fizzle and a pop and I was engulfed in a cloud of ash and soot--the charred remains of our arranged wedding. A couple slimy snakes suffocating in their own sheddings.

You've got a whole lot of nerve to tell me to wear a mask When you know it's not contagious once you've had it and it's passed. It used to be so long between visits--my heart would start to burn and my head would spin 'til I held you close again. And I'd throw up my love on you I'd been trying to keep in. And I'd get so embarrassed but you thought it was cute back then. Now it's been so long since you've been sick I guess your patience has worn thin. Lemme tell ya: I'm throwing up all my love on you. Those three little words didn't seem to do nearly enough. Here's 600,042. And you know I never made much sense but you always said 'baby--to me--you do.' Now you just say go find a garbage can Well I dare you to find one big enough for all my love to fit in.

Get back and stay back as far away as you can. All I ask of you, little darling, is to leave and never return--'cause I know I'll do to you all the things I did to her. The third verse of the song--cue the effervescent fog, cue the applause. The third time a door was pushed-gently-to and I couldn't leave it alone. And if she'd left a crack in the door, well, it's locked up tight now and dead-bolted, for sure. And I know I'll do to you all the things I've done before. In my dreams of black and blue I'm bound and gagged in the back of a hearse and there's a TV set strapped across my chest and it only plays bad news--but nothin' half as bad as the things I'll do to you.

One of those burning yellow evenings breaking down in the fall when you're supposed to see the beauty in it all. She said 'let's get lost in all these lovely leaves' and you just wanna tear 'em all down. One of those old abandoned construction sites--your stomach starts to turn--something's not quite right. Was it the sun or the moon? Or some other kind of light? Did it shine through the kitchen window just a little too bright?

Well it's a half-an-hour walk from my building to your street and when I turn down Pale Horse Lane my heart still skips a beat--where there's a clearing in the pines and I hide out in those trees. 'Cause I can't ever see you from less than fifty feet. And from fifty feet away I still feel the same way--you're still my best friend and I still cry every day. Oh, and fifty feet from your window I can still see the shadows but I can't hear you say 'don't ever let me go' from fifty feet away. The first night you had me over I was cutting quite a sight. I was half-drunk, lost, and sweatin' and I had an open box of wine. And you'd given me directions but I might as well have been blind--and I wish I'd never made it, 'cause it's just so hard to un-find.

I know you'll never tell your children that you knew me unless to show 'em how not to be a man. I tried to write you like a book. I tried to get you to understand that nobody wins at the end. And I was thinking about all the times I've been afraid and how they only halfway seemed like anything. I was standin' in the rain butt naked with no shame I was standin' in the rain butt naked with no--lemme tell ya: Oprah, she learned my dark roast all up and down the Gold Coast and I was leaning on a lamppost with the wind against my back--all dressed in black--thinking about the days of old. All the things I did I can still recall. All the things I did--I only did 'em just to have something to scream at you from up here on this wall.

With a kiss on the cheek I put it out of my mind. And we just kept on strollin'--my little baby and I. 'Til we turned a corner and at the same time we saw this round old man rocking back and forth on that wall. The foreman's down below and he's staring at his feet. He's shaking his head back and forth and he's gnawing his cheek. And I knew right then--it was clear to me I'd peaked. And all the king's men had called in sick all week. And I heard him cackle and open his mouth to speak--he said 'there's one thing I gotta make you understand: that every girl's crazy bout a sharp-dressed man.' And Baby turned around and saw 'em all naked in the street and she lost both her eyelids and turned white as a sheet.