The Hollow Hour, Samhain 1927 Midnight takes its hat off at the cellar door Samhain silk and cigarette light on the floor Masks that never quite match the mouths beneath Gin in cut-glass swearing it still has teeth A piano laughs like it knows a private sin Everybody beautiful. Nobody let in. Pass the case. Don't ask the name. The veil is thin. The rules are the same. Jazz to keep the law outside Gin to make a coward brave Money sliding tabletop like a prayer you shouldn't save And a murder in the velvet dark the whole room learned to ignore Jazz, gin, money, and murder that's what a midnight's for Silas Quinn with a ledger sewn in his coat Every bribe, every badge, every whisper, every note He buys the crate. He counts the cash. He smiles too long A woman in widow-black hums along with my song Two faces change at the same cigarette's end I watch the room decide who still counts as a friend Don't look twice. Don't miss a beat. The band plays louder than a body in the street. Jazz to keep the law outside Gin to make a coward brave Money sliding tabletop like a prayer you shouldn't save And a murder in the velvet dark the whole room learned to ignore Jazz, gin, money, and murder that's what a midnight's for On the last held note, a chair cries out, then stills Red finds the gin. The trumpet finds the chills Silas slumps like a man who finally paid his tab No one stands. No one screams. No one calls a cab The drummer brushes on, as if the night were clean A dead man keeps his secret better than the living do, it seems They'll ask who held the knife. They'll ask who held the door. They'll never ask the singer what the second chorus was for. I didn't need a blade. I needed a key. When I sang the line about the cellar... that was him. That was me. Jazz to drown a dying word Gin to wash a guilty hand Money changing owners like a soul that won't stay damned And a murder nobody wants solved because we all bought a piece Jazz, gin, money, and murder now pour, and keep the peace If the dead walk home on Samhain, let him try the cellar stair He'll find his ledger on the piano and my lipstick in the air Ask me who did it, darling... I'll only pour you more The cover charge was silence You paid it at the door
