Two Banjos on Halloween Morn

1940s dark Americana folk, haunted hillbilly, solo clawhammer banjo, old-time string band, lo-fi vinyl crackle, distant train whistle, male weathered baritone, slow loping tempo 70bpm, minor key, spooky Halloween campfire folk, harmonica ghost notes, foot stomps, dust bowl gothic

[Intro] (banjo plucks slow, wind and crickets) [Verse 1] Old Widow's Hill on a Halloween eve, Nineteen-forty-two, jack-o'-lanterns grieve, Ration sugar, ration dreams, Nothing's sweet the way it seems. Ezra Moore with his five-string stain, Plays for pennies out past the grain, Pledged his songs to the hollow oak, Now that tree has started to... smoke. [Verse 2] His boy went off to the war machine, Letters stopped in the spring, so mean, So Ezra plays on the porch at dark, One lit candle, waiting spark. The neighbors say when the candle dies, You can hear a second banjo rise, Twin strings moaning through the corn — Two banjos on Halloween morn. [Chorus] Oh the dead come dancing when the banjo rings, Sugar-starved children and ghostly wings, The hollow oak keeps every note, Every solemn vow he ever spoke. [Verse 3] Trick-or-treaters passing by Drop a copper, don't ask why, Ezra never lifts his head, Just plays for the living and the dead. And when the last chord tumbles down, Boots walk up with a soldier's sound, A boy in khaki, thin and pale, Humming the tune from his own farewell. [Outro] (banjo slows, twin banjo echo, wind) Two strings... one song... Now the candle's... gone... (banjo stops, train whistle far away)

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