Wipe your feet

[Intro: four bars, instrumental only, no voice, no breath] [Verse 1: sweetly sinister whisper, dry, rim ticks, one chord hangs] Skip, skip, Red-cap, skip the rope, Plum jam, butter, a bar of soap, A hatchet rolled in a tea towel's fold, Stitched Home Sweet Home in a thread gone old. Her hood was white once, so they say, Now it's dipped in wolf every Saturday. [Pre-Chorus: softest whisper, dry, low theremin in the gap after] Wolf at the stile asks: which way, Red? Short way, Wolf, says Red, and she nods her head. Wolf runs the short way, Red walks the long, Let him eat and swell and sing his sleepy song. [Chorus: barely audible whisper, dry, no power, soft snare tap] Don't peek in the basket, don't peek, don't peek, Warm and heavy and learning to speak. One for the tooth and two for the tongue, Three for the song the wolf never sung. [Silence: one bar, the chord decays to nothing] [Interlude: one voice, barely audible whispered vowels, dry] Ahhh-hoo-oo-ee, ohh-ah-hoo [Verse 2: small flat whisper, dry, soft snare taps] Granny's door's open and Granny's gone, Red doesn't look, she hums and carries on. Wolf in her nightcap, wolf in her bed, Paw-prints on the pillow, the quilt gone red. Red wipes one foot and Red wipes two: Did you wipe your feet, Wolf? Did you? Did you? [Pre-Chorus: softest whisper, dry, low theremin in the gap after] Red at the bedside unrolls the towel, What big teeth, Wolf. Go on, give us a howl. [Chorus: barely audible whisper, dry, no power, soft snare tap] Don't peek in the basket, don't peek, don't peek, Warm and heavy and starting to speak. Four for the fur and five for the bone, Six for the belly that's learned how to moan. [Silence: two bars, nothing rings, then one hard snare hit] [Rap Verse: rapid-fire double-time rap, snare only, no melody] Stay on the path, Red, don't talk to the beast, Funny, nobody told the beast stay off the feast, No hunter, no hero, no horn, no hullabaloo, Just Red, a hatchet, and a job to do, [even faster, snarling, no breath between lines] Crack goes the jaw, snap goes the rib, zip from the collar right down to the hip, Slick comes the rope, forty feet, thick and quick, skip, skip, skip it, flick, flick, flick, Double-dutch, double-dutch, jump in, jump out, mind the knot in his gut, mind the shout, Head in my basket, tucked tight, tuck, tuck, tuck, mumbles for mercy, tough luck, tough luck, Hum, hum, hum, humming while I hack, hood was white and it's never going back, [spat, tight, hits harder on every line] You told every daughter, mind the wolf in the wood, Nobody told the wolf, so he never understood, I'm nobody's moral, I'm nobody's page, Red in the margin, Red in a rage. [Silence: dead stop, two bars, then a sweet hush] [Bridge: lullaby whisper, dry, no vibrato, one guitar, snare silent] Now say it nice. Hush now, hush now, under the cloth, Tuck in the towel, tuck in the froth. The head in the basket whispers please, [lowest pure whisper, almost no pitch] Did you wipe your feet? Wipe your feet. Wipe your feet. [Silence: one bar, the chord decays] [Final Chorus: airy whisper, dry, slightly closer, soft snare tap] Peek in the basket, go on, go on, peek, Warm and heavy and weak, weak, weak. Seven for the slippers and eight for the sheet, [voice cracks on the last word, still a whisper] Nine for the lid, and ten for your feet. [Outro: wordless whisper, then guitar alone, last chord rings out] Ahhh-hoo-oo-ee Tap, tap, tap on the lid. Wipe your feet. Happy Halloween. [End]