[Intro] Crown hits his brow The woods stand tall He kneels in her wheat And he gathers it all [Verse 1] Buttons in the leaf pile Ribbon in the thorn A stitched black dress Ripped up and worn He don’t ask the living He don’t ask the light He threads her back together In the teeth of the night Needle of vine Thread of old twine Mouth first Then the eyes Then the crooked little spine “Breathe,” says the king Not a prayer, a command New air in the straw New life in the hand [Pre-Chorus] She sits up smilin’ Buttons catch the moon “They took me to pieces You made me too soon” He says “not too soon Right on time If they wanted a warning They can learn the design” [Chorus] He put back the crown He put back the girl He woke up the monsters Underneath the world Let the mortals sleep light Let ’em lock every door They ripped her for peace Now they pay for the war Fear this night Fear this night The king got his queen And the dark got its bite [Verse 2] He raises one finger The crows come home He raises the other And the trees start to moan Pumpkin-head children Crawl out of the rows Ragdoll witches Shake off the normal clothes Skeleton hounds Slip the living man’s leash Carnival tin Sparks teeth in the leaves He didn’t invent evil He remembered the craft He created the monsters From what the town laughed [Pre-Chorus] Miss Straw takes his arm Whole, and then some More wheat than they left her More night in her lungs She looks at the rooftops Where the porch lights pretend “They wanted us quiet Let’s not be their friends” [Chorus] He put back the crown He put back the girl He woke up the monsters Underneath the world Let the mortals sleep light Let ’em lock every door They ripped her for peace Now they pay for the war Fear this night Fear this night The king got his queen And the dark got its bite [Bridge] This ain’t revenge pretty This ain’t a tantrum parade This is a kingdom Rememberin’ its name One night they let ’em walk Then they hunted the seam So the king made a gospel Out of that cheap peace Every moral they preached While they tore her apart Gets sung back in howls Through the town’s little heart [Verse 3] Windows go black Then they bloom with eyes What they called a fairy tale Just learned how to rise Miss Straw in the doorway Of every safe home Leaves a handful of harvest And a button like a stone No speech from the king The crown says enough If you fear this night That’s the lesson, that’s love Not their love His The kind that rebuilds A woman of straw And a nation of chills [Chorus] He put back the crown He put back the girl He woke up the monsters Underneath the world Let the mortals sleep light Let ’em lock every door They ripped her for peace Now they pay for the war Fear this night Fear this night The king got his queen And the dark got its bite [Outro] She’s walkin’ again He’s wearin’ the height The woods are an army And the moon is a knife Tell your children politely When the clock hits that chime Don’t chase what ain’t normal Don’t rip at the seam The king put her back With a breath and a crown Now the mortals will learn To fear this night In this town
