[Verse 1: Barbershop-quartet male lead, close harmony behind him, heavy boom drums] Halloween in Millbrook, two towns over from our street Me and Dean in hockey pads with pillowcases and cold feet Every house was porch-lit, every door a little show Till the house at the dead end with the bowl set down low Purple sign in neat handwriting, two words on a line Dean said that's an invitation, I said that's a warning sign I took one, a little pumpkin wrapped in orange foil Dean said watch me, tipped the whole thing in his sack like pourin' oil [Hook: Barbershop-quartet male lead, four-part barbershop harmony, full drums] The sign says take one, in a neat and purple hand On a porch with every light off where the tallest maples stand Take one and walk away, the porch light never wakes Take the whole bowl, Dean, and see just what the porch takes [Verse 2: Barbershop-quartet male lead, harmony tightening, finger snaps] We were halfway down the driveway when the porch boards made a sound Like a floor that's been asleep a while and turnin' itself around Dean said keep on walkin', it's a house, it's wood, it's old But the maple leaves were movin' and the air was gettin' cold I looked back once, the bowl was back and filled up to the top Same orange foil, same purple sign, and Dean said run, don't stop Ooh, he was laughin' at the curb with the sack across his back Then the streetlight over Dean went out and the whole lane went black [Hook: Barbershop-quartet male lead, four-part barbershop harmony, full drums] The sign says take one, in a neat and purple hand On a porch with every light off where the tallest maples stand Take one and walk away, the porch light never wakes Take the whole bowl, Dean, and see just what the porch takes [Verse 3: Barbershop-quartet male lead, harmony low and close, menace] When the streetlight buzzed back on there was a sack and just one shoe And a trail of orange foil, and no Dean in the view Cops came out at midnight, knocked, and nobody was home Said the house had sat there empty since before the town had grown I went back every Halloween, I never brought a sack Just to read that purple sign and see if Dean came back And it took me twenty years to read it how the porch would read The sign was never talkin' to the kids, it told the house how much to feed [Bridge: Barbershop-quartet male lead, pitch pipe, one tone, then four voices and the kick hit together] Ooh, every year it takes one One kid, one shoe, one night, and then it's done Take one, says the sign, and the house does what it's told And this year there's a new kid with a pillowcase to hold [Hook: Barbershop-quartet male lead, four-part barbershop harmony, full drums] The sign says take one, in a neat and purple hand On a porch with every light off where the tallest maples stand Take one and walk away, the porch light never wakes Take the whole bowl, Dean, and see just what the porch takes [End]
