Something Wicked This Way Comes

[Intro — distant rail clatter, metallic scraping, bass pulse] First came the whistle. Then the dogs went still. Then every window in town Started shaking in its sill. [Verse 1] Black smoke crawling through the telephone wires Red sparks falling like a shower of flies The rails buckled up like a row of broken teeth Something underneath us was beginning to breathe No headlight burning, no lantern glow Just a hole in the dark where the dark wouldn't go The crossing bell rang with nobody there And the wind tasted faintly of burnt human hair [Pre-Chorus — drums accelerate, guitars grind] Iron on iron Bone against bone Something's coming Something's coming home [Chorus — full-speed psychobilly punk] Something wicked this way comes! Hear the hammer, hear the drum! Steel-tooth grin and a furnace tongue Something wicked this way comes! Something wicked, something wild Something old with the face of a child Hold your breath and bite your thumb— Something wicked this way comes! [Verse 2] The rails ran red past the edge of town The telephone poles started bowing down A thousand little windows, black as a bruise And a thousand little faces with nothing to lose The moon got caught in the telegraph lines The clocks spat sparks and forgot their times I saw my reflection in a windowless car Looking twenty years younger and a thousand miles far [Pre-Chorus — tighter, more frantic] Iron on iron Teeth in the wire Something's coming And it knows what you desire [Chorus] Something wicked this way comes! Hear the hammer, hear the drum! Steel-tooth grin and a furnace tongue Something wicked this way comes! Something wicked, something wild Something old with the face of a child Hold your breath and bite your thumb— Something wicked this way comes! [Instrumental — relentless drums, scraping guitar, metallic crashes, bass mimics wheels hammering over track joints] [Verse 3 — vocal close and dry against a punishing rhythm] I saw a man with his hands over his ears Trying to hold back the sound of his years I saw a woman throw her wedding ring At the mouth of the tunnel where the black birds sing I saw two boys standing out in the rain One was laughing, one was counting the trains Neither one moved when the whistle screamed Like they'd heard that sound somewhere inside a dream [Bridge — half-time, grinding and heavy] You can nail your doors You can salt your ground You can pray to the ceiling When the ceiling comes down You can spit at the devil You can curse his name But the wheels keep turning Just the same [Build — drums return, bass accelerates] Clack-clack, clack-clack The night has a spine Clack-clack, clack-clack And it's bending toward mine Clack-clack, clack-clack No brake, no bell Clack-clack, clack-clack— [Shouted] ALL ABOARD FOR HELL! [Final Chorus — ragged, frantic, guitars at full intensity] Something wicked this way comes! Hear the hammer, hear the drum! Steel-tooth grin and a furnace tongue Something wicked this way comes! Something wicked, something wild Something old with the face of a child No more tickets, no more sums— Something wicked this way comes! [Outro — instruments cut in and out as the train roars past] Steel on steel. Blood on snow. Nobody asks Where the dead things go. [One final metallic impact] [Whispered, almost amused] Next stop... [Train whistle, abruptly cut off]