[Verse 1: Thrash-metal male lead, shouted thrash verse over the double-kick] I was nine when the furnace blew the basement wall Woke up wrapped like a present in a hospital hall Twenty years in the grocery line, the stare and the turn Twenty years of the little kids who point and who learn That a face can be a warning, that a face is a sign That you look a little lower when your eyes come to mine Every Halloween I'm on the stoop with a bowl in my lap Watchin' mothers steer the little ones away from the trap And the ghosts cross the street, and the witches go wide And the bowl's still full when I carry it inside [Hook: thrash-metal male lead, huge melodic hook] Best costume on the block, and it didn't cost a thing Didn't glue it, didn't buy it, it's the face I always bring Twenty years they looked away, and now look what they see Best costume on the block, and the costume came as me [Verse 2: thrash-metal male lead, faster, the riffs tightening] Then this year, at a quarter after six, I hear the gate Little Theo from next door, and he's seven, and he's late In a gray hood pulled down low, and he climbs up every stair And his mother's right behind him with a look of pure despair [Painted Mirror: thrash-metal male lead, the riffs locking tight as he sees his own face on the boy] "Trick or treat," and he's grinnin', and he pushes back the hood And it's my face on his face, painted careful, painted good Every swirl of red and brown, every line in the right place And his mother's got a wipe out, and she's reachin' for his face Kid says, "Mom, I told you, I'm the toughest on the street He walked out of a fire," and I can't feel my feet [Hook: thrash-metal male lead, huge melodic hook] Best costume on the block, and it didn't cost a thing Didn't glue it, didn't buy it, it's the face I always bring Twenty years they looked away, and now look what they see Best costume on the block, and the costume came as me [Instrumental: thrash guitar riffs and double-kick, eight bars] [Verse 3: thrash-metal male lead, door to door] So I stop the little wipe, and I take him by the hand And we walk the whole damn block like a two-man metal band Every door that opens up, they look at him, then me And for once they don't look down, they just stand there and see Next October, there's a knock, and I open up the screen There's six kids in gray hoods, and the scars are painted clean Twenty years I was the thing that the neighborhood would flee Now there's six of me on Halloween, and they're all as proud as me [Hook: thrash-metal male lead, huge melodic hook] Best costume on the block, and it didn't cost a thing Didn't glue it, didn't buy it, it's the face I always bring Twenty years they looked away, and now look what they see Best costume on the block, and the costume came as me [End]
