The R’lyeh Rhythm Kings - 10. Dreamin’ Down in R’lyeh

Dreamin’ Down in R’lyeh [Intro — slow piano, upright bass, distant saxophone] [Female — softly] Close your eyes, darling. [Male] I already did. [Female] Then how can you see me? [Male] …Where are we? [Verse 1 — Female] I went to sleep at midnight, With the rain against my pane, Then I woke beneath an ocean Where I didn’t need my name. There were stairways without ending, There were doorways tall and green, And something vast was dreaming At the bottom of my dream. [Verse 2 — Male] I saw you on those stairways, In a dress as black as night, Walking where the angles Made the wrong look almost right. I tried to call you, baby, But no sound came from my tongue. Then a thousand sleeping voices Started singing all as one. [Chorus — Both] We’re dreamin’ down in R’lyeh, Where the black stars never fade, Dreamin’ down in R’lyeh, Where the oldest bed was made. Take my hand and drift with me, Let the waking world disappear. If we’re dreamin’ down in R’lyeh… Why should we wake up here? [Tenor saxophone solo] [Verse 3 — Female] There’s a heartbeat in the city. [Male] I can feel it through the stone. [Female] There’s a king behind that doorway. [Male] And he’s dreaming all alone. [Female] Do you think he knows we’re here? [Male] Baby… I think that’s why we came. [Female] Then why can’t I remember— [Both] How I learned his name? [Backing vocals — distant] Cthulhu… [Female] Don’t. [Backing vocals] Cthulhu… [Male] Let them sing. [Chorus — Both] We’re dreamin’ down in R’lyeh, Where the drowned cathedral rings, Dreamin’ down in R’lyeh, Listening to the sleeper sing. Leave the morning far above us, Leave the sunlight and the fear. We’ve been dreamin’ down in R’lyeh… For a thousand thousand years. [Instrumental — organ enters beneath saxophone] [Bridge — alternating vocals] [Female] I can see the surface. [Male] Let it go. [Female] I can hear the morning. [Male] Let it go. [Female] Someone’s knocking at my bedroom door. [Male] Let it go. [Female] Someone’s calling out my name. [Male] That ain’t your name anymore. [Pause] [Female] Then what is? [Male] Listen. [Backing vocals rise] Ph’nglui… [Female] I hear it. [Backing vocals] Mglw’nafh… [Male] Come closer. [Backing vocals] Cthulhu… [Both — whispered] R’lyeh… [Band swells] [Final Chorus — Both] We’re dreamin’ down in R’lyeh, And the stars are turning right, Dreamin’ down in R’lyeh, While the world sleeps through the night. No more fighting, no more waking, No more praying to be free— When the dreamer wakes in R’lyeh, [Female] You’ll wake beside me. [Male] And you beside me. [Both] At the bottom of the sea. [Outro — slow saxophone, wordless female vocal] [Female — distant] Are we still dreaming? [Male] I don’t know. [Deep sound beneath the music] [Male] But something just woke up. [Final unresolved piano chord]