mysterious, slightly unsettling.] [Intro] (Heavy, slow tribal percussion: thud... thud... thud...) (A dirty, metallic slide guitar whines in the background, echoing like a wolf howl) (Cypress Shade — spoken, deep and resonant) There's a fever in the water... And the mud remembers everything you try to bury. [Verse 1] The moon is bleeding copper through the Spanish moss tonight I hear the bullfrogs singing to a shadow in the light You wore a dress of ivory, but your hands were stained with clay You told me that the devil always comes around to pray We walked down to the levee where the water runs so deep Where the secrets of the sinners are the only things we keep I saw the silver flashing in the corner of your eye A promise of salvation wrapped inside a beautiful lie. [Pre-Chorus] (Percussion quickens, tambourine rattles like a snake tail) Oh, the air is thick with jasmine and the scent of sweet decay You draw me to the water's edge and wash my soul away I know the water's poison, but I'm dying of the thirst In this congregation of the damned, I'm hoping to be first. [Chorus] Give me that Serpent's Kiss, let the venom run right through There ain't no salvation in the things we're 'bout to do Bite down on my collarbone, let the fever take my mind We're leaving all the righteous and the holy folks behind Yeah, the swamp is gonna swallow every promise that we miss So lay me in the river with the Serpent's Kiss. (Ad-lib: Lord have mercy... lay me down...) [Verse 2] (Banjo and heartbeat drum) The preacher warned me 'bout you on a Sunday in the heat Said your tongue was made of silver but you got the cloven feet But the church was always suffocating, smelled of cheap perfume I'd rather find my heaven in the darkness of your room You got a jar of blackstrap and a pocket full of bones You read the future in the mud and in the rolling stones You whispered that the darkness ain't a thing a man should fear It's just the only place where God can finally hear a tear. [Pre-Chorus] Oh, the air is thick with jasmine and the scent of sweet decay You draw me to the water's edge and wash my soul away I know the water's poison, but I'm dying of the thirst In this congregation of the damned, I'm hoping to be first. [Chorus] Give me that Serpent's Kiss, let the venom run right through There ain't no salvation in the things we're 'bout to do Bite down on my collarbone, let the fever take my mind We're leaving all the righteous and the holy folks behind Yeah, the swamp is gonna swallow every promise that we miss So lay me in the river with the Serpent's Kiss. [Guitar Solo] (Gritty, distorted electric guitar with heavy reverb — a soul crying in the Louisiana humidity. Tribal drums pound relentlessly beneath it.) [Bridge] (Music strips to almost nothing — just a slow bass drum and Cypress Shade's voice, close and intimate) Shed your skin, my darling, leave it on the cypress tree There ain't no going back to who we used to be The venom is a medicine, the poison is the cure We're sinking to the bottom, but the bottom is so pure... (Voice raises to a gritty howl) Yeah, the bottom is so pure! [Chorus — Final] (Explosive return — louder, more chaotic, all instruments at full force) Give me that Serpent's Kiss, let the venom run right through! There ain't no salvation in the things we're 'bout to do! Bite down on my collarbone, let the fever take my mind! We're leaving all the righteous and the holy folks behind! Yeah, the swamp is gonna swallow every promise that we miss So lay me in the river... Lord, lay me in the river... Lay me in the river with the Serpent's Kiss. [Outro] (Ad-libs: "With the kiss... sweet venom... take me down...") (Instrumentation fades out slowly — just the tribal percussion remains: thud... thud... thud...)
