[Intro: dark piano loop and cowbell, the 808 rolls in low] Forty-one Octobers with a ring of rusty keys Clock in when the sun goes, clock out with the leaves [Verse 1] Forty-one Octobers walking rows of polished stone Thermos full of coffee and a flashlight of my own Mason, Price and Delacroix, I know 'em all by name Know who died in debt and who died taking all the blame Groundskeeper goes home at six, the widows go at five Then it's me and twenty thousand neighbors, none alive Rake the leaves, lock the chapel, check the iron gate Every year on the thirty-first the hill begins to quake [Hook] Ground's moving, dirt's breathing, the whole hill shifts Twenty thousand knuckles knocking under it Somebody gotta stand at the gate when it splits That's me, motherfucker, on the graveyard shift [Verse 2] Twelve o'clock exactly and here comes Colonel Hale Coat full of holes and a face gone pale Says, open up the gate, son, we got a standing right One night every year, and the deadline is tonight Behind him there's a crowd from every row on the hill Mason with a pocket watch that's ticking still Delacroix in pearls, she's been dead since ninety-two Every one of them staring like, boy, what you gon' do? Forty years they come and forty years I tell 'em no Forty years they rattle on the bars till the roosters crow But my knees are shot, and my wife keeps asking me When's the last time we saw Halloween on a street? [Hook] Ground's moving, dirt's breathing, the whole hill shifts Twenty thousand knuckles knocking under it Somebody gotta stand at the gate when it splits That's me, motherfucker, on the graveyard shift [Verse 3] So I set down the keys and I pull up a chair Colonel, let's talk terms, since we're both standing here You want the town? Fine. You can have it till the bell Five o'clock it tolls, every soul back in its shell No biting, no stealing, leave the little kids alone Leave the candy on the porches, put back every stone And the price for the key, Colonel, listen to me good Somebody walks my rows tonight like a watchman should Colonel looked at Delacroix, Delacroix looked at me Mason checked his watch and said, that's fair as fair can be Shook a hand like January, cold and all bone First Halloween in forty years, I'm taking my wife home [Bridge: just the cowbell and the piano loop] Dead men keep a deal, it's the living that lie Living promised me a raise in nineteen eighty-five Colonel took the flashlight, Mason took the keys Delacroix took the thermos, said, go on, take the night, please [Final Hook: the chapel bell tolls twelve, one strike on every downbeat] Ground's moving, dirt's breathing, the whole hill shifts Twenty thousand neighbors walking out of it Somebody's at the gate, but it ain't me this year Colonel's on the graveyard shift I'm on the porch with a beer [Outro: cowbell and the 808, then one last bell] Five o'clock, the bell, every one of 'em back down Colonel hands the keys back, says, see you next year in town [End]
