GRAVEYARD CARAMEL APPLES [Intro - delicate music box, distant carousel, soft carnival ambience] Come closer… They’re freshly dipped. [Verse 1 - sweet, intimate, hypnotic] Red little apples hanging from the trees, Roots drink deep where the dead ones sleep. Golden caramel wrapped around the skin, Pretty little treats with something underneath. Rows of graves beneath the orchard floor, Names worn away but the roots know more. Pick one slowly… Hold it tight… Something’s moving in the caramel tonight. [Pre-Chorus - airy layered harmonies] Drip by drip… Sweet and warm… Hear the little teeth begin to form. [Chorus - beautiful, haunting, theatrical] GRAVEYARD CARAMEL APPLES! Red as roses, gold as sin! Bite the sweetness, taste the sorrow, There’s a little grave beneath your skin. GRAVEYARD CARAMEL APPLES! Take one home before you go! If the caramel starts to whisper… Don’t you let the little thing know. [Verse 2 - darker, seductive delivery] Tiny teeth beneath the glossy glaze, Opening slowly through the sugar haze. One says “run” and one says “stay,” One remembers dying yesterday. Juice runs down like crimson rain, Caramel tightens around the pain. The orchard sways though there’s no wind, Something underneath wants out again. [Bridge - whispered, ethereal] Don’t… Drop it. It doesn’t like the ground. [Breakdown - distorted carnival rhythm] BITE! BITE! BITE! [Whispered choir] Chew the dead… Chew the dead… Chew the dead… [Final Chorus - escalating from beautiful to monstrous] GRAVEYARD CARAMEL APPLES! Come taste what the roots have grown! Sweet little graves on a wooden stick, Every apple knows what you’ve never known! GRAVEYARD CARAMEL APPLES! Hear those tiny teeth collide! You thought you bought a carnival treat… But something buried came along for the ride! [Outro - fading calliope, distant whisper] Thank you for visiting the orchard… [Whisper] …please don’t plant the seeds.
