[Gentle Intro - from ashes] . . . . . . . . . . ! [Verse 1] They said the facts would slumber In the dark caverns of midnight They said if they scattered the type The words would lose their might [Verse 2] They burned the press on the river They thought they'd won the war But lo, it is sudden day And we're singing what they swore [Pre-Chorus] A departed spirit cries for vengeance From across the years The tender tree, the thunder-struck The silenced hopes and fears [Chorus] Sudden day The dark deeds shall be known Sudden day From the house-tops it is shown You can scatter the type You can burn the page But the story finds a voice In every age Sudden day [Break] . . . ! . . [Verse 3] One hundred eighty years And still the story breathes The women and the witnesses The widows and the thieves [Verse 4] Jane Law still says no Austin Cowles dares not teach The great throat still swallows But the remedy's in reach [Chorus] Sudden day The dark deeds shall be known Sudden day From the house-tops it is shown You can scatter the type You can burn the page But the story finds a voice In every age Sudden day [Bridge - the album's thesis] The remedy can never be applied Unless the disease is known So we sing what they testified We carry what they've sown For everyone who crossed the ocean For everyone who died unnamed For every tender tree that withered We will not let them be ashamed [Final Chorus - full, triumphant, all voices] Sudden day! The dark deeds shall be known! Sudden day! From the house-tops it is shown! They scattered the type They burned the page But the story found a voice In every age And it will find a voice In every age Sudden day Sudden day Sudden day [Outro - resolving to quiet hope] Lo... it is sudden day... The disease is known... The remedy applied... [End]
