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Be Good, Little Children: The Lullafrights, Volume I

by The Rough & Tumble

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1.
Kept til curfew, curtains drawn And the river's gonna get you even if you're good. White lace changing, dark and long, And the river's gonna get you even if you're good. This is not your mother's song, And the river's gonna get you even if you're good. This is not your father's wrong, And the river's gonna get you even if you're good. Harvest Moon and burlap sack, River pulls her taut and slack, Weeping woman, good or bad-- What runs through cannot flow back. Come back (La Llorona) And the river's gonna get you. The river's gonna get you. The river's gonna get you. Weeping Woman, where's your son? Did the Devil come and get you even if you're good? Tell me, children, where's your home? Could the Devil come and get you even if you're good?
2.
I have checked under your bed, Quiet, quiet, rest your head. And your closet, like you said. Quiet, Quiet, rest your head. It's just your coat hung on a peg. Quiet, quiet, rest your head. And shadow figures in your head, Quiet, quiet, go to bed. I'll be safe inside my dreams, Quickly, Quickly to my sleep. Trust the moonlight's shadow schemes, Quickly, Quickly to my sleep. Tick-tock time will gather me. Quickly, Quickly to my sleep. Lights low, headstart to my sleep-- The sweetest thoughts are any dream. Eile. Have you checked under my bed? Quiet, quiet rest your head. And my closet like you said? Quiet, quiet, go to bed. Tick tock time is all I need-- Quickly, quickly to my sleep. Leave the light or he'll catch me-- Quickly, quickly to your/my dreams.
3.
Get out of the corn, What you wandering 'round here for? Get out of the corn. Get up on the porch, She's not the mother you're looking for, Get up on the porch. Late September, you remember, don't you? A moon so blue, it fell into the rye, fell into the rye. Stay in after dark, These rows are more than husk and stalk, Stay in after dark. We went out to try and find her-- our moon. Second to the Harvest Mother, -- The corn turned blue, waving with the rye, waving with the rye. Get out of the corn, What you wanderin' round there for? Get out of the corn.
4.
You haven't cleared your name, yet. Where there aren't watchdogs, There are wolves, where there aren't wolves, There'll always be thieves. You haven't cleared your named, yet. You're calling over the lower case letters To quiet for sleep. Bloody Bones is calling from the dark wood, Bring your children to me. You haven't left her house, yet. You're scrubbing shadows that flicker Through windows to get it all clean. You haven't left her house, yet. And you are sick for the one you never loved, And miss the love you've never seen. Bloody Bones is calling from the backyard, Bring your lovers to me. You're crawling back into your bed, And count mosquitoes who needle your heartbeat on the screens. Bloody Bones is calling from the backdoor, Bring your wildest dreams. Bloody Bones is calling from the backyard. Bloody Bones is calling from the dark wood Bring them all to me. Bloody Bones is calling.
5.
What do you do with a child so unhappy and tired? She sits in her room playing quiet til the middle of the night. Childhood can be so confusing, and then you grow up. We're all swimming in blue. It's got nothing to do with fate When the Momo comes to escalate. I hear she looks like a chicken with a face of a woman with large eyes. She preys on your children sucking their souls from the phone lines. She'll dangle them over a canyon, or walk them into the sea. Where they're swimming in blue. You have nothing to do, it's too late, When the Momo comes to escalate. All of our fears can come true with the ping of a phone. The sound will move up to the rafters and our love is gone. There once was a mother who had a daughter, and now she is alone. She is so blue. Not a thing she can do, it's not fate, When the Momo comes...
6.
Stay close, my little ones, Stay so close to me. There's a devil living in your shoes, A demon of your wandering feet. In the light, In the noisy, noisy light. Where the old man goes shuffling, The air gets cold in still. There's a warble in his gait, It leaves tremors in the the dust by the old saw mill. In the light, In the noisy, noisy light. Stay close, my little one, Stay so close to me. There's a devil in your shoe. In the light, we'll all be making noise in the light. Chase the night all day, til we all walk the same-- We'll all by making noise in the light.
7.
When you look to nighttime around you, When the sky's covered in a heavy black sheet-- Do you wonder if stars in splendor-- Are they the holes where your love used to be? If they don't love you, don't want nobody else. Don't waste wishes on stars. Take that wish for yourself. Palm trees swaying, you're safe laying Here in my arms, while the city's below. No one knows me, I've been lonely-- Do you know feeling alone? The ones who love you may know nothing at all. When they hurt you, you have somewhere to go-- Take that wish for yourself.
8.
When the soul gets old and weary and cold It don't need to be told where to go, It knows to escape through your eyes or your ears Or your mouth or your nose. When the soul gets tired of staying a while, It's been a good life or it's been a good nine, But it's time to expire into the night of the light. Just count 1, 2, 3-- might stay with me. 4, 5, 6-- the River Styx. 7, 8, 9-- you're running out of time. 10, 11-- pray there's Heaven. 12 and 13-- it's not working. 14, 15, 16-- just breathe. When the soul gets old and weary and cold, It don't need to be told where to go, it knows where to go. (You'll know where to go!) 17, 18, 19, 20-- 21 grams you're gone!

about

Fear. Safety. Control.

These are the stories we tell before bed, before eyes are closed, before one picks up the phone or wades too far into the river. Well-meaning. Well spoken.

But what happens if the stories themselves get away from us? What happens if the don't-you-cry's and go-to-sleep's are only the secret password to letting these monsters into our dreams?

Welcome to The LullaFrights, a tale that's eating itself from tongue to tail around the world, a startling place under the covers that forces you into the question:

What Story is Controlling You?

Be Good, Little Children.

credits

released October 2, 2020

Mallory Graham: vocals, accordion, bells, whistles, banjulele, oddities
Scott Tyler: vocals, guitar, electric guitar, harmonica, oddities

Engineered, mixed and mastered by Nolan Rossi at RF Studios, Nashville.

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The Rough & Tumble Haverhill, New Hampshire

The Rough & Tumble are a dumpster-folk/thriftstore Americana band consisting of Mallory Graham and Scott Tyler. Only This Far, their latest full length record is out May 12, 2023. "The bottom line is these are just quality songs, well written, well played, well sung and arranged, and a pleasure from start to end."- AmericanaUK ... more

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