Big Top Bad Dream

[Intro]
[calliope creaks, distant crowd murmur]
Step right in
Step too far
Cotton candy
Tastes like tar (yeah)
[Verse 1]
Boots in the mud
Hat low, eyes red
I’m the ringmaster
Living in your kid’s bed
Paint on my face
But it’s cracked, it’s flaking
Smile stitched wide
Every blink earthquaking
Ferris wheel shadow
Crawling over cornfields
Whispers in the haystack
Teeth in the cornmeal
Tickets for trauma
Line ‘round the tree line
Once you cross that fence
You can’t rewind
[Chorus – Female]
Welcome to the big top bad dream (shh)
Where the bright red laughs all bleed
Lay your little head, count sheep
One by one they drag your feet
Rock-a-bye, rock-a-bye, don’t scream
Carousel goes slow, then screams
Welcome to the big top bad dream
You wake up, but you still ain’t free (ah)
[Verse 2 – Male]
I’m that farmhand
Hands stained, straw hat
Spurs on the dirt
Hear ‘em scrape, click-clack
Horses in the pen
But they breathe like serpents
Eyes glow green
Every hoof-step perfect
Prize pig talk back
Voice like your father
Laugh like your ex
All twisted, harder
Popcorn in the pan
But the kernels crawl
Every little pop
Is a name you called
Sheriff’s truck rusted
Engine run cold
But it’s parked in your mind
With a trunk full of souls
You pray in the pew
In the tent out back
But the hymn turn slick
And the cross turn black (yeah)
[Chorus – Female]
Welcome to the big top bad dream
Where the bright red laughs all bleed
Lay your little head, count sheep
One by one they drag your feet
Rock-a-bye, rock-a-bye, don’t scream (don’t scream)
Carousel goes slow, then screams
Welcome to the big top bad dream
You wake up, but you still ain’t free
[Bridge – Male & Female]
(Male) Hear that lullaby hum on the breeze?
Children’s voices stuck in the trees
Every little giggle
Got a edge like a blade
Every little shadow
Got a debt you paid
(Female) Hush now, hush now, eyes go dim
I’ll trace your fear on your skin
(Male) You can run ‘round town
You can beg, you can plead
(Both) But the circus only closes
When you’re fast asleep
[Chorus – Female (Male ad-libs)]
Welcome to the big top bad dream (can’t wake)
Where the bright red laughs all bleed (too late)
Lay your little head, count sheep (lay down)
One by one they drag your feet (sink now)
Rock-a-bye, rock-a-bye, don’t scream
Carousel goes slow, then screams
Welcome to the big top bad dream
You wake up, but you still ain’t free (never free)
[Outro]
[wind howls through empty tent poles]
Lights click out
But the hum stays on
You left the grounds
But you took the song
(hush little rider, don’t you cry)
See you at the fair
When you close your eyes

rap, Hybrid horrorcore trap with a warped country guitar loop and eerie circus organ tucked in the background, hard sub-bass and rattling hi-hats. Male and female vocals trading bars; female hooks are sing-song, lullaby-like with a twisted edge, male verses aggressive and rhythmic. Dark ambient whooshes and distorted carnival crowd FX swirl in the breaks, final chorus drops to half-time with echoing children’s choir harmonies for a surreal, psychedelic fade., nursery, hardcore, bassline, country, horrorcore, dark ambient, freestyle