WPaRG: The Red-Curtained Platform and Other Songs

A musical interlude! We're having some problems uploading the audio so for now there's a link. With thanks to an AO3-less cowriter for lyrics and vocals.

Chapter 1: The Red-Curtained Platform

Chapter Text

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JZaCZmr9-eQlswyzmVUZcDhSVcudLa6l/view

I saw a picture of you
On the red-curtained platform
And I
And I
And I-

Took a picture of you
With all the white of your skin on
All mine
All mine
All mine-

All the world is a stage
Even if you can’t find one
All your life is a play
For my eyes

A body turns cold
No matter who it relied on
So don’t go asking why

I listened to you
On the red-curtained platform
And cried
And cried
And cried-

I made a recording of you
As you screamed through white cotton
So tight
So tight
So tight-

And the page numbers shift
As the script is rewritten
All your pleas are a song
In my head

A child grows old
No matter their disposition
Until they turn up dead

You sniffed snow-white off your dress
On the red-curtained platform
And sighed
And sighed
And sighed-

I smelled the sweat in your hair
That you took so much time on
To dry
To dry
To dry-

Oh, the costumes may change
As the moths eat right through them
All your blood is a scent
For my wrist

A better half grows whole
In the other half’s absence
And never realizes this

I felt the outline of you
On the red curtained platform
Don’t try
Don’t try
Don’t try-

I touched those white pieces of you
And pushed my fingers between them
Inside
Inside
Inside-

The spotlights grow dim
As the theater crumbles
All your breath fits in the palm
Of my hand

A fire may burn
But never in silence
As it heats the brand

I bit a chunk out of you
On the red-curtained platform
Can’t lie
Can’t lie
Can’t lie-

I bit a chunk from your throat
While your eye-whites were rolling
So wide
So wide
So wide-

Death is an act
With no intermission
All your corpse is a rose
In my teeth

A maggot will starve
If the body is healthy
And we all need to eat

I saw a picture of you
On a red-curtained platform
And I
And I
And I-

Took a picture of you
With all the white of your skin on
All mine
All mine
All mine-

All the world is a stage
Even if you can’t find one
And your ghost is a trick
Of the light

A body turns cold
No matter who fucked it broken
It just stops asking why

(Scrapped lyrics: Don’t you let it fade to black
The long way down can break your back
And I don’t feel much regret
But you can’t say that with a broken neck
Don’t you wish you could turn gray?
That the reaper would just walk away?
And I may not mind the truth
But tell that to an empty noose
Don’t you bleach your rubies white
Pretty corpses don’t pick fights
And I’d have dyed my pearls red
But you can’t do that from the hangman’s bed)

Chapter 2: Eights

Chapter Text

One for the red dress
One for the black
Pop goes Betty with the broken back

Two for the briar-brack
Two for the heather
Snap goes Aggie with the broken tether

Three for the gravestones
Three for the dead
Bang goes the gun in Amber’s head

Four for the pine trees
Four for the sap
Shh! Tilly’s down for a long, long nap

Five for the hill house
Five for the well
Splash goes Bella, off to-

Six for the wedding ring
Six for the doubt
Aah! goes Ms. Mori when her brains fall out

Seven for the brown eyes
Seven for the thunder
No! cries Leafy as she goes under

Better call the undertaker
Better pay his bill
How many crosses on the hill?

One, two, three…

Chapter 3: American Lolita

Summary:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1I4GER2WpFQZGG-CwK6CGqkoXKiByCU_3/view?usp=sharing

Chapter Text

American Lolita
American girl
Boys, I swear there’s nothin’ sweeta
In the whole wide world

American Lolita
Dressed in white and red
Sitting pretty
Itty bitty
And ain’t it such a pity
That she’s
Dead

American Lolita
With them big brown eyes
Smilin’ like a mirror
At those other guys

American Lolita
American girl
Boys, I swear there’s nothin’ sweeta
In the whole wide world

American Lolita
Wears her heart on her sleeve
Do no evil
If she’s legal
Bittersweet sixteen

American Lolita
Dressed in white and red
Sitting pretty
Itty bitty
And ain’t it such a pity
That she’s
Dead

American Lolita
Plays like a doll
Spitting scrabble
Building Babel
Just to dodge your calls

American Lolita
American girl
Boys, I swear there’s nothin’ sweeta
In the whole wide world

American Lolita
Well, she ain’t red wine
Rock n’ Roller
Cherry cola
Chocolate milkshake fine

American Lolita
Dressed in white and red
Sitting pretty
Itty bitty
And ain’t it such a pity
That she’s
Dead

American Lolita
In that real short skirt
Legs together
Lifting leather
So hard it hurts

American Lolita
American girl
Boys, I swear there’s nothin’ sweeta
In the whole wide world

American Lolita
Known her all her life
Love to love her
Like her mother
On the edge of the knife

American Lolita
Dressed in white and red
Sitting pretty
Itty bitty
And ain’t it such a pity
That she’s
Dead

American Lolita
With the heart shaped specs
If you can’t kiss her
There’s her sister
Oh, it’s only sex

American Lolita
American girl
Boys, I swear there’s nothin’ sweeta
in the whole wide world

American Lolita
Oh you’re just for fun
Take a drink and-
Turning pink and-
With a heart like a gun

American Lolita
Dressed in white and red
Sitting pretty
Itty bitty
And ain’t it such a pity
That she’s
Dead

American Lolita
Wakes up in bed
Tries to vomit
Choking on it
Arms above her head

American Lolita
American girl
Boys, I swear there’s nothin’ sweeta
in the whole wide world

American Lolita
Got her by the hair
Pulling hard
It starts to throb and-
Served ripe and rare

American Lolita
Dressed in red and white
Sitting pretty
Itty bitty
And ain’t it such a pity
That she’s
Tight

American Lolita
Gets down on her knees
Pushin’ through this-
Turning blue this-
We can’t do this!
Execution
Oh-
Daddy, please!

American Lolita
American girl
Boys, I swear there’s nothin’ sweeta
in the whole wide world

American Lolita
Going down
Dust to ashes
Fake eyelashes
Gravedigger fucks the ground

American Lolita
When the white turns red
Screams so pretty
Itty Bitty
And ain’t it such a pity
That she’s
Dead

My American Lolita
Can you be brave?
Drunk on liquor
Start to kiss her
Like her sister
On a heart shaped grave

And it tastes the same

American Lolita

Chapter 4: Bloodbath

Chapter Text

Hold me like a dancer
Bend me to the bed
Words and wine and whispers
All swirling in my head.
I’ve always been an angel
Tonight’s the night I fall
You never raised a fist and yet
You never asked at all

Welcome to my blood bath
The wound within my soul
Is spraying all around me,
This thing’s out of control
Thank God I’ve learned to love it,
The red thick on my lips,
The gleaming eyes that follow,
The pain of dagger tips

Morning-after’s misty,
Sheets have all gone cold
Thistle fluff and rose buds
Filling in the folds
I’ve always been a loud one
Now I can’t breathe a word
Your ear was pressed against my mouth,
How could you not have heard?

Tainted meat don’t sell well -
‘Least, I’ve heard it said
But never have I ever seen
The price go off my head
I never thought I’d get here
Now all the doors are shut
I let the night keep rolling as
I let them slice me up

Chapter 5: The Sour Apple Tree

Chapter Text

Oh, we’ll hang Jeff Davis from the sour apple tree
Just as they sentenced Turner when he died to make men free
And like John Brown’s body, his a-moldering soon will be
As we go marching on

Oh, we’ll hang Jeff Davis from the sour apple tree
Hang Jeff Davis from the sour apple tree
Hang Jeff Davis from the sour apple tree
And then go marching on

Oh, we’ll hang Jeff Davis from the sour apple tree
And while he is a-swinging, we a Quaker’s prayer shall read
‘Old Jeff,’ cry th' abolitionists, ‘thou should have taken heed’
Now we go marching on

Oh, we’ll hang Jeff Davis from the sour apple tree
Hang Jeff Davis from the sour apple tree
Hang Jeff Davis from the sour apple tree
And then go marching on

Oh, we’ll hang Jeff Davis from the sour apple tree
The south, she lies in shambles, on this day of jubilee
And even old Virginia pleads a-bleeding on her knees
As we go marching on

Oh, we’ll hang Jeff Davis from the sour apple tree
Hang Jeff Davis from the sour apple tree
Hang Jeff Davis from the sour apple tree
And then go marching on

Oh, we’ll hang Jeff Davis from the sour apple tree
Likewise with Stonewall Jackson, Nat Forrest and Longstreet
Beauregard and Pickett, Hood and Robby Lee
And then go marching on

Oh, we’ll hang Jeff Davis from the sour apple tree
Hang Jeff Davis from the sour apple tree
Hang Jeff Davis from the sour apple tree
And then go marching on

Oh, we’ll hang Jeff Davis from the sour apple tree
And in his traitor blood, the Union baptized it will be
And soon his ashes scattered from the sea to shining sea
As we go marching on

Oh, we’ll hang Jeff Davis from the sour apple tree
Hang Jeff Davis from the sour apple tree
Hang Jeff Davis from the sour apple tree
And then go marching on

Chapter 6: Cyra Weaving

Chapter Text

Cyra weaving
Calico
And she asks me
“Do I have to go?“

Cyra weaving
Battlescars
Fingers bleeding
Paper stars

Cyra weaving
Georgette crépe
”If I can’t leave here
Why don’t you stay?”

Cyra weaving
Battlescars
Fingers bleeding
Paper stars

Cyra weaving
Velveteen
“The name that she called me
What does it mean?”

Cyra weaving
Battlescars
Fingers bleeding
Paper stars

Cyra weaving
Silk chiffon
Shaking, shivering
With no coat on

Cyra weaving
Battlescars
Fingers bleeding
Paper stars

Cyra weaving
Ny-i-lon
Stumbling, fumbling
With her shoes on wrong

Cyra weaving
Battlescars
Fingers bleeding
Paper stars

Cyra weaving
Denim-jean
“I’ll come and find you
When I’m eighteen”

Cyra weaving
Battlescars
Fingers bleeding
Paper stars

Cyra weaving
Gold lamé
Think she hates me
I love her anyway

Cyra weaving
Battlescars
Fingers bleeding
Paper stars

Cyra weaving
Rayadillo
And I answer
“I don’t know”

Chapter 7: Gingerbread Girl

Chapter Text

I made a girl outta gingerbread
Her eyes were blue
And her hair was red
Unsteady on her ginger feet
I had to treat her gingerly
Milk and sugar and clotted cream
Legs wrapped ‘round me like a dream
Nothing in this whole wide world
Quite like the taste of my gingerbread girl

Frosted lips and pretty lies
Icing on her inner thighs
Hate the sinner, love the sin
The faintest scent of cinnamon

Gingerbread girl’s growing up too fast
I hear some guys like ‘em like that

Baby Ginger, sharp and sweet
Bits of her stuck in my teeth
Baby Ginger, sugar and spice
Looks a bit like my late wife
Baby Ginger, Candyland
Since the day I held you in my hand
Baby Ginger, by and by
Remember How I Learned to Drive

Gingerbread girl’s growing up too fast
But I’m the one who made her like that

I made a girl out of gingerbread
Her lips turned blue
And her eyes went red
Take bites out of those ginger feet
Can’t be sure she can’t run from me

Flour and water and chocolate chips
Too sweet beneath my finger tips
Flour and water and insulin
We knead each other skin to skin
Flour and water and semi-sweet
The way it feels when I come complete
Flour and water and red dye 2
She says Daddy, oh, I love you too

Nothing in the whole wide world
Quite like the taste of a gingerbread girl

Chapter 8: Delicate

Chapter Text

If gentle is the way
A woman should be
If tender flesh is all that is
Desired
Then let me burn myself
Until a crust forms
What I would give to never be
Inspired

They say there’s nothing wrong
With being delicate
They tell me that the world
Is soft and fine
Then they break my bones
For the Hell of it
And wonder why
I am no longer kind

If powerful’s the role
A man was born for
If protector and attacker
Are the same
Then let me learn the ways
To be a warrior
I never wish to taste the floor
Again

They say there’s nothing wrong
With being delicate
They tell me that the world
Is soft and fine
Then they break my bones
For the Hell of it
And wonder why
I am no longer kind

If fear is just the way that all
Are feeling
If danger is a constant, steady
Friend
Then give me swords to cut into
The killers
I’m ready to bright nightmares to
An end

They say there’s nothing wrong
With being delicate
They tell us that the world
Is soft and fine
Then they break our bones
For the Hell of it
And wonder why
We are a different kind

Chapter 9: Baffler Meal

Chapter Text

Your drive it’s so highly addictive
Baby let’s not be constrictive

I got my extra large fries on lock
Check it in, check it out, I’ve got to rock

Take a ride on the coastal blaze
Jersey, Atlanta, San Francisco phrase
I am one with the coastal phase
Supersize my heart
On a Baffler Meal part!

Let’s ride these waves, let it free
Chocolate shake days, not for me
Heart’s in danger, maybe we’ll see
Burger Trench parking lot, come with me

Take a ride on the coastal blaze
Jersey, Atlanta, San Francisco phrase
I am one with the coastal phase
Supersize my heart
On a Baffler Meal part!

Two-hundred and forty days
On that coastal gaze
Let’s take a back road
Rev me up I’m your boat

Take a ride on the coastal blaze
Jersey, Atlanta, San Francisco phrase
I am one with the coastal haze
Supersize my heart
On a Baffler Meal part!

I said take a ride on coastal blazes
You’re my twenty-four combo
Pink and red and white blazes
Let’s take that spin and
Go coast to coast

Chapter 10: When the Sun Goes A-Dancing

Summary:

This is the star map song for the Juneteenth music box's music. Since none of us are Black, we don't want to overshadow real songs by Black people of the era, so here are some songs which helped with inspiration and we'd love it if you'd go give them a listen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKss9jF2Yxw
https://www.amrevmuseum.org/the-music-of-francis-johnson-a-soundtrack-to-antebellum-black-philadelphia
https://wordinblack.com/2024/06/black-music-sound-freedom/

Chapter Text

Mr. Sun Man
He’s a mean man
Hot and haughty and hard
Lives way up in
His big ol' mansion
Goes a-dancing
With the stars

And it’s one foot out
And one foot back
Dressed in gold or dressed in black
Shit ain’t easy but it’s not that hard
When the sun goes a-dancing with the stars

Mrs. Lamby
Quite the lady
Pushin’ eighty
Folks still stop and stare
With the curls
And the pearls
Set way deep in her snow white hair

Leonora
They adore her
The lion to Lamby’s lamb
Eyes like fire
Golden wire
Leonora Lee Van Damme

Little Miss Archer
Is a charmer
Long white fingers on a string
Like a sparrow
On an arrow
Plays him backwards while she sings

And it’s one foot out
And one foot back
Dressed in gold or dressed in black
Shit ain’t easy but it’s not that hard
When the sun goes a-dancing with the stars

Is it Terra?
Is it Tara?
Does it matter either way?
Big and stocky
Makes him cocky
Hey girl, hey girl, hey

That’s Virginia
She’s a virgin
Dressed in white and blue
Got no ring-a
On her finger
She’s a spinn-ya
Through and through

Her name is Capri
Dresses snappy
Braids drawn round her head
Beads and bells and
Velvet ribbons
Black and gold and blood, blood-red

And it’s one foot out
And one foot back
Dressed in gold or dressed in black
Shit ain’t easy but it’s not that hard
When the sun goes a-dancing with the stars

Now, Miss Gemma
And Miss Nia
Are never much apart
“She’s my sister
Ain’t she, mister?
You see-a, girl after my own heart”

Now there’s Libby
Sitting pretty
A little unsteady on her feet
Still she’s pretty
And she’s witty
And tooth-rot candy sweet

Whatshername there
With the pitcher
Like a picture with the long, long hair
Her father’s daughter
It falls like water
Pretty’s passing, but beauty’s rare

And it’s one foot out
And one foot back
Dressed in gold or dressed in black
Shit ain’t easy but it’s not that hard
When the sun goes a-dancing with the stars

Old lady Crabtree
Is awful crabby
Snippy and sharp and lean
Not her fault though
That she’s snappy
Blame the sickness for the mean

And the Fishburns
Two more sisters
Calling out the catch of the day
A pair of fish wives
A pair of fish eyes
He comes home a-smelling like the bay

She’s a sharp one
Careful, my Sun
Of the one with the long, long braid
Curled up a little
At the middle
Like a stinger on a blade
Pretty poison,
Let’s the boys in
“Won’t sting if I get paid”
She’s a sharp one.
Careful, my Sun
Of the one with the long, long braid

And it’s one foot out
And one foot back
Dressed in gold or dressed in black
Shit ain’t easy but it’s not that hard
When the sun goes a-dancing with the stars

Now Mrs Moony,
She’s a beauty
But she’s starting to show her age
The sun, he keeps her,
Though it grieves her,
In a silver-gilded cage
Every night though
She sits up waiting
Face lined with old, old scars,
Waiting
Waiting
Moonlight glancing
While the sun goes a-dancing with the stars