— Intro (toy piano, squeaky bells, accordion) —
[toy piano tinkling, bells faint]
[whisper-squeal] Whispers skitter under the calliope,
A paper moon winks, then folds in on me.
Patchwork footsteps on splintered planks,
A painted smile glued to crooked thanks.
— Verse 1 (high, thin) —
She juggles pennies, silver and small,
Buttons clack like a heartbeat down the hall.
Jester Lana in a stitched-up gown,
Seams of laughter, a carnival crown.
Her voice a bell, tinny and tight—
She hums lullabies through the long night.
— Pre-Chorus (breathy; build) —
She polishes a locket with a thumb,
Tucks a torn photograph where shadows come.
“Pip,” she coos (high, thin), “come back and play,”
Answers the silence as if it would say.
— Chorus (clean hook — repeatable) —
[high, pleading] Wake, Pip, wake—
Wake, Pip, wake—
Wake, Pip, wake, and dance me back to day.
— Verse 2 (bright jester melody, then fray) —
Squeaky bells, a puppet’s wooden grin,
She strings up marionettes with secrets pinned.
A ribbon knotted on a tiny chest—
Pip’s name stitched where the stitches rest.
She pours sugar into an empty cup,
Talks to a coat that will not stand up.
— Pre-Chorus (slightly cracking) —
She winds a crank and rocks a feathered hat,
Plays a broken tune on a toy piano that’s flat.
“Remember when we climbed the ferris wheel?”
Her throat catches; she swallows the real.
— Chorus (shortened, obsessive) —
[high, pleading] Wake, Pip, wake—
Wake, Pip, wake—
Wake, Pip, wake, come mend the daylight’s break.
— Bridge (concrete reveal — hushed, then frantic) —
[whisper to howl] She kneels on sawdust, breath like steam,
Dresses a marionette in a Sunday dream.
Slides a locket into its stitched-up breast,
Leaves a pressed photograph against its chest.
She combs its hair, hums their secret rhyme,
Tucks a dandelion where the ribs should be a line.
[quiet, precise] “Open your eyes,” she says to wood and lace—
She puts her face to hollow glass, to face.
Her fingers find the seam where silence sleeps,
She pins a ribbon over where the cold bone keeps.
[shock shift; frantic, marching drums enter]
[manic whisper] She talks to a jaw that will not know to speak,
[high thin → cracking] “Pip, wake—Pip, wake—don’t be so meek.”
The mirror shows a doll with a dried smile wide,
She says his name and answers the empty side.
— Final Chorus (maniacal, full band; raspy, shouted endings) —
[manic rasp / laugh] Wake, Pip, wake—
Wake, Pip, wake—
Wake, Pip, wake, and pull the sun by its cape!
Wake, Pip, wake—
Wake, Pip, wake—
Wake, Pip, wake, before the puppets gape!
— Coda (crackle of static, a single bell) —
She hums the tune she taught to ghostly chairs,
Sews one last smile beneath the locket’s glare.
[soft, broken; high, thin] “You’re only sleeping,” she breathes to the night—
[final rasp] The marionette blinks, and the carnival thinks it’s light.
— Outro (fading calliope, creak of wood) —
Bells slow their weeping, the toy piano sighs,
Lana polishes
