Pimp and Priest Motif

Lake South Motif

Lake South Motif

(The Boy, although melancholy and unsure, is happy to see his Mother return home to her dear Hunter.)

(The Boy recalls the song his Mother has sang to him since a child and knows he will always have that with him.)

(Hunter decides He will remain ignorant of it all.)
     
 
 
 
 
(He compares himself to a pail, with his Mother providing him with nourishing water. The pail, with its holes made of impurities and sin, continuously loses the water. Without his Mother around to constantly replenish it, he will end up empty.)

(Foreshadowing of The Flame, Ms. Terri, being extinguished into smoke. He knows his time with her is limited by nature and wonders if her past and wisdom will die with her.)

(The first song sung from the first person point-of-view of Hunter.)
 
(He reflects on His life thusfar, the uncertainty of the world outside, and the burden of knowing all life has to come to an end - including His aging Mother.)

(A character study on the Pimp and the Priest, this song introduces his despicable and exploitative nature. Every line of the song has a direct double-meaning and can be read as talking about the predatory salvation he promises in the Church during the day and the business he runs in the Brothel at night.)

(She longs to be home, while He longs to leave it.)

(The chorus juxtaposes Hunters exploration further and further - falling into a deep crevace while trying to retrieve his knife and spending the night stuck down there, scraped up, questioning whether or not he's ready to hold his own  - with Ms. Terri's sacrifice - spending her night as a product in exchange for providing her Son, buying him his gift, etc.)

(The Tree at the edge of the Lake serves as His limit to what he is able to explore, but also as a boundry to his knowledge of the outside world.)

(As He has been growing, so too has his curiosity for the truth of what happened and his Mother's secretive life.)

(She implies that she escape by setting fire to her room.)

A long walk home,
riddled with regret
Uncommonly comfortable,
but still I believe
That in time I think I'll see,
just what's been weighing down on me
An unearthly void collapsed,
exposing what was trapped
To release this serendipitous design
 
The smell of smoke,
the evening sky was bruised
Belated conversations,
saturate anticipation,
for the answers that simply won't come
 
But not I, I won't ask,
Forget my place amongst the grass
The leaves and the trees remember me
And in my naivety it might be seen
 
The pail has leaks and even if
You put all your water into it
You end up with nothing left to drink
The well has gone dry and I with it
 
Oh, someday she'll be gone
Oh, someday she'll be gone
Oh, someday she'll be gone
Oh, someday she'll be gone
 
(We'll still have a song to sing
We'll still have a song to sing
We'll still have a song to sing
We'll still have a song to sing)
 
Sing softly, bring me to the lake
Sing softly, sing me to the lake
(We'll still have a song to sing)
(Oh, someday she'll be gone)
 
Sing softly, bring me to the lake
Sing softly, sing me to the lake
(We'll still have a song to sing)
(Oh, someday she'll be gone)
 
Sing softly, bring me to the lake
Sing softly, sing me to the lake
(We'll still have a song to sing)
(Oh, someday she'll be gone)
 
Sing softly, bring me to the lake
Sing softly, sing me to the lake
(We'll still have a song to sing)
(Oh, someday she'll be gone)

(Take me to the river
Take me to the river)
 
The Pimp and the Priest,
pounce on quickened cats' feet
For the freshest young blood,
innocence for the feast
 
The book will then brew,
what the sinful commit
While the Pimp and Priest prey/pray quietly,
where the precious sinners sit
 
Confess, oh, confess
In the Chapel, or Brothel,
where we suffocate stress
We've got the time,
if you've got the scratch
(Conquer your sins
while she screams on her back)
 
Faster! Save me!
(While your sins remain hostage!)
Harder! I can't breathe!
 
Now the Priest and the Pimp,
are already equipped
With an enigmatic frontage post:
"We welcome walk-ins"
 
So we corner our pace and
make quick for the door
To be prodded and passed
from the bed to the floor
 
Confess, oh, confess
In the Chapel, or Brothel,
where we suffocate stress
We've got the time,
if you've got the scratch
(Conquer your sins
while she screams on her back!)
 
Take me to the River
Take me to the River
 
Faster! Save me!
(While your sins remain hostage!)
Harder! I can't breathe!
 
Sing softly, sing him to the Lake
Sing softly, bring him to the Lake
Sing softly, sing him to the Lake
Sing softly, bring him to the Lake
. . .
 
Faster! Save me!
(Take me to the River)
 
(While your sins remain hostage!)
 
Harder! I can't breathe!
(Take me to the River)
 
Faster! Save me!
(Take me to the River)
 
(While your sins remain hostage!)
 
Harder! I can't breathe!
(Take me to the River)
 
 
Sing softly, sing him to the Lake
Sing softly, bring him to the Lake
Sing softly, sing him to the Lake
Sing softly, bring him to the Lake

(With his Mother often away, Hunter intropects while he explores the River and the Lake he calls home. He's been made aware that the reason they are here is to remain safe.)

We've got a way, we got away,
and survived
Stunned by the shock and fearing,
what's behind
 
Everything you thought you'd,
live and die for
Every reason leading you to hear,
all of the sounds that trickle past,
your introspective ear
An attempt to discover what's behind
 
Branches twisting,
reaching for the sky
Hands extending,
reaching for the  -
 
Fell in another hole
(For the night, for the knife)
Loss of control
(For the night, for the knife)
I'm in another hole
(For the night, for the knife)
Bleed myself dry
(Save my life, save my life)
 
(The River)
(The Lake)
 
Fell in another hole
(For the night, for the knife)
Loss of control
(For the night, for the knife)
 
Hands conflicting,
clearly point the way
Stunned by the sign,
and fearing what it says
 
Everything you thought you'd,
live and die for
Every reason leading you to hear,
all of the sounds that trickle past,
your introspective ear
An attempt to discover what's  -
 
Fell in another hole
(For the night, for the knife)
Loss of control
(For the night, for the knife)
I'm in another hole
(For the night, for the knife)
Bleed myself dry
(Save my life, save my life)
 
(The River)
(The Lake)
 
Fell in another hole
(For the night, for the knife)
Loss of control
(For the night, for the knife)
I'm in another hole
(For the night, for the knife)
Bleed myself dry
(Save my life, save my life)
 
Fell in another hole
(For the night, for the knife)
Loss of control
(For the night, for the knife)
I'm in another hole
(For the night, for the knife)
Bleed myself dry
(Save my life, save my life)
 
(The River, The Lake)
 
Fell in another hole
(For the night, for the knife)
Loss of control
(For the night, for the knife)

(Ms. Terri cherishes every moment she gets to spend with her Son. She believes he is slowly growing into a strong, moral man.)
 
(Filled with a newfound confidence,She assures herself that, above all, she will instill in him a moral and virtuous disposition towards the women he meets when he's older. She will continue to keep the sins of the world a secret and endure anything she must do for the sake of her Son.)

(His Mother gifts Hunter a Knife. She allows him to explore the surrounding area and learn life skills while she is away, under one condition - he cannot go beyond the Tree that lies across the Lake.)
 
(She recoils at the thought that Hunter could turn out anything like the soulless men who pray on women like herself. She languishes in regret that she is back under the thumb of The Priest and that she has to lie to her son about her life.)
 

(Heart-breakingly, Ms. Terri reveals that she returned to The Dime not long after settling at The Lake. For years now she has had to spend days and nights at The Dime, leaving Hunter by himself in secret.)
 

(Ms. Terri explodes with distain at The Dime - the name of the brothel in which she had been forced to work. She reveals that she set her fire to her room during City Escape, and plans to do so again - 'reprise, two times'. She wants to destroy not only the physical building that housed her life of sorrow and trauma, but the entire wicked operation.)

(Through a painful soliloquy, Ms. Terri details the years that have passed since they settled into their cabin by the Lake far from the City.)
 
(She reveals that her captor is The Priest, stating that their bond is now broken, but implies a bond long ago that was broken - possibly referring to the Priest's early lies and tricks to get her to trust him.)
 
(The Child, Hunter, has now grown into a Boy, and his Mother knows that he won't be blissfully unaware for long.)

A home removed, a life resumed right here
The Priest and the rosary
The book and the bond between he and me,
Is long since broken
 
A boy who's grown, too short to see
A tale unfolds, too tall to be
A life once lived,
behind closed doors,
the irony of the pensive whore
 
Touch! Taste! Feel it ripping me down!
A reprise! Two times! The Dime!
Burn it to the ground
Oh, on the ground
 
The inquiry of Ms. Terri
The expiry of misery
The table turns the son long
The river bed, and he's alone
The object of affection
Conflicted by convictions of indecency, sorority
Corrupted by impropriety
 
The cavalier, she hopes of him
In dissonance with experience
A boy who grows, with knife in hand
To fend for her, becomes a man
But she plays fake affection,
and carefully lacks objection
To her gentleman caller's twisted desires
 
Touch! Taste! Feel it ripping me down!
A reprise! Two times! The Dime!
Burn it to the ground
Oh, on the ground
 
We dance around the room
My love, I'll carry you
I'll teach you how to treat,
that Leading Lady that you'll meet
We dance around the truth
My dear, I lie for you
And when I lie down,
I'm simply lying to them too

(The Oracles remark that the her attempted escape has set into motion the inescapable series of events to come.)

(The Flame inside her drives the need to escape. Ms. Terri is wounded and nearing exhaustion when she spots a River in the distance.)

(The ruthless henchmen are in very close pursuit, rabidly clawing to capture her.)
 
(This also reflects her life as a prostitute, subject to the cruel desires of her 'clients'. This suggests that the fear and oppression she's experiencing in the moment is nothing new to her, and therefore motivating her to push onward.)

(She sees this escape as a symbolic and literal endeavor to leave her life of prostitution behind. She appears to be afflicted with a 'plight' or a curse - a curse she is worried about passing to her offspring.)

(A woman, Ms. Terri, discovers she is pregnant. She deliberates and decides to flee.)

Please, what happened to the Flame?
(It burned down the sides)
With a fondness for cooking history
Revealing thoughts of Ms. Terri
 
In the heat of the night
A woman wealthy of a parous plight
erased a harlot's life.
(With the moon at her back, unaware of
what could be)
 
Plagued by practical and a mercenary lust,
they tear at her skin
(Oh, the trouble began, but it never ended)
Clawing at her throat with a smell of
desperate and a lack of regret
(Oh, the trouble began, but it never ended)
 
Free, pardoned by the Flame
(That burned down the sides)
Her feet began to bleed between the seams,
but she persisted to the streets
 
In the heat of the night, the River rendered
the chance she surely needs
to stay alive
 
Plagued by practical and a mercenary lust,
they tear at her skin
(Oh, the trouble began, but it never ended)
Clawing at her throat with a smell of
desperate and a lack of regret
(Oh, the trouble began, but it never ended)
 
Oh, but her breath escapes her
Oh, but the pulse remains
Oh, but her breathe escapes her
Oh, but her pulse remains
 
Places, people, the stage is set
Places, people, the stage is set
 
Plagued by practical and a mercenary lust,
they tear at her skin
(Oh, the trouble began, but it never ended)
Clawing at her throat with a smell of
desperate and a lack of regret
(Oh, the trouble began, but it never ended)
 
Plagued by practical and a mercenary lust,
they tear at her skin
(Oh, the trouble began, but it never ended)
Clawing at her throat with a smell of
desperate and a lack of regret
(Oh, the trouble began, but it never ended)

(Far from the City, beyond the Tree, beside the Lake, is a peaceful home waiting to be found.)

(The Oracles tell of the birth of a Child by the Mother.)
 
(In a thorough manner, they detail the events to come and their inevitable fates: Her; bonded to Hell for the birth of the Child, Him; destined to an existence in which death and life are indistinguishable to the point that He will lust for an end to His suffering.)
 
(She refers to a Man, appointing blame to him for her plight.)
 
 
(The Mother will experience Hell in the world of the dead. The Boy will experience Hell in the world of the living.)
 
 
 
 
 
 
(The Mother is referred to as The Flame; the ignition source, while the Boy is seen as The Fire; the persistent burning created subsequently.)

Believe you me: the price is clear
A Child born, the mother near
To death and life as hand in hand
A failed life exposed the Man
Who led her off into the Flame
To cast her back to Hell again
 
But hear you me: the break of dawn
Will wash away the sins thereof
Unto the lake beyond the tree
The Child waits, alone is he
 
The Flame is gone, the Fire remains
The Flame is gone, the Fire remains
The Flame is gone, the Fire remains
The Flame is gone, the Fire remains
 
The flame is gone, the fire remains
The flame is gone, the fire remains ...