[Verse 1]
It was the eye
Not the man in the chair
Pale blue
Cold hue
Drilling straight through my prayer
Seven nights
I watched his door barely breathe
Lantern flame
A single thread in the weave
[Pre-Chorus]
My pulse like war drums in my ears
His sleeping sighs
The weight of years
But all I saw in shivering light
That frozen circle
Hungry white
[Chorus]
The tell-tale heart
Beats louder in my head
It shakes the walls
It drags me from the bed
I swear I hear
His gaze beneath the floor
The tell-tale heart
Won’t let me anymore
[Verse 2]
Midnight struck
I felt the world leaning in
Opened slow
The door complained like a sin
Covered light
Till just a shard cut the room
There it was
That cursed eye in the gloom
[Pre-Chorus]
It set my very marrow flame
I whispered softly
Spoke his name
Then
Sudden fury
Steel and skin
Silence crashing
Deeper than sin
[Chorus]
The tell-tale heart
Beats louder in my head
It shakes the walls
It drags me from the bed
I swear I hear
His gaze beneath the floor
The tell-tale heart
Won’t let me anymore
[Bridge]
[Violin and acoustic guitar duet
Soft then surging]
I tore the planks up
One by one (one by one)
Buried the body where the boards had begun
Smiled at the questions
Drank in their doubt
Till that soft
Steady pounding started rising up loud
Why do you stare?
Can you not hear it cry?
Is it my guilt
Or that unblinking eye? (hey!)
[Chorus]
The tell-tale heart
Beats louder in my head
Each thudding note
Repeats the words I said
“I loved the man
I only hated more
That vulture eye
Still staring through the floor”
[Outro]
[Tempo surges
Drums and tremolo guitars race]
So take me
Chain me
Tear me apart
I bow to the sound in the dark
I point to the stain
I rip up the boards
“Here
Here it is!”
The tell-tale heart