Meat Puppet Parade

[Intro (Bass + Drums only)]

[Four bars of subwoofer-heavy bass — slow, creeping. Drum pattern: kick on 1 and 3, snare rim-click on 2 and 4.]

[(Distant crowd noise — psychos murmuring, chains rattling)]

[Aimee (toasting, low and slow):]
"Respect due to the rude girls.
Respect due to the buzz axe crew.
If you got flesh, you got a ticket.
Welcome to the..."

[(Bass drops an octave)]

[Aimee + Chorus (shouted):]
"MEAT PUPPET PARADE!"

[(Full band enters — horns stab, guitar upstrokes, spring reverb everywhere)]

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[Verse 1 (Toasting)]

[(Aimee, rhythmic, almost rapping)]

Step to the left, now step to the right
Meat puppet movin' like a string in the night
One hand cut off, other hand wave
Welcome to the parade where nobody's saved

I pull the strings, you dance the dance
I see a future in your underpants
Not like that, freak — get your mind out the gutter
I mean I'll wear 'em on my head while I make you stutter

[(Horn stab — one loud blast)]

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[Chorus (Call and Response)]

[Aimee:] Another meat puppet!
[Chorus:] (HO!)
[Aimee:] Another meat puppet!
[Chorus:] (HEY!)
[Aimee:] Line 'em up, knock 'em down
Chorus: (LINE 'EM UP!)
[Aimee:] Another victim for this town
[Chorus:] (VICTIM!)

[Aimee:] MEAT PUPPET PARADE!
[Chorus:] (PARADE!)
Aimee: MEAT PUPPET PARADE!
Chorus: (PARADE!)
[Aimee:] You clap your hands — I'll clap your cheeks
[Chorus:] (HUH?)
[Aimee:] Too far? Too bad. The parade never sleeps.

[(Horns play a descending, carnival melody)]

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[Verse 2 (Toasting — faster)]

String number one used to be a vault hunter
Now he's a lampshade, what a bummer
String number two was a pretty boy prince
Now he's a hand puppet — haven't laughed since

String number three tried to run away
Bold strategy, Cotton, let's see how it pays
Spoiler alert: it did not pay well
Now he's a wind chime made of his own cartilage, can you tell?

[(Drum fill — floor tom triplets into the chorus)]

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[Chorus (Repeat — with additional ad-libs)]

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[Bridge (Tempo drops — heavy, dub-style echo)]

[(Bass and drums only. Massive reverb. Aimee's voice drenched in delay.)]

[Aimee (toasting slowly, one line at a time):]
"Me puppet... you puppet...
We all puppet when the axe drop...
Some dance for money...
Some dance for fame...
You dance because I cut your hamstring...
Same game."

[(Feedback swell. Horns enter with one long, low note.)]

[Chorus (whispered, echoed):]
"Meat... puppet... meat... puppet..."

[(Full band crashes back in — no warning)]

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[Toasting Solo (16 bars)]
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[Chorus (Twice — crowd goes feral)]

[Second time through, the Psycho chorus adds a third response:
Chorus: (MEAT!) — (PUPPET!) — (PARADE!)]

[Aimee screams the last "PARADE" until her voice cracks.]

---

[Outro]

[(Band stops. Just Aimee, spoken, no music.)]

[Aimee:]
"Strings cut. Parade's over.
Pick up your limbs on the way out.
They're not yours anymore, but... you know.
Souvenirs."

[(Silence.)]

Dancehall Ska, Toasting, female