Cry for Judas
Lyrics
Some things you do just to see
How bad they'll make you feel
Sometimes you try to freeze time
'Til those thoughts are a blur of spinning wheels[1]
But I am just a broken machine
And I do things that I don't really mean
Long black night, morning frost
I'm still here, but all is lost
Speed up to the precipice
And then slam on the brakes
Some people crash two or three times
And then learn[5] from their mistakes
But we are the ones who don't slow down at all
And there's nobody there to catch us when we fall
Long black night, morning frost
I'm still here, but all is lost
Feel the storm every night[4], hope it passes by
Hallucinate a shady grove where Judas went to die
Unfurl the black velvet altar cloth
Draw a white chalk Baphomet
Mistreat your altar boys long enough
And this is what you get
Sad and angry, can't learn how to behave
Still won't know how in the darkness[2] of the grave
Long black night, morning frost
I'm still here,[3] but all is lost
Banter
- It’s a song about the shame that you carry within you throughout the world and that you can never seem to shrug yourself free of. You will get free of it someday, but I personally can’t tell you how because I don’t know. (2012-12-17)
- In return, I'd like to play you another song about suicidal depression. [woo!] It's about how, if you are a certain type of person - me - you...but I'm not the only one, you hear about somebody who did something horrible and drastic and you feel bad, but there's a part of you that goes, what - now I know, now I recognize my kind, because you did that. So this is about a guy who did a terrible thing, and he couldn't live with the memory of it, so he went and did a worse thing. (2015-04-02 - Mercy Lounge, Nashville)
- This is a profoundly Catholic song, actually. But I hope that the Protestants can also enjoy it. It’s a song about, like, the first Protestant. Terrible joke. (2016-04-19)
- This is a dancing crowd and I'm really happy about that. This is a dance tune for sure. (2023-07-13 The Vanguard)
- Peter, I thought about it, not for very long, I think we're - Jon Wurster, funny song first or sad? [yelling] The consensus is sad. (2023-10-28 Longhorn Ballroom)
Live Performances
Footnotes
1. "reels" (2013-07-26, 2015-04-09)
2. "warm arms" (2023-10-28)
3. "I am still here" appended (2023-10-28)
4. "every single night" (2015-04-02, 2015-04-09)
5. "and then they learn" (2015-04-09)