A LIMITED EDITION VINYL RECORDING OF THIS SONG IS AVAILABLE FOR PREORDER THRU 9/16/17! 
Each lathe cut 7" vinyl record will be a unique live take created especially for the person who orders it.
Preorder/more info: http://charmingdisaster.com/vinylpreorder 

Lyrics:
Did you ever have a day when you're trying to drink
And your favorite cat walks in and your tiny heart sinks
Because just yesterday you hung it from a string
And now your wife's in the way when you got an axe you're trying to swing

Did you ever meet someone with a filmy blue eye
And when he looks at you, it's kinda hard to describe
You even like this man, but you know he's got to die
So you carry out a plan in the middle of the night.

Do you chop it up
And burn the bits
Or throw it in a well or
Do you pack it in a box and ship it
Dig a grave down in the cellar
What do you do with a corpse
Don’t you worry about the smell
And also how do you know
When someone’s dead
Sometimes it’s hard to tell

When your friend’s beloved sister dies one tragic afternoon
Do you hold off on the burial and lock her in a room
On a dark and stormy night when she rises from the tomb
You will realize she was only in a cataleptic swoon

When you have a little problem you don’t want folks to find
Or perhaps you’ve been insulted and revenge is on your mind
Just go down to the basement in the back behind the wine
Consider some home masonry to cover up your crime

Do you chop it up...

One morning in cool blood
I stopped the drumbeat of a heart
And never have I slept so very well
You know I am not mad
Because my senses are acute
I can hear things in heaven earth and hell

Were you ever taken over by that fiend intemperance
Were you ever so influenced by that gin-nurtured malevolence
To offer your own wife a taste of personal violence
Till you know you have destroyed all hope of God's mercy or innocence

Don't you hate it when a sick man's in your mesmerizing gaze
And though he passes in the night, you got him twitching for many days
And then he gives you a nasty fright when he croaks "let me die please"
Once you release him from his state he turns to goo like marmalade

Do you chop it up...

Ellia Bisker - vocals + ukulele
Jeff Morris - vocals + guitar
Written + composed by Ellia Bisker + Jeff Morris 
Recorded on the couch, 10/28/2013

Help support our NEW album, CAUTIONARY TALES, on Kickstarter!
http://charmingdisaster.com/kickstarter

What Do You Do With A Corpse? (Edgar Allan Poe)

Written and composed by Ellia Bisker and Jeff Morris. From Charming Disaster's album "Love, Crime & Other Trouble" - http://charmingdisaster.bandcamp.com/album/love-crime-other-trouble

Help support our NEW album, CAUTIONARY TALES, on Kickstarter!
http://charmingdisaster.com/kickstarter

Love, Crime & Other Trouble

Knife Thrower

Written and composed by Ellia Bisker and Jeff Morris. From Charming Disaster's album in progress.

Grifters

“Cherry Red” is a ghost story about a haunted house…or possibly a cautionary tale about carbon monoxide poisoning, whose symptoms strongly resemble the classic signs of a haunted house from horror movies and ghost stories: visual and auditory hallucinations, a feeling of dread, pressure on the chest, nightmares. Many people who have experienced haunted house phenomena have been found to have carbon monoxide in their blood. The question we pose is, who (or what) caused the leak—was it a ghost? And what caused that ghost’s death—was it a carbon monoxide leak? The song’s title comes from another symptom of CO poisoning that usually isn’t discovered until it’s too late: the bright red color it turns one’s blood.

Cherry Red

"What Remains" was inspired in part by traditional murder ballads -- folk songs that tell haunting stories about true crimes of the past. Flannery O'Connor's short story "The River" also provided some inspiration. It was written and recorded during Charming Disaster's 2016 artist residency at Crosshatch Center for Art & Ecology: www.crosshatch.org

The cover artwork is a painting by Julyan Davis, whose work is also inspired by the murder ballad tradition. See more at www.julyandavis.com

lyrics

wind blows cold
over the willows
sky is bruised
and shadowed
put on your boots
and overcoat
don’t be afraid
my little sparrow

bridge slung high
over the river
every step
shakes and shivers
water laughs
out in whispers
she’ll take anything
that you give her

it’s okay
wash away
every trace
what remains

it’s okay
it’s not too late
to find your way
clean again

when your heart
is weak and wearied
clap your hands
wake the spirits
leaves float by
on the current
tide won’t turn
till you turn it

credits
Written & composed by Ellia Bisker & Jeff Morris
Recorded at the Hill House in Mancelona, MI
Engineered & mixed by Ellia Bisker & Jeff Morris
Ukulele, shaker, tambourine, wineglass, whistling: Ellia Bisker
Guitar, pot lids, pot of water, tea kettle, whistling: Jeff Morris

Cover artwork by Julyan Davis ("To Grow in the Sick Tree's Path," left panel), used by permission. See more of his murder ballad-inspired paintings at www.julyandavis.com.

Special thanks to Yvonne Stephens and Brad & Amanda Kik at Crosshatch Center for Arts & Ecology. 

Charming Disaster - What Remains

"Sympathetic Magic" appears on Charming Disaster's new album, Cautionary Tales: http://charmingdisaster.com/cautionarytales

“Charming Disaster sound like the music that Pugsley and Wednesday Addams might have made after listening to the Decemberists, Squeeze and some Chopin.” - Yes! Weekly

“Gothic folk murder balladry, not unlike PJ Harvey at her most ornate. But there’s an accessibility and pop sensibility that also nods to the likes of Andrew Bird or Regina Spektor. It’s darkness cut with a melodic immediacy, and it’s a thing of fanciful beauty.” - Treble

Written & composed by Ellia Bisker & Jeff Morris
Ellia Bisker: Vocals/Ukulele
Jeff Morris: Vocals/Guitars
Don Godwin: Drums/Bass
Noah Hoffeld: Cello
Marandi Hostetter: Violin
Engineered & mixed by Don Godwin at Airshow (Takoma Park, MD) and Phantom Center (Brooklyn, NY) 
Produced by Charming Disaster
Cover art by Magda Boreysza: http://foxandcomet.com

Cautionary Tales

Sympathetic Magic

Charming Disaster's second album, Cautionary Tales, releases April 21, 2017.

Preorder now: charmingdisaster.com/cautionarytales
Tour dates: charmingdisaster.com/tour

Snake Bit

Selene & Endymion

Phosphorescent Lilies

From Charming Disaster's new album, Cautionary Tales, comes a Norse mythology-inspired track about the end of the world...

Album link: http://charmingdisaster.com/cautionarytales

Written & composed by Ellia Bisker & Jeffrey Morris

Ragnarok

Charming Disaster's second album, Cautionary Tales, releases April 21, 2017. 

Preorder now: http://charmingdisaster.com/cautionarytales
Tour dates: http://charmingdisaster.com/tour

Little Black Bird

Days Are Numbered

Infernal Soiree

What Remains

String Break Song

The air is still, the moon a yellow fingernail
It smells like gin beneath the junipers
A scraping sound, shovel in the muddy ground
I hope you thought to bring a change of shoes

Listen dear, we have a situation here
Someone’s picking up what we put down
Oh my word, I got it from a little bird
It might be better if we're not around

You're a murderer, what you gonna do
I'm a murderer too
I'm a murderer, say it cause its true
You're a murderer too

Your pouty lip, chewing on your fingertip
A troubled look across your face
Narrow squint did we wipe the fingerprints
How can we be sure we left no trace

Sin or crime, I think we might have crossed a line
I fear my dear there is no turning back
Do you recall the moment when we lost it all
A clenched fist going slack

Jeff Morris: vocals, guitar
Ellia Bisker: vocals, ukulele
Estelle Bajou: violin, vocals
Jerome Morris: drums
Mike Brown: bass
Liz Prince: tuba

Written & composed by Ellia Bisker and Jeff Morris
Engineered/produced by Dave Brandwein at Galaxy Smith Studios

Help support our NEW album, CAUTIONARY TALES, on Kickstarter!
http://charmingdisaster.com/kickstarter

Murderer

Charming Disaster is a musical duo based in Brooklyn, NY, formed in 2012 by Ellia Bisker and Jeff Morris. Inspired by the gothic humor of Edward Gorey and Tim Burton, the noir storytelling of Raymond Chandler, the murder ballads of the Americana tradition, and the dramatic flair of the cabaret, they write songs that tell stories about love, death, crime, ancient mythology, and the paranormal.

CharmingDisaster

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