[Part I]
[Verse: Cecily Cardew]
Look, now I am lone, still intact!
From ensemble came solo act
Edit her out
Won't block my view, at least, anyway
Thus, rabbits learn first to flee
I've disappointed you with what I've been
Pour out new ink
Transfuse the blood into my alibi
[Pre-Chorus: Cecily Cardew]
Though a song can hurt you, can it spare your heart?
Keep writing, never stop
Destruction of the shell
Tear down
This visage they believe that is mine
You're about to get a note from me:
[Chorus: Cecily Cardew]
Kill your darlings, until I sever every connection that I have
Kill your darlings, burn away every bridge and lock myself away
Kill your darlings, write a song to shut up my ceaseless asking heart
Kill your darlings, until my life is my art
Kill your darlings, light a fire in your studio, that's your deadline
Kill your darlings, break the keys writing, you're running out of time
Kill your darlings, so my life can buy this oxygen it wastes
Kill your darlings, and kill off those you hold dear
Shoot to kill
[Instrumental bridge]
[Part II]
[Verse: Cecily Cardew]
I'm often scared that I'm too narcissistic
To actually realize I'm harming other people
I suck at poetry
These songs have no rhyme or reason
I don't know why I made them
You said I want you to be clingy and codependent
Please be my arms, I'll hold you!
Please keep the things I gave you!
Please keep them for life!
Deathly scared of lonely futures
I hope they call the number on your tag...
[Refrain: Cecily Cardew]
Hey kitty, won't you come around
I'll run out the door when I hear your bell ring
Hey kitty, won't you play that sound
I felt so safe when I heard you sing
Hey kitty, won't you come around
I'll run out the door when I hear your bell ring
Hey kitty, won't you play that sound
I felt so safe when I heard you sing
[Part III]
[Refrain: Cecily Cardew]
I saw you in a dream, We'll do it together
I'll follow till the end, We'll do it together
You know you're my best friend, We'll do it together
And you always know the rest, We'll do it together
[Build: Cecily Cardew]
Hello to future yous and mes
I wonder if you've read it all?!
I heard they picked up the movie rights
A classic Cardew fuckup
And now I've got what I had sought
This is entirely what I wrought
'Cept this ticking bomb inside my heart
So vilify and sanctify!
I had a dream about you
I knew that it was never true
But I tried, and I tried, and I tried, oh, I tried!
Don't pet my ears then say you have nothing to do with what I have
Because I made you, darling, famous!
So won't you give this all a try?
[Climax: Cecily Cardew]
First strike
Last strike
This quiet hotel in stride
I am an animal seeking fear
A bunny's secret tears
"Sights on the faggots and don't be shy
Season for this theriocide"
You better be ready to take the fall
This story's gonna kill us all!
I think I'm the hero from those dreams
Who seized victory by any means
So burn me up! Swallow me! I'll be a martyr
Every girl around here calls me mother
If I were happy, I wouldn't trust me
You're the only person that I wanted to like me
I might be too derivative
I'm a pianist, not a poet
I'm sorry
[Part IV]
[Chorus: Cecily Cardew]
Kill your darlings, even if you have to lose all of your friends
Kill your darlings, there is nothing but the art left in the end
Kill your darlings, and I'm not sure if I can make it on my own
Kill your darlings, will you hold me, I'm alone
Kill your darlings, everything that I wanted came true vividly
Killed my darling, but I always imagined you'd be next to me
I take my manuscript
I tear it in half
It's no use!
I've become the beast I always feared!
Shoot to kill!
[Instrumental outro]
[Skit: Cecily Cardew]
I'm sure you've realized this by now: this is not a record about real people. This is a record about fictional characters, who are coincidentally a cat and a bunny, with all these recurring motifs borrowed from the public personae that you have all become parasocially attached to. But there's a little bit of everyone in every piece of art. There are eight thousand one-in-a-million people. This isn't real, but pieces of it might be. You might even recognize them from your own life, memories that you'd rather forget. As I write this, as I record it, I keep recognizing little pieces. But I promise it's not real
