Happy Birthday (Crooked Lullaby)

Intro

(mm-mm) organ creaks, a single bell goes dong (dong)

(ahhh) la-a-la, la-a-la, la-a-la (heh)

Verse

Candles gutter in a crooked row, wax like slow teeth

Stained glass stutters light in pieces on the wreath

Pew boards whisper when you pass—no, not whisper, they sigh (mm)

The choir's on the wrong key, and we all try to lie

We tuck your name in hymn paper, fold it twice, fold it thin

Dust counts the years like confetti on the linoleum (ha)

The altar's got a crack that hums the old refrain

We hum too flat, we hum too high, we hum it all again

Pre-chorus

We lift the melody like a moth that's lost its map (lost it)

We tug at strings that won't obey, they snap—then snap (snap)

Chorus

Happy birthday to you (happy, happy) mm-mm

Happy birthday to you (to you, to you) oh-oh

Happy birthday, we sing it wrong and we grin (ha)

Happy birthday, blow the candle, let the corners in (blow, blow)

Verse

Candles cough and sputter dreams into the aisle (ah)

A pew-sitter claps slow, but it's out of style

We pass a plate of paper crowns, bent at the seams

A hymnbook missing half its notes, full of seams

Your name is a little thrift-store ribbon, frayed and thin

We tie it to the choir rail, we tie it in again (tie it)

The rafters hum back syllables that shouldn't rhyme

We wobble on the last line, linger on the time

Pre-chorus

A bell goes low, a bell goes lower still (dong)

We mend the melody with breath and with a will (breathe)

Chorus

Happy birthday to you (happy, happy) la-la

Happy birthday to you (to you) oo-oo

Happy birthday, crooked like a lullaby gone wrong (oh)

Happy birthday, stay and sing it loud, stay long (stay, stay)

Bridge

(heh) clap the hymn, clap it slow, clap it off the beat

(da-da-da) let the choir stumble, let the rafters keep the heat

We count the years in candle drips and paper crowns we fold (fold)

We stitch a patch of sunlight onto pews that used to hold

Chorus

Happy birthday to you (happy, happy) mm-mm

Happy birthday to you (to you, to you) oh-oh

Happy birthday, sing it crooked, sing it small (sing it)

Happy birthday, in this hollow house we call (call)

Happy birthday to you (happy, happy) mm-mm

Happy birthday to you (to you, to you) oh-oh

Happy birthday, let the bell bend every line (bend)

Happy birthday, keep the candle til it’s fine (blow, blow)

Outro

(la-a-la...) organ hums, the bell goes one more time (dong)

(mm...) la-a-la, fade into the rafters, fade into the rhyme