And, for those who are curious, the creepiest lyrics ever set to a waltz lie below. The tune goes through several different "moods", as many songs this long do (Stairway to Heaven, Bohemian Rhapsody, etc.), so I've noted the tune changes in the music. Because of this mood change, the meter of the rhymes changes several times throughout, for anyone who's reading it aloud.


It was late one fall night, at a fairground near town,
When Esther first saw the Armenian man
who grovelled toward her and stood by her side,
with a bucket that swung in his hand.

His grin stretched the folds of his pasty white cheeks
as his lips hurled a dollop of murk on the curb,
and the lights from the rides showed a mischievous sparkle
that flashed in his hollow-eyed stare.

He said, "Little girl, you can chop off my legs
and then peel off my socks, if you want to
.
But I'd rather you take this old poppet from me
that I hold in my pail as we speak."

And he stood looking down at the innocent girl,
and she stared at the bucket bewildered--
'Til he lifted the doll for the young girl to see,
and a giant smile grew on his face.

She saw the doll's eyes, and she couldn't resist!
And she thanked the man quickly, and ran to the church,
And she burst through the doorway with poppet held high
And a hush filled the chapel, and the people looked mean.

.--==^==--.
here the song goes into 4/4 time, and the tone changes from a carousel waltz to a warm melodic ballad.
'--++_++--'

Esther tried in vain to pacify the mob
Quibble grew to spat, to wrangle, then to brawl.
The frenzied congregation struggled desperately to fetch
the pretty poppet snugly nestled deep in Esther's leather sack.

Through the window of the church a storm began to rage
and Esther knew the time had come to flee.
She scurried down the aisle toward the doorway in the distance
and out into the rainstorm, where she felt she would be free...

But the wind was blowing harder,
and her skirt began to billow
and suddenly her feet began to lift!

And she rose above the people,
and the houses, and the chimneys,
and Esther and her doll were set adrift!

Floating higher over the hills,
and the valleys, and treetops, they'd flutter and glide.
Soaring, turning, suspended on air,
with the earth far below them, they'd timble and dive

through the clouds....

.--==^==--.
after a long piano solo to establish their "flight", the key changes to a dark, minor stalking rhythm
'--++_++--'

And she began to tumble earthward
till she landed in the nasty part of town.


She glanced about the village
sure to find the evil men who rob and pillage
in the darkest hour of night;
Nervously she fumbled
for the pouch that held
the poppet on her rump.

Feeling quite outnumbered, Esther hid
behind a nearby pile of lumber, where she waited
for the dawn, 'cause it would have been a blunder
to succumb to a hoodlum on the prowl.

.--==^==--.
back to the soft ballad tune for a "sunrise"
'--++_++--'

When the morning came, she wandered through the streets
along the chilly lake that lay beside the town.
"At last, a peaceful moment!" But she thought she heard a sound:
it was an angry mob of joggers coming up to knock her down.

As Esther stood and shook her head,
the joggers were approaching
and she knew she had no choice left but to swim.

As the frosty water sank its bitter teeth
into her hide, she tried to slide
the heavy clothing from her skin.

Naked now, she made her way toward the shore
When suddenly she felt a tiny tugging at her toe:
the poppet she'd forgotten wrapped its tiny little
arms around her ankle--and it wouldn't let her go.

The waves seemed to open, and swallow her whole,
as the doll pulled her down through the eerie green deep.
Then the sound of the laughing old man filled her ears,
as she drifted away to a tranquil and motionless sleep.