Dwight Evan Young - The Music of Erich Zann Lyrics

Across a darkened river where
A haze of smoke shuts out the sun
Atop the steep and cobble-patched street
Nearby a lofty ivied wall

In my sparse, fifth-story room
From the peaked garret overhead
Music of an old, mute, viol-player
Meets the air...
And I hear

Strange noises in the hallway
I don't know if I'm awake

One night in the hall I called his name
The old maestro took me in
He played me music but it's not the same
Why won't he play it?
Why won't he play it?

And he jumped out of his chair
When I approached the curtained windowpane
Under a strain we depart
But concern still remains
When I hear

Strange sounds when I am dreaming
In my mind there's no escape
Strange noises through the ceiling
Waiting for the world to break

How does he make ethereal music
Such as the likes I'd never known?
The dread of a vague wonder and mystery
Suggested nothing on this globe
I've looked for the answers
I've looked for the street
But none of the maps that I found are complete
And what can he see just beyond the window?
What does he hear when he's alone?

The old man grew distant by the day
And as the warmth began to fade
I secretly listened outside in the hall
My ear to the door, I heard it all

Then swelled a pandemonic sound
A shriek at its peak, and a crash to the ground
I called at his door and the recluse appeared
But his face showed he feared the

Strange sounds, awoke by dreaming
Terrified, what will they take?
Strange noises filled the evening
Waiting for the world to break

For an hour he wrote of the secrets he'd known
But he stopped with a shock when he heard a low drone
Distant as if from a house past the wall
That which could be seen from his window alone

The shutters then shook as the wind reached its height
He jumped to his feet and his bow rends the night
With the wildest playing I'd ever recall
What a horror to learn that his muse was his fright!

A gale broke the window, the transcript was lost
From that lone garret vantage I finally saw
Black space in motion and music, alive!
Then I witnessed his playing, with cold lifeless eyes

When I fled from the house the moon lit the night
No breeze in the sky, and the city was bright
The dreadful abyss and its secretes were gone
Along with the music of Erich Zann

How does he make ethereal music
Such as the likes I'd never known?
The dread of a vague wonder and mystery
Suggested nothing on this globe
I've looked for the answers
I've looked for the street
But in the dark of the night it repeats
Strange noises in the hallway
I don't know if I'm awake