[From the album: Tragically Ever After]

Also released on:

Beyond Our Eyes

...As the Curtain Falls...

Songs of the Vampire (version 2)

Put simply, the song is from the perspective of a naive but devoted religious person who has rather mundane and human temptations in life yet compares his misdeeds to be equivalant to the evil of a violent criminal. The man sees pretty young women (whom he views to be "harlots" - or prostitutes) looking at him and blames himself for "having evil on his mind". He is frightened of the night time, and more over - full moons, thinking he will succumb to the wickedness that his religion tells him is inside him. He lives in fear, clutching his crucifix, believing the relatively normal thoughts he has will doom him to an after life of hell.

[Notes:]

• This is the oldest song still performed by the band. It was written when Zadoc was seventeen years old, and was recorded on a very rough demo cassette containing over 30 songs he had written for the band while living in Florida.
• Written in 1991, it was also written during a period of time when Zadoc's family was living without electricity. It was recorded on a battery powered Fostex 4-track recorder using a track for an acoustic guitar, another for an electric guitar - plugged into the 4-track's guitar input, and a cheap microphone for the vocals
• Zadoc still has a copy of the original 1991 recording and the handwritten lyrics.
• Of the 30 or so songs Zadoc recorded for the band prior to its formation in 1992, this song garnered the most positive response, yet it wouldn't be actively used until around 1995. This was mainly in part due to the early drummers having problems following it. In 1995 the band began using drum machines.
• The original 1991 demo sped the choruses up and did not have a guitar solo at the end. The versions from 1995-1997 sped the first chorus up, but the guitar solo wasn't yet added until 2001 when the band went back to having live drummers.
• The term "harlot" as used in the song has a double meaning when taken into context of it's original definition. Although in contemporary usage it is interchangable with the word prostitute, it was originally meant to mean a person who engages in "religious prostitution" - or a person who has sexual relations (with a person other than their spouse) for a religious or sacred purpose.
• The usage of the term "harlot" in the lyrics was also inspired by Iron Maiden's "Charlotte the Harlot" about a London prostitute.
• This song was jokingly covered by their good friends Pagan Holiday in 1997 during a soundcheck. The band "got back" at their Pagan friends by covering one of their songs at a future show's soundcheck.
• Dee Thorpe recorded a guitar solo for the version found on "Tragically Ever After" although it wasn't used in the final mix.
• Zadoc personally despises the techno based arrangement that Dan Gober coaxed Zadoc into writing in 1998. It appears in a similar fashion on 2000's "Beyond Our Eyes" album.
• The piano outro (featured in the versions from 1995 through 2000) was meant to sound reminiscent of the closing theme of the 1970's television show "The Incredible Hulk" (this piece from the show is called "The Lonely Man"). Recording engineer Dave Huyck recognized this influence when the band recorded this song in 1996 for "...As the Curtain Falls..."
• Zadoc's wife Courtney, thinks that this song should be submitted for inclusion as a bonus song in the "Guitar Hero" video game series, which Zadoc is an avid fan of.
• It's been discussed that this song may be rerecorded again for the band's next forthcoming album.