[Verse 1]
It's a sin to tell a lie until we trick out the truth
That depends on what you do and don't believe
What you have hidden up your sleeve
Younger than your shadow and as sweet as your tooth
What have you forbidden from my view?
What have you kept from me?
What have I held from you?

What will they say when they haul you away?
Will anyone miss you, or kiss you, to say
"Goodbye" (Goodbye)
With a tear or a coin for your eye
When they finally trick out the truth

[Verse 2]
There are witches in the air, jack o' lanterns on the stairs
And a wig to turn your hair electric blue
Ghouls are sighted, children frighted, superheroes and villains
Wondrous women by the millions who fade to the parade
And join the masquerade

Right outside your door, a werewolf and his claw
Painted faces with a penny chew and Kensington gore
Mussolini and his mistress in defeat
And a witness with a cutlass arrange a winding sheet
Singing "Leaning on a Lamppost on the Corner of the Street"
[Bridge]
The Marxists cheer a working girl
Groucho, Chico, Harpo and Karl
She's tattooed from her head to toe
She's inky like a girl I know
A contagion of invidia
Just like the famous Lydia
Just like Helen, late of Troy
The Myna Bird, the Myrna Loy

[Verse 3]
Bud and Lou were wrestling in the parlour
Playing cards with Gustav Mahler
We were calling every hand and every hold
To a silent movie pianist accompanying the action
From our description and distraction
Playing vamps and trills and rambles, sound effects and rags and rumbles
Without even breaking stride
Just as the bloody vampire nips his bride

We were so scared that we knelt down to pray
With a bishop by Bacon who caused some dismay
Who summons up tormented souls
Doused with feathers and molasses
And the ashes of unholy crosses
[Verse 4]
Somebody has to die before we trick out the truth
I'll be coming back and I will turn the screw
Longer than the shadow of some pulp fiction sleuth
Standing in a costume of your choice
Lady Godiva on a horse and Godzilla, of course

For should we part at the end of the day
When angels attend you to whisk you away
We are falling down deep like children into sleep
And the candy has been counted
And the bonfire will be haunted
By orphans who are heard but never seen
Each and every Halloween

[Verse 5]
What will they say when they haul you away?
Will anyone miss you, or kiss you
To say "Goodbye" (Goodbye)
With a tear or a coin for your eye
When they finally trick out the truth
When they finally trick out the truth