the journal

The Hearse Song is one of the first songs I ever learned, albeit in a shortened version" The worms crawl in, The worms crawl out. The worms play pinochle on your snout. You spread it on  a piece of bread, And that's what you eat when you are dead. Now a keen eye will instantly recognize that there's something missing. What the hell are you eating on a piece of bread? I learned The Hearse … [Read more...] about Interlude: The Hearse Song, a.k.a. The Worms Crawl In The Worms Crawl Out

Poe's Deep in Earth is a curious couplet. It was found pencilled in on a copy of the manuscript to Eulalie, which speaks of the joy of his marriage. Perhaps that scribbling is Poe thinking out loud, taking a note to remind himself of a couplet which he might use later. Perhaps he was adding a postscript to Eulalie, what happens after the ending. His wife had died earlier that year and Poe … [Read more...] about Edgar Allan Poe’s Deep In Earth: And I must weep alone

Poe's Spirits of the Dead is a walk through the graveyard, a treatise on death by one in mourning. The spirits of the dead live on in Poe's poem, and surround you as you walk the alleys of tombstones. The feeling of loneliness one gets as you wander the graves, Poe reasons is without merit, for the dead all around you. The time for spirits of the dead to walk again is the night, but night … [Read more...] about Edgar Allan Poe’s Spirits of the Dead: Thy soul shall find itself alone, ’Mid dark thoughts of the gray tombstone …

Poe's A City In The Sea is an apocalyptic vision, a conspiracy of evil set to rise up and usher in Hell on Earth. The city in question lies unnamed and without location, somewhere in the west. It's a peaceful city, not unlike the Atlantis legend, but it would be more apt to describe a progressive Sodom and Gomorrah. Poe describes towers, shrines, turrets, domes and spires, yet the light of … [Read more...] about Edgar Allan Poe’s A City In The Sea: Hell, rising from a thousand thrones, Shall do it reverence.

Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven represented the pinnacle of the author's success. Though most of his fame was brought on by his macabre tales and stories, Poe's The Raven took off and brought him national, as well as world-wide acclaim. Unfortunately it didn't bring him much in the way of income, when he desperately needed as he tried to make a life in New York City, accompanied by his wife ill … [Read more...] about Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven: Get thee back into the tempest and the Night’s Plutonian shore!

We’ve played with video for a while, and all along we hoped to make Poe videos for each of the songs on The Conqueror Worm. Since most people find our music typically find it through YouTube, and YouTube is a video platform, why not make the most of it? The original guidelines for the Poe videos were simple, shoot it on a phone or iPad, and use iMovie to edit. I wanted these videos to be … [Read more...] about On the Poe videos that accompany The Conqueror Worm, The Poetry of Edgar Allan Poe