Richard Franklin Morse: Music & Lyrics

• MP3 play whole song, lo-fi (modem)

The first 2 lines to this song came to me while I was driving and musing about the human condition, as I am wont to do. I had also always wanted to say something in a song about how all these movie stars seem to want to show me their buttocks – I mean, I’ve seen Harvey Keitel’s naked posterior twice, and I wish I’d never seen it at all, I’m scarred for life now. As the song continued to write itself against my will I thought, ‘this is amusing but has no commercial potential, why am I wasting energy on it?’ The song, however, refused to go away, and, it seemed, there were a few people in the world besides myself who found my odd song about a man and his skeleton charming. Still, I could never seem to come up with a way to sing it, until I finally tried the cartoon voice you hear on the finished version. I never knew my skeleton had a fake English accent – actually, the voice is a cross between AC/DC’s song ‘Big Balls’ and the Cryptkeeper from the old ‘Tales from the Crypt’ TV show.

Skull Beneath The Skin

Whenever I encounter someone passing on the street
I show to them a mask I wear, a mask made out of meat
I part my lips in friendliness and flash my shining teeth
Providing them a fleeting glimpse of He that lurks beneath

The Skull Beneath The Skin
He’s a spooky guy with a toothy grin
Take a deeper look within
See the gleaming teeth of the Skull Beneath The Skin

Celebrities are very pleased to bare their butts for you
We’ve all seen Arnold Schwarzenegger’s, Cher has shared hers too
But when I find a doctor who will operate on me
I’m going to show my skeleton for everyone to see

The Skull Beneath The Skin
I’d be so far out I’d be really in
With my exoskeleton
And the gleaming teeth of the Skull Beneath The Skin

I’d cut a dashing figure in my shining suit of bones
Coordinated elegance in subtle ivory tones
The chicks would really dig me, such a face you don’t forget
I’d be the reigning hero of the heavy metal set

With my Skull Beneath The Skin
The spooky guy with a toothy grin
Take a deeper look within
See the gleaming teeth of the Skull Beneath

The Skull Beneath The Skin
I’d be so far out I’d be really in
With my exoskeleton
And the gleaming teeth of the Skull Beneath The Skin
(It’s just a bare bones idea but I’ll flesh it out later)