Monday marks the birthday of O.G. Edgar Allan Poe — original goth (one of them, anyway). Poe’s morose poems and gloomy short tales populate the annals of gothic literature. The master of the macabre’s life wasn’t exactly cheery, either. Drugs, booze, depression, and family tragedy plagued Poe during his day — but in death we celebrate him with a guessing game only a real goth could appreciate. Inspired by the dank darkness of Poe’s danky doom, we present you with: Edgar Allan Poe or Goth Song Lyrics? Look deep into the abyss for the answers (or simply highlight or double-click them to view).
Tend the horses Let them crawl Put them in their cages Open your eyes And despite what’s deep Longevity
Goth: Fields of the Nephilim, “Moonchild” (Highlight or double-click to view)
Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing, Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before But the silence was unbroken, and the darkness gave no token
Poe: “The Raven” (Highlight or double-click to view)
And in her fear She sought cracked pleasures The passion of lovers is for death said she Licked her lips And turned to feather
Goth: Bauhaus, “Passion of Lovers” (Highlight or double-click to view)
I hear you calling Marian Across the water, across the wave
Goth: Sisters of Mercy, “Marian” (Highlight or double-click to view)
Beneath the pressure of torments such as these The feeble remnant of the good within me succumbed Evil thoughts became my sole intimates The darkest and most evil of thoughts
Poe: “The Black Cat” (Highlight or double-click to view)
In her sepulcher there by the sea In her tomb by the sounding sea.
Poe: “Annabel Lee” (Highlight or double-click to view)
Pleasure is bleeding to smoother the words The four walls drain me dry of all imagination Crying out to be told to stand still
Goth: Christian Death, “Cavity – First Communion” (Highlight or double-click to view)
The skies they were ashen and sober The leaves they were crisped and sere The leaves they were withering and sere It was night in the lonesome October Of my most immemorial year
Poe: “Ulalume” (Highlight or double-click to view)
From the cradle bars Comes a beckoning voice It sends you spinning You have no choice
Goth: Siouxsie and the Banshees, “Spellbound” (Highlight or double-click to view)
There’s locusts in (hidden) there She’s got the old fool gold
Goth: Cocteau Twins, “In the Gold Dust Rush” (Highlight or double-click to view)
Death has reared himself a throne In a strange city lying alone
Poe: “The City in the Sea” (Highlight or double-click to view)
And burn me with your mouth I’m fantasy for the war with kings For I have found my terrible beauty This golden law has a silver smile
Goth: Sex Gang Children, “Barbarossa” (Highlight or double-click to view)
And all my days are trances And all my nightly dreams Are where thy grey eye glances And where thy footstep gleams In what ethereal dances By what eternal streams
Poe: “Berenice” (Highlight or double-click to view)
Am I all alone A vision of mine is becoming clear It’s all so new it can’t be true Sometimes the words appear in my head
Goth: The Damned, “Is It a Dream?” (Highlight or double-click to view)
A mortal melody While a bolder note than this might swell From my lyre within the sky
Poe: “Israfel” (Highlight or double-click to view)
An anthem for the queenliest dead that ever died so young A dirge for her the doubly dead in that she died so young
Poe: “Lenore” (Highlight or double-click to view)
My eyes is all grey And I haven’t slept in days Locked up in your dungeon Running around in your maze
Goth: Alien Sex Fiend, “Now I’m Feeling Zombified” (Highlight or double-click to view)
A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt As such to him who has done the wrong
Poe: “The Cask of Amontillado” (Highlight or double-click to view)
Else there is no immortality for man Arousing from the most profound of slumbers We break the gossamer web of some dream
Poe: “The Pit and the Pendulum” (Highlight or double-click to view)
I hear her voice Calling my name The sound is deep In the dark I hear her voice And start to run Into the trees
Goth: The Cure, “A Forest” (Highlight or double-click to view)