Death Revenge Lyrics

(In which the final grim realization is reached)

“The mob, which was immense... received with shouts the solitary wretch who found his way to the gallows out of the five or six who seem not less guilty than he.” - Sir Walter Scott, 28t​ h​ of January 1829

“...The town of Edinburgh was filled with an immense crowd of spectators, from all places of the surrounding country, to witness the execution of a Monster, whose crime stands unparalleled in the annals of Scotland.” - Edinburgh Broadsheet 1829

“Every effort [had been] employed to convert my misfortune into positive and intended personal guilt of the most dreadful character...” - Dr. Robert Knox 1829

“The sickly and the hale
Were murder'd, pack'd up, and sent off
To Knox's human sale
That man of skill, with subjects warm
Was frequently supplied
Nor did he question when or how
The persons brought had died!” - Edinburgh children's verse circa 1829

“That his class received him, in consequence of these horrid disclosures, with three cheers... that savage yell within those blood-stained walls is no more, to the voice of the public, than so much squeaking and grunting in a pig-sty during a storm of thunder.... and instead of serving to convince anyone... of their lecturer's innocence, it has had... the very opposite effect – exhibiting a ruffian recklessness of general opinion and feeling on a most appalling subject.” - Christopher North ​Blackwood,​ 1829

Dr. Knox: ​A “noxious” butcher, a name they will rue When their carcasses yield postmortem truths Although Burke and Hare, have their usefulness proved From their sordid acts, I stand far removed
But now from the grave's final jape

I shan't emerge wholly unscathed From this calumny there's no escape
A lifetime of work that may all go to waste A gentleman born, now stained by disgrace Once a surgeon, now a ghoul in his place

Dr. Knox: ​Death and life forever intertwined
And within their vulgar minds
The penny dreadful they seek they will find, they'll have their death revenge I plied my trade bound to the grave
Now they've labeled me depraved
My name and my work bear their stain, this is their death revenge

Hare: ​Burke alone stands judged for both our transgressions
The hangman awaits him, then postmortem dissection
Yet all that peers back from the looking glass
Are the ghosts of my past, screaming to their last

Hare: ​And now my grave, final jape
Is writ large on Burke's cadaverous face
From the noose he shall have no escape
Why let both of our lives go to waste?
In my confession the blame lay misplaced
Once a man, soon a corpse in his place

Hare: ​Forfeit his life to extend mine
Thus ends our partnership in crime
Lady justice though said to be blind, still takes her​ ​death revenge

Burke: ​I earned my living from the grave
And committed acts depraved
Life ends unsaved and betrayed, the price paid: Death Revenge

Solo – Matthew Harvey

Solo – Michael Burke

Dr. Knox / Hare: ​Death and life forever intertwined
And within the morbid mind
There's only darkness left to find, the final​ ​death revenge
We lived our lives within the grave
And in turn became depraved
And now naught remains to be saved, the final​ ​death revenge