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Either Or


Two choices were made on two birthdays
One chose the rope,
the other chose the blade
Wickedness was full frontally displayed,
lying vanity's rear end led the parade
Kill, kill again
the marching band played
Pharaoh and Herod,
the only two names in the Holy Bible
said to have a birthday
They gave a feast and gathered all their friends,
got drunk on power
and wanted to taste blood
Pharaoh had a man imprisoned for three days in a cell,
he was scared as hell
after Joseph told him it wasn't gonna end well
He told the chief baker that he was gonna get hung ...
on the king of Egypt's birthday
Three days later, he got summoned
by Pharaoh, who then gave him the rope
And thus, his body swung
just as Joseph foretold
A prophet's song will always be sung
Herod gave a feast on his birthday also, and invited his friends too
He loved getting drunk on power,
and he liked tasting blood as well
He'd been wanting to kill John the Baptist,
whom he had locked up in a dungeon cell
John had told him and his brother's wife
things they didn't want to hear
They had a choice to make:
shut John's mouth or cover their ears
Herodias told her daughter to do
a nasty, dirty dance at the feast
Get her step daddy worked up
and he would make a vow to her publicly
Herod would give her anything she asked
while in the throes of throbbing desire
Herodias told her to ask for John the Baptist's head,
Herod won't go back on the vow he just said
He had to show all of his men gathered
that he was a man of his word
And if cutting off someone's head was what it took,
then he was a man who had the steely nerve
Herod was not afraid to make his sins grow larger,
so he granted a wicked birthday wish,
and brought John the Baptist's head on a silver charger
Herod and Pharaoh
were two bloody birthday men
Who when given a choice,
either or,
life or death ...
their birthday decision was made
One chose the rope,
the other chose the blade
Judgment now awaits them,
as they rest together in their rotting grave

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