Darkside Masquerade — Masked adult revelers enter a brilliantly lit Saturday-night penny arcade as moths, flowers and city reflections fill the Merced night

The songbook

Darkside Masquerade

Words by Douglas Heyes Jr. Listen to the recorded versions and follow the lyric below.

Original Doug Heyes lyrics · AI-generated music & vocals

A downtown Saturday night reveals a world of performance, secrecy and precarious survival. The narrator moves between arcade lights, legal trouble, street music and work at a dive, repeatedly torn between leaving and staying. The masquerade names both the nightlife's attraction and the hidden costs of trying to live inside it.

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Recorded versions

3 recordings. Different voices and arrangements bring another side of the song into the light.

Lyrics

Darkside Masquerade

Words by Douglas Heyes Jr

Save Lyrics as Text
DARKSIDE MASQUERADE

Darkside Masquerade
The Other Side of Town and I just got paid
Another Saturday Night, gonna make the grade
Up into the lights at the Penny Arcade
Darkside Masquerade
You can hear ‘em holler when they're drownin’ underwater
It's a flipside Hit Parade
Hot under the collar, you can bet your bottom dollar

She’s 17 with a fake ID
You're gonna do some time in the penitentiary
Man, your only crime is being 23
And you ain't gettin’ out till you're older than me
You had to go out there and take a chance
Baby, are you lookin’ for a true romance?
Set me on fire at the Summertime Dance
I could be a liar just to get into your pants

Darkside Masquerade
Livin’ in the shadows is the price I paid
Nobody knows anything about my way
So, you better hitch a ride on the Long Highway
Man, I gotta go, but I really want to stay
I really don't know what is standin’ in my way
It's just another Show to try to make it through the Day
In this Darkside Masquerade

People of the Night in the cool street light
Bustin’ out a Rhyme just to be all right
Puttin’ up a fight just to stay alive
Workin’ for a livin’ at a Downtown Dive
Kids are on the Corner in a Street Rap mode
Girls are warmin’ up for the Midnight Show
Be sure to let me know if there's another way to go
I might say goodbye, but I'm sayin’ Hello

OUTRO:
Darkside Masquerade
Baby, gotta go, but I really wanna stay….
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