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stephin merritt – coraline tracklist & synopsis lyrics

official synopsis by david greenspan.

coraline tells the story of a young girl who, looking for excitement and thing to explore, ventures through a mysterious door into a world that is similar, yet disturbingly different from her own. though initially enchanted by her new surroundings, coraline realizes this new world is a parody of the real world, an elaborate trap from which she must escape

as the play begins, coraline and her mother and father have just moved into an old house in a new neighborhood during the last days of summer, shortly before the start of the school year.-

1. overture

coraline explores the house and ground, finding a deep well covered with wooden planks. she also encounters a large black cat who refuses to let her near him, and some neighbors, miss spink, miss forcible, and mr. bobo

2. a new house – coraline, cat

3. i am miss spink (and i am miss forcible) – miss spink, miss forcible

4. a mouse circus – mr. bobo, coraline, ensemble

5. mum and dad – coraline, father, mother

it turns out the big carved door once connected coraline’s flat to another part of the house. coraline’s mother unlocks the door with a big, black, rusty, old key, shows coraline that the p-ssage is bricked up–and as such, doesn’t bother to lock the door. coraline lies in bed think about the door. the cat appears somewhere outside

6. at the other end – cat, coraline

the rain stops, coraline hears a skittering sound in the hallway. she follows the sound to the drawing room, finds the big door cracked open, remembers that her mother had closed the door. she returns to bed, dreams of rats with red eyes and sharp yellow teeth

7. song of the rats – pt. 1 – rats

the next day coraline visits miss spink and miss forcible. the ladies are engaged in an ongoing argument about whether or not to return to the stage

8. when we were young and trod the boards – miss forcible, miss spink

the ladies read coraline’s tea leaves, determine she is in grave danger and give her a little stone with a hole in it, informing her that is ‘good for bad things sometimes.’
soon after, coraline finds herself home alone having had a dispiriting experience shopping clothes with her mother. coraline’s mother refuses to purchase anything for coraline besides ordinary grey clothing

9. fluorescent green gloves – coraline

ever inquisitive, coraline fetches the black key and opens the door. the doorway is no longer bricked up. coraline ventures through the doorway. when she emerges, she finds herself in a flat almost identical to her own flat. she is greeted by a cheerful woman who announces herself to coraline as her other mother. oddly, the other mother has b-ttons for eyes. she welcomes coraline, and along with coraline’s other father (who likewise has black b-ttons for eyes), offers up a tasty lunch. the food prepared by the other mother is much more to coraline’s liking than the food prepared by her true parents

10. welcome home – other mother, other father

in her other bedroom, coraline is greeted first by her other toys, then by the rats and finally by the other mr. bobo. the other mr. bobo also has black b-tton eyes

11. a lot of noise – other toys

12. song of the rats – pt. 2 – rats

outside of the house, coraline meets the cat. as he now speaks, he -ssures her he is not the other cat–or for that matter the other anything–he is just himself. he refuses to discuss how he was able to get into the other world. thus, coraline goes to visit the other miss spink and other miss forcible. their flat is a theatre packed with an audience of dogs. the ladies appear (with black b-tton eyes) and after tossing out lines of mangled shakespeare, step out of their old bodies–and as beautiful young women perform their act

13. theatre is fun – other miss spink, other miss forcible

the ladies continue to perform what becomes an increasingly inscrutable and irritating routine. coraline returns to her other parents. they are delighted to learn that she finds their world more interesting than her world at home; and offer to let her remain if she will allow them to sew black b-ttons over her eyes

14. stay with us – other mother, other father, rats

despite the objections and disappointment of her other mother, coraline returns home through the p-ssage, locking the door behind her she finds her parents are missing

frightened and alone, coraline discovers with the help of the again unspeaking cat, that her parents are now in the clutches of her other mother. she determines to return to the other world to rescue them

15. the ballad of the wasps – coraline

coraline unlocks the door. she and the cat cross over to the other world. once there, the cat begins to speak again–but quickly runs off. coraline accuses the other mother of having taken her parents; but the other mother demonstrates, via the mirror, that they much prefer life without her

16. oh, what a lovely trip! – father, mother, coraline

after harsh words with her other mother, coraline finds the cat outside. he advises her to get some rest and to consider challenging the other mother to a game. as coraline prepares for sleep in her other bedroom, the other mother is discovered singing a lullaby

17. go to sleep – other mother

the next morning, exploring around the house, caroline meets the cat. he proves to coraline that the outside is just a part of the place the other mother hasn’t bothered to create
back inside, coraline defies her other mother by refusing to play the part of a loving daughter–and for her disobedience, the other mother locks coraline behind the mirror. she there meets three ghostly shapes

18. we were children once – children

these children warn coraline that the other mother’s intends to keep her in the other world and feed on her soul, just as she has fed on theirs. coraline refuses to give into her fears; and soon enough the other mother fetches coraline out of the mirror. this is observed by the cat who ponders his own strategy about -ssisting coraline

19. when you’re a cat – cat

20. song of the rats – pt. 3 – rats

back in the kitchen, the other mother prepares a lovely breakfast. it is then that coraline challenges the other mother to a game, specifically that if she is able to find her missing parents and the souls of the ghost children, the other mother must let them all go free. if she is unable to find them, she will agree to stay with the other mother and let her sew black b-ttons into her eyes. the other mother delightedly and hungrily accepts the challenge and promptly disappears from sight

with the aid of the little stone with a hole in it, coraline discovers the souls of the children one by one, finding each in the form of a grey marble. she finds the first child in her other bedroom

with each discovery, the unseen other mother grows angrier and angrier, summoning wind and bats to frustrate coraline’s search. but coraline persists

she encounters the other father, who is now a faceless monstrosity -ssigned to her destruction. coraline succeeds in pulling off his black b-tton eyes, and as he sinks into dust and dampness, he encourages coraline to continue her search

21. recollections – little boy, tall girl, winged girl

coraline enters the other mr. bobo’s flat to the sound of the rats. he attempts to persuade her to remain in the other world, that she will be given whatever she wants whenever she wants

22. whatever you want – other mr. bobo

coraline refuses, insisting that having whatever one wanted would be meaningless unless one could get it on their own. at that, the other mr. bobo dissolves in a spiral of fleeing rats–one of whom has the last marble. coraline despairs that she has lost the game, and failed herself, her parents and the children. but at that moment the cat appears with the dead rat and the last marble

23. song of the rats – pt. 4 – rats

24. the world goes flat – rats

coraline realizes where the other mother has imprisoned her parents. she distracts the other mother, grabs a snow globe (that contains her parents) and with the cat alongside her, runs into the p-ssage pursued by the other mother. she manages to get through the doorway, shut and lock the door–unaware that undoing so she has chopped off the other mother’s right hand

coraline is home

the ghost children appear one last time, now in possession of their souls. they thank coraline and warn her that the other mother is not yet beaten. a moment later, she sees the other mother’s right hand skittering across the floor

coraline learns that the hand is now attacking miss spink and miss forcible’s dogs and terrifying mr. bobo’s mice. she contrives a plan

25. i saw a show on telly once – coraline

coraline removes the wooden planks from the deep well, spreads a paper tablecloth over the hole and places on the cloth the black key. the other mother takes the bait, jumps on the cloth, grabs the key, tumbles into the well

26. falling… falling…

coraline has succeeded in saving herself, her parents and all those she has come to care for. she and the cat are now true friends. she shares an amicable moment with mr. bobo (who, when she finally calls him by name, correctly calls her coraline). and she returns the little stone with a hole in it to miss spink and miss forcible, -ssuring them that their dogs need no longer fear attack. as she lies in bed, preparing for the first day of her new school, coraline hears the music of tiny instruments played by tiny pink fingers

27. one long fairytale – mice, coraline

- stephin merritt lyrics

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