#ancientvampirescripture

1. Complete Lyrics

The Grand Sabbat

I am the Vampire Lestat You are here for the Grand Sabbat but I pity you your lot You can’t resist the Lords of the Night They have no mercy on your plight In your fear they take delight Yet in love, we will take you And in rapture, we’ll break you And in death we’ll release you No one can say You were not warned

Requiem for the Marquise

In my dreams, I hold her still, Angel, lover, Mother. And in my dreams, I kiss her lips, Mistress, Muse, Daughter. She gave me life I gave her death My beautiful Marquise. And on the Devil's Road we walked Two orphans then together. And does she hear my hymns tonight of Kings and Queens and Ancient truths? Of broken vows and sorrow? Or does she climb some distant path where rhyme and song can't find her? Come back to me, my Gabrielle My Beautiful Marquise. The castle's ruined on the hill The village lost beneath the snow But you are mine forever.

Those Who Must Be Kept

Akasha! Enkil! Keep your secrets Keep your silence It is a better gift than truth. Akasha, Enkil Hearken your children Akasha and Enkil, We are your children, but what do you give us? Is your silence A better gift than truth? Mother and Father. Keep your silence, Keep your secrets, But those of you with tongues, sing my song. Sons and daughters Children of darkness Raise your voices Make a chorus Let heaven hear us Come together, Brother and sisters, Come to me.

Age of Innocence

This is the Age of Innocence True Innocence. All your Demons are visible All your Demons are material Call them Pain Call them Hunger Call them War Mythic evil you don’t need anymore Drive out the vampires and the devils with the gods you no longer adore Remember: The Man with the Fangs wears a cloak. What passes for charm Is a charm Understand what you see When you see me! Kill us my brothers and sistersthe war is on Understand what you see When you see me

Additional Excerpts (Unattributed or Unnamed Songs) featured in the 1985 SF Concert

In The Vampire Lestat:

Excerpt (1)

Children of Darkness Meet the children of light Children of Man, Fight the children of Night

In The Queen of the Damned:

Excerpt (2)

Why don't you kill me! You know what I am Don't you know evil when you see it?

Excerpt (3)

Into the light We’ve come My Brothers and Sisters! Kill us! My Brothers and Sisters!

2. Methodology and useful information

I compiled the lyrics from the same song in the order that are mentioned in the books, since there is insufficient information to know the order in the actual song.

There are twelve music-videos and songs, the titles are the same and the themes also match, so if the lyrics of a music video are mentioned, I infer that they belong to the song of the same title

Of those twelve songs, only seven have their title mentioned in the books, and about some of them we don't get any further information.

The Vampire Companion is an official guide to the Vampire Chronicles, it was not written by Anne Rice, but with her oversight, approval and input. It was written by Katherine Ramsland.

Regarding the unidentified lyrics: educated guesses can be made, but I decided to quote the text and let the reader reach their own conclusions. I classified them under: “Additional Excerpts (unattributed or unnamed songs) from the 1985 SF Concert”.

3. Songs mentioned

"All twelve of them,' she said. "They've been playing them on a dozen channels. I caught them all over, actually. Finished it yesterday afternoon." - The Queen of the Damned, Proem

Was The Vampire Lestat stretching its electronic tentacles far enough to touch them? Had they seen the video films: The Legacy of Magnus, The Children of Darkness, Those Who Must Be Kept? – The Vampire Lestat, Dionysus in San Francisco: 1

They toast you with their vodka Bloody Marys. The Dance of les Innocents is pounding through the walls. " A real laughing fit was definitely coming. I tried to stop it. I shook my head. – The Vampire Lestat, Dionysus in San Francisco: 1

Right up to the final moments, when it was the ballad from the last clip, Age of Innocence – The Vampire Lestat, Dionysus in San Francisco: 2

They'd set the ghetto blaster radio on a tombstone and turn it way up, with the Vampire Lestat roaring. "The Grand Sabbat" song, that was the one that was good for dancing. – The Queen of the Damned, Part 1 The Road to the Vampire Lestat: 2. The Short Happy Life of Baby Jenks and the Fang Gang

He liked the Vampire Lestat singing "Requiem for the Marquise." He didn't pay attention to the words much. – The Queen of the Damned, Part 1 The Road to the Vampire Lestat: 5. Khayman, My Khayman

Entry in the Vampire companion:

Music Videos: Lestat records twelve songs that he releases on a rock album in 1985 and uses the finest available directors to make them into music videos (…) The titles of this videos are: The Legacy of Magnus, The Children of Darkness, The Grand Sabbat, Requiem for the Marquise (which is Khayman’s favourite), Age of Innocence, The Dance of Les Innocents, and Those Who Must Be Kept. Some of the songs are hymn-like and melancholic, others are excellent dance tunes.

4. Book references for the lyrics

The Grand Sabbat

I assigned these lyrics to the song “The Grand Sabbat” given the fact the title appears in the lyrics and it is not a very common phrase used in the book or by Lestat otherwise. Though, of course, other interpretations are plausible.

The drums boomed into a marching cadence, and the grinding locomotive sound of the synthesizer crested, then broke into a bubbling caldron of noise in time with the march. It was time to begin the chant in the minor key, its puerile lyrics leaping over the accompaniment: I AM THE VAMPIRE LESTAT YOU ARE HERE FOR THE GRAND SABBAT BUT I PITY YOU YOUR LOT I grabbed the microphone from the stand and ran to one side of the stage and then to the other, the cape flaring out behind me: YOU CAN'T RESIST THE LORDS OF NIGHT THEY HAVE NO MERCY ON YOUR PLIGHT IN YOUR FEAR THEY TAKE DELIGHT They were reaching out for my ankles, throwing kisses, girls lifted by their male companions to touch my cape as it swirled over their heads. YET IN LOVE, WE WILL TAKE YOU, AND IN RAPTURE, WE'LL BREAK YOU AND IN DEATH WE'LL RELEASE YOU NO ONE CAN SAY YOU WERE NOT WARNED. – The Vampire Lestat, Dionysus in San Francisco: 2

They'd set the ghetto blaster radio on a tombstone and turn it way up, with the Vampire Lestat roaring. "The Grand Sabbat" song, that was the one that was good for dancing. – The Queen of the Damned, Part 1 The Road to the Vampire Lestat: 2. The Short Happy Life of Baby Jenks and the Fang Gang

Unidentified Lyrics (1)

The next lyrics are sung after the first song is over, therefore it is a different one, but since there is no more information in the text is listed under: “Additional Excerpts (unattributed or unnamed Songs) from the 1985 SF Concert”.

And we were blowing out the fuses on the first song. And rolling into the next, as the crowd picked up the rhythm, shouting the lyrics they knew from the albums and the clips. Tough Cookie and I sang, stomping in time with it: CHILDREN OF DARKNESS MEET THE CHILDREN OF LIGHT CHILDREN OF MAN, FIGHT THE CHILDREN OF NIGHT – The Vampire Lestat, Dionysus in San Francisco: 2

Age of Innocence

“When it was the ballad from the last clip, Age of Innocence. And then the music softening. The drums rolling out, and the guitar dying, and the synthesizer throwing up the lovely translucent notes of an electric harpsichord, notes so light yet profuse that it was as if the air were showered with gold. One mellow spot hit the place where I stood, my clothes streaked with blood sweat, my hair wet with it and tangled, the cape dangling from one shoulder. Into a great yawning mouth of rapt and drunken attention I raised my voice slowly, letting each phrase become clear: This is the Age of Innocence True Innocence All your Demons are visible All your Demons are material Call them Pain Call them Hunger Call them War Mythic evil you don't need anymore. Drive out the vampires and the devils With the gods you no longer adore Remember: The Man with the fangs wears a cloak. What passes for charm Is a charm Understand what you see When you see me! Kill us, my brothers and sisters The war is on Understand what you see When you see me.” – The Vampire Lestat, Dionysus in San Francisco: 2

“And Lestat's voice echoed powerfully over the marble walls, the vaulted ceilings. Kill us, my brothers and sisters The war is on. Understand what you see, When you see me” – The Queen of the Damned, Proem

Requiem for the Marquise

In my dreams, I hold her still, Angel, lover, Mother. And in my dreams, I kiss her lips, Mistress, Muse, Daughter. She gave me life I gave her death My beautiful Marquise. And on the Devil's Road we walked Two orphans then together. And does she hear my hymns tonight of Kings and Queens and Ancient truths? Of broken vows and sorrow? Or does she climb some distant path where rhyme and song can't find her? Come back to me, my Gabrielle My Beautiful Marquise. The castle's ruined on the hill The village lost beneath the snow But you are mine forever. - The Queen of the Damned, Proem

He liked the Vampire Lestat singing "Requiem for the Marquise." He didn't pay attention to the words much. It was the melancholy, and the dark undertone of drums and cymbals. Made him want to dance. – The Queen of the Damned, Part 1 The Road to the Vampire Lestat: 5. Khayman, My Khayman

Requiem for the Marquise: A melancholic music video that Lestat records about making Gabrielle a Vampire. With its dark undertone of drums and cymbals, it is Khayman’s favorite. – The Vampire Companion

Though in this passage it is not mentioned to be the Requiem for the Marquise, taking into account that Gabrielle was a Marquise, the lyrics obviously talk about his mother becoming a vampire, I matched them with “Requiem for the marquise”.

Those Who Must Be Kept

He heard the voice of Lestat above the violin: Akasha! Enkil! Keep your secrets Keep your silence It is a better gift than truth. – Queen of the Damned, Proem

Of Those Who Must Be Kept What can we know? Can any explanation save us? Yes sir, that was the one she loved. That's the one she'd been listening to when she fell asleep waiting for her mother to come home from work in Gun Barrel City. It wasn't the words that got to her, it was the way he sang it, groaning like Bruce Springsteen into the mike and making it just break your heart. It was kind of like a hymn in a way. It had that kind of sound, yet Lestat was right there in the middle of it, singing to her, and there was a steady drumbeat that went to her bones. – The Queen of the Damned, Part I The Road to the Vampire Lestat: 2. The Short Happy Life of Baby Jenks and the Fang Gang

Could it be that the alarm she heard was somehow connected to his plaintive yet raucous songs? Akasha, Enkil Hearken to your children – The Queen of the Damned, Part 1 The Road to the Vampire Lestat: 3. The Goddess Pandora

He'd been watching a Lestat rock video for the fifteenth time, perhaps-this one about the ancient and immovable Egyptian Father and Mother of the vampires, Those Who Must Be Kept: Akasha and Enkil, We are your children, but what do you give us? Is your silence A better gift than truth? – The Queen of the Damned, Part 1 The Road to the Vampire Lestat: 4. The Story of Daniel, the Devil’s Minion, or the Boy from Interview with the Vampire

A radio had been playing near him, Lestat singing in that haunting mournful voice of Those Who Must Be Kept. Mother and Father. Keep your silence, Keep your secrets, But those of you with tongues, sing my song. Sons and daughters Children of darkness Raise your voices Make a chorus Let heaven hear us Come together, Brother and sisters, Come to me. – The Queen of the Damned, Part 1 The Road to the Vampire Lestat: 4. The Story of Daniel, the Devil’s Minion, or the Boy from Interview with the Vampire

About the Music Video

The camera drew back to render the full figure of Lestat who played a violin as if in a void. A starry darkness now and then enclosed him. Then quite suddenly a pair of doors were opened- it was the old shrine of Those Who Must Be Kept, quite exactly! And there-Akasha and Enkil, or rather actors made up to play the part, white-skinned Egyptians with long black silken hair and glittering jewelry. Of course. Why hadn't he guessed that Lestat would carry it to this vulgar and tantalizing extreme? He leant forward, listening for the transmission of the sound. He heard the voice of Lestat above the violin: Akasha! Enkil! Keep your secrets Keep your silence It is a better gift than truth. And now as the violin player closed his eyes and bore down on his music, Akasha slowly rose from the throne. The violin fell from Lestat's hands as he saw her; like a dancer, she wrapped her arms around him, drew him to her, bent to take the blood from him, while pressing his teeth to her own throat. It was rather better than he had ever imagined-such clever craft. Now the figure of Enkil awakened, rising and walking like a mechanical doll. Forward he came to take back his Queen. Lestat was thrown down on the floor of the shrine. And there the film ended. The rescue by Marius was not part of it. "Ah, so I do not become a television celebrity," he whispered with a faint smile. – The Queen of the Damned, Proem

Unidentified Lyrics (2)

The giant face of Lestat expanded on the video screen as the camera moved in upon it. The blue eye fixed upon Khayman and winked. "WHY DON'T YOU KILL ME! YOU KNOW WHAT I AM!" Lestat's laughter rose above the twanging scream of the guitars. "DON'T YOU KNOW EVIL WHEN YOU SEE IT?" (…) The music was like the music of old, when all songs had been the songs of the body, and the songs of the mind had not yet been invented. – The Queen of the Damned, Part II All Hallows’ Eve

Unidentified Lyrics (3)

The voice of Lestat rose again, singing of the Children of Darkness, hidden beneath the cemetery called Les Innocents in superstition and fear. Into the light We come My Brothers and Sisters! KILL US! My Brothers and Sisters! Sluggishly, Khayman rose – The Queen of the Damned, Part II All Hallows’ Eve

Possible relation to the music video mentioned here, since they both talk about the cult under Les Innocents:

Daniel had watched that little clip on MTV portraying Armand as the coven master of the old vampires beneath the Paris cemetery, presiding over demonic rituals until the Vampire Lestat, the eighteenth-century iconoclast, had destroyed the Old Ways. – The Queen of the Damned, Part 1 The Road to the Vampire Lestat: 4. The Story of Daniel, the Devil’s Minion, or the Boy from Interview with the Vampire

5. Entries for each song (mentioned) in the Vampire Companion