Let Me Bathe in Demonic Light

Let Me Bathe in Demonic Light
	;
Album	Dark in Here
Released	June 25, 2021
Length	5:11
Previous Track	"Arguing With the Ghost of Peter Laughner About His Coney Island Baby Review"

Let Me Bathe in Demonic Light is the 12th song on the album Dark in Here. It debuted on October 16, 2019 as part of the North Carolina Arts Council’s In The Water performance series. It appears as the first song on the 2022 live album The Jordan Lake Sessions: Volume 5.

Lyrics[]

Down at the end of a bombed-out street
The shell of a house where my friends and me used to meet
Someday the old flesh will give way to the new
Find a functioning mirror inside and slip right through

And there, there I’ll be
And who, who’s coming with me?
To show me my one true face
When I arrive at my preordained place

Chain of command maybe ten years long
I emerge in Manhattan, still young and strong
Someday the hellhound will pick up the scent on the trail
Zero in on my penthouse and then pierce the veil

And there, there I’ll be
And who, who’s coming with me?
To show me my one true face
When I arrive at my preordained place

Hopeless but free
Lit up like a marquee
Shining over the freeway
Where will my long trail end?
Here, here with my new friend

Fruits of the spirit heavy on the vine
Undying hunger deep in the bloodline
Dodge the hook like a steelhead
Swim right through the night
Break the surface and rise like a geyser
When my time is right

There, there I’ll be
And who, who among you
Who’s coming with me?
To show me my one true face
When I arrive at my preordained place

Comments by John Darnielle About this Song[]

"Those houses I'm talking about aren't even houses, they're motels, you know. The analogue you're looking for in that song is Palmcorder Yajna, that motel room. That's what you're looking for there." - 2022-01-26 - Sound Opinions podcast

Things Referenced in this Song[]

Robert Johnson's song "Hellhound on My Trail" was covered by the Mountain Goats on Nothing for Juice.

Live Shows this Song Was Played at[]

Videos of this Song[]

2024-05-25 - Albert Hall - Manchester, England

Dark in Here

Track list: "Parisian Enclave" • "The Destruction of the Kola Superdeep Borehole Tower" • "Mobile" • "Dark in Here" • "Lizard Suit" • "When a Powerful Animal Comes" • "To the Headless Horseman" • "The New Hydra Collection" • "The Slow Parts on Death Metal Albums" • "Before I Got There" • "Arguing With the Ghost of Peter Laughner About His Coney Island Baby Review" • "Let Me Bathe in Demonic Light"

Internet releases by John Darnielle

Exclusive: "Acceptable Damages Sutra" • "All Devils Here Now" • "Ballad of the Errant Scallop" • "The Big Unit" • "Brandy Let's Go" • "Bride" • "Counting Song for Bitter Children" • "Cut Off Their Thumbs #1" • "Deserters" • "Down Here Where the Bullet Bills Are" • "Extreme South #1" • "Flower Song" • "For the Krishnacore Bands" • "From TG&Y" • "Going Back to California" • "Going Invisible" • "Hye Kye" • "New Mountain Goats Tape Song" • "New World Emerging Blues" • "Pure Crystal" • "Short Song for Justin Bieber and His Paparazzi" • "Shot, Repeatedly, At Close Range, In the Chest, By Your Love" • "Sign of the Crow 2" • "Song for Sasha Banks" • "There Is Power in a Union" • "Thucydides II-58" • "Tyler Lambert's Grave"• "The Ultimate Jedi Who Wastes All the Other Jedi and Eats Their Bones" • "You and Me and a High Balcony"
Released elsewhere: "Alibi • "Daniel 12:8 (first)" • "Exegetic Chains" • "For the Snakes" • "If You See Light" • "Let Me Bathe in Demonic Light" • "Michael Myers Resplendent" • "No Children" • "Ox Baker Triumphant" • "Surrounded" • "Until Olympius Returns" • "Wait for You"

The Jordan Lake Sessions: Volume 5

Track list: "Let Me Bathe in Demonic Light" • "First Blood" • "Mark On You" • "Minnesota" • "Make You Suffer" • "Choked Out" • "Tidal Wave" • "Torch Song" • "Tulsa Imperative" • "The Water Song" • "The Window Song" • "Abandoned Flesh" • "We Do It Different on the West Coast" • "Guys on Every Corner" • "Training Montage" • "Extraction Point" • "Damn These Vampires" • "Wage Wars Get Rich Die Handsome" • "Bleed Out"