Cleo Roux — I Will Take My Fee (Picked the Lock)

The cellars of Hameln are so crowded with rats that they eat the bread and spoil the seed. At first light the town sends a rider for the rat-catcher and swears to pay whatever price she sets. She plays a single tune across the market square, and every rat follows her down to the river. Not one comes back against the tide. Cleo Roux plays the rat-catcher, and she sings every word of it to the town. The treasurer counts out a tenth of the price and tells her a song is only air. She thanks him very kindly and writes the whole sum down in her ledger. Then comes the bill, item by item: the thousand that was promised, the laughter when she held out her hand, the clerk who pushed her from the gate, the guard who said she came too late, the interest on every item, and a total put down quite clear. Nothing was written on paper. The town gave its word, and every member of the council nodded. A debt that is not paid in coin is paid in kind, and kind is anything a clever rat-catcher has in mind. There is one thing in the town that no price could buy, and it sleeps behind the shutters. Before morning she plays one tune again, and everything the town kept asleep goes out the same way the rats went. The town keeps its florins. She keeps what it hid. ▸ ABOUT CLEO ROUX Cleo Roux will tell you that every wicked thing she does, she does on her own. Picked the Lock is her first album: a bright musical-theatre voice playing the parts nobody ever offered her. On this one, she is the rat-catcher with the ledger — and the only one in town who kept the score. ▸ ABOUT THE HOUSE OF VELVET NOVA The House of Velvet Nova is a virtual music house: old theatrical forms meeting modern production. ▸ LYRICS Full lyrics in the pinned comment. ▸ CREDITS Music, vocals and artwork generated with AI tools. Lyrics, characters, prompts and creative direction by The House of Velvet Nova. This video contains AI-generated content. #cleoroux #darkcabaret #villainsong #thehouseofvelvetnova