Morbid Lullabies

Morbid Lullabies is the third studio album from New York singer-songwriter Amy Marshall. Taking on an edgier and darker tone than her past two albums, the album was released on December 3, 2007, the week after its lead single "Close My Eyes Forever" was released.

On September 1, 2008, the album was re-released with five new tracks. "Running With Scissors", co-written by Amy's wife Katrina Regalna and featuring guest vocals from her band Horrorfilm Horizon, was the re-release's lead single.

Album information
Amy started working on new material in break periods while in the process of promoting her previous album, and continued while on a break in her home state of New York. However executives at Alias met with her to discuss the status of the material and they pressured her to abandon a great deal of the songs written for the album due to "harsh and morose" content, dealing with sensitive themes such as spousal abuse and self-harm inflicted on children. Amy agreed to scrap many of these tracks, understanding that a change in direction too drastic would alienate fans of her more radio-friendly work.

Amy wanted to create an album with a darker tone than her previous two, but since many of the songs she wrote went too far, she enlisted the help of writing collaborators Damned, Innocent, Helene Schneider, and Ashley Esterwood to maintain the dark mood but try not to dig too deep into anything that could offend some ears.

The album marks the second time Amy has worked with Innocent and Esmeralda Dimuzio. Innocent were featured on "Heart Attack" from Peculiar Secret, while Esmeralda, who appears on the first single "Close My Eyes Forever", wrote "Help" and "Don't Turn Your Back" for Amy Marshall.

The album is Amy's first to bear a Parental Advisory sticker. It is also her first release with Wired Records, after severing ties with longtime label Alias following the release of "Close My Eyes Forever".

Though Morbid Lullabies is primarily a rock album, the album's re-release contains two tracks that see Amy experimenting with European electropop. The Horrorfilm Horizon collaboration "Running With Scissors" and the China-penned "Trying To Keep Sane" are highly influenced by the works of the songwriting/production teams Xenomania and Bloodshy & Avant.

"The Fainting Girl" was written about a young girl who enjoys playing the fainting game. The song was scrapped from the album because Alias bosses deemed it too controversial, but Wired bosses believed it was one of Amy's strongest works and wanted it included on the reissued version.

Reaction
The full album leaked online on November 17, 2007. Fans have praised the album on the same level as her previous album. Some critics, however, believe Amy took a misstep in being too dependent on her writing collaborators.

Chart performance
Morbid Lullabies entered the charts at #2 upon its release, just behind Esmeralda's greatest hits album. It sold 67,691 copies in its first week, slightly outselling the 60,044 it took Peculiar Secret to reach the same position.

The week after, the album succeeded Essie's album and took the #1 spot with 80,519 copies sold in its second week in stores, giving Amy her first #1 album and what was her best sales week on the album charts until the next week when it became the Christmas #1 album of 2007.

Morbid Lullabies sold a total of 1,479,016 copies, giving Amy her second diamond album and her highest selling album so far. It spent 61 weeks in the top 40, becoming a personal best for albums longevity.

Track listing
1. Leave Me Be 2. Smiles Are Out Of Style 3. Close My Eyes Forever (with Esmeralda Dimuzio) 4. I Lived For The Day 5. Ugly 6. Painkiller 7. Crash And Learn 8. Infatuation 9. Cloud Nine Is For Daydreamers 10. Ten 11. Giving It Up 12. Whisper Suicide Special edition bonus tracks 13. Running With Scissors (with Horrorfilm Horizon) 14. Trying To Keep Myself Sane 15. Too Late To Erase 16. Pressure 17. The Fainting Girl