Songs from a Forgotten Rock Opera (1977)

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The Bard Wanders ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

[CHORUS]
O dee-o-dayee
Odee-o-dayee
Woe-woe-dalaye

He jumped off the box-car
In Eastbourne, the beast born
In him was too hungry to hide;

His neck in grief's grommet,
He groaned through his vomit
At the churn
And the yearn
At the turn of the tide.

[CHORUS]
O dee-o-dayee
Odee-o-dayee
Woe-woe-dalaye

He headed him soon
For a sad-lit saloon
In back of the edge of the strand,
Where a man almost ended
Sat down and extended

His speckled,
Blue-knuckled
And cuckolded
Hand.

[CHORUS]
O dee-o-dayee
Odee-o-dayee
Woe-woe-dalaye

Cried, The wind broke my marriage in two.
Clean through the bones of it,
Christ how it blew!
I got no tomorrow
And sorrow
Is tough to rescind;
So, forgive me if I should break wind, son,
Forgive me
If I should break wind.

At this the bartender
Addressed the agenda,
A dish-cloth kept dabbing his eye,
Said, Pardon intrusion
Upon your effusion
Of loss but none wooed it
Or rued it
As I.

[CHORUS]
O dee-o-dayee
Odee-o-dayee
Woe-woe-dalaye

For after the eve of Yvonne,
My God, how it hurts now the woman has gone!
Heart-sick as a dog,
I roll on like a log
Down the roaring black river
Where once sailed
A swan.

Then the dog on the floor,
Who'd not spoken before,
Growled, Ain't it the truth you guys said?
I may be a son-
Of-a-bitch but that bitch

Was my Sun
And she dumped me,
The bitch did,
For dead.

[OUTRO]
So three lonely guys in the night and a hound
Drank up, and they headed them out to the Sound,
Threw up, then they threw themselves
In and they
Drowned.

O dee-o-dayee
Odee-o-dayee
Woe-woe-dalaye


The All Purpose Country & Western Self Pity Song (Cowboy version)

In Paris With You by James Fenton

Don’t talk to me of love. I’ve had an earful
And I get tearful when I’ve downed a drink or two.
I’m one of your talking wounded.
I’m a hostage. I’m maroonded.
But I’m in Paris with you.

Yes I’m angry at the way I’ve been bamboozled
And resentful at the mess I’ve been through.
I admit I’m on the rebound
And I don’t care where are we bound.
I’m in Paris with you.

Do you mind if we do not go to the Louvre
If we say sod off to sodding Notre Dame,
If we skip the Champs Elysées
And remain here in this sleazy

Old hotel room
Doing this and that
To what and whom
Learning who you are,
Learning what I am.

Don’t talk to me of love. Let’s talk of Paris,
The little bit of Paris in our view.
There’s that crack across the ceiling
And the hotel walls are peeling
And I’m in Paris with you.

Don’t talk to me of love. Let’s talk of Paris.
I’m in Paris with the slightest thing you do.
I’m in Paris with your eyes, your mouth,
I’m in Paris with… all points south.
Am I embarrassing you?
I’m in Paris with you.

In Paris With You (His)

Too great her beauty! 'tis o'erwhelming;
Beneath that mask there's such dissembling:
Yes, I would have her ugly — quite —
I'd have her — yes, a perfect fright
Love her I must in beauty's bloom —
O Heaven, thy wondrous gift resume!
Even from below assistance would I claim;
So she were ugly, and my love the same

Lo! Satan at the word I see —
The sire of ugliness is he:
" Come, come, " he cries, " I'll hideous make her;
Thy fiercest rivals shall forsake her:
Changes I'm rather fond of ringing —
But here thy fair one comes, and singing!
Roses, decay! pearls, drop from out your frame!
She's ugly now, and still thy love's the same! "

" I ugly! " thunderstruck she cries,
And promptly to a mirror flies:
At first she doubts — at last, o'ercome
With terror and despair, is dumb
" I've heard thee swear I was thine all, "
Quoth I, as at her feet I fall:
" To me alone he would devote thy flame;
If uglier still, I'd love thee just the same "

Her eyes bedimmed in tear-drops melt:
What pity for her grief I felt!
" Ah! give her back her charms so winning! "
" So be it, " answers Satan, grinning.
At once, like morning freshly breaking,
I saw fresh beauties in her waking;
More striking still her loveliness became,
More striking still, and still my love the same.

Quick at the mirror her alarms
She quiets — safe are all her charms —
Though on her cheeks some tears I spy,
Grumbling aside, she wipes them dry:
And then, as Satan flits away,
The traitress, too, but stops to say,
" Since Heaven gives beauty, to love him were shame,
Who, fair or foul, still loves us just the same. "

Too Great Her Beauty

I long to see the solan-goose
Wing over Ailsa crag
At dusk again—or Girvan gulls at dawn;
To see the osprey grayly glide
The winds of Kamasaig:
For grayness now my heart is set upon.
The grayness of sea-spaces where
There's loneliness alone,
Save for the wings that sweep it with unrest,
Save for the hunger-cries that sound
And die into a moan,
Save for the moaning hunger in my breast.
For grayness is the hue of all
In life that is not lies.
A thousand years of tears are in my heart;
And only in their mystery
Can I be truly wise:
From light and laughter follies only start.
I long to see the mists again
Above the tumbling tide
Of Ailsa, at the coming of the night.
There's weariness and emptiness
And soul unsatisfied
Forever in the places of delight

A Thousand Years Of Tears

"Like every rose has its thorns,
Every devil has its horns…
So the old wives sigh—
But let’s dig deeper, love.
Let’s lie."

(Pizzicato strings mimic falling petals.)

[VERSE 1: CHORUS] (whispering townsfolk)
"In fair Verona? No, not them—
This tale’s too hot for ink and pen.
The Lover screamed, the Beauty fought…
History burns what gossip bought."

[VERSE 2: BARD] (whispering, conspiratorial)
"Oh, you’ve heard whispers—‘Beast’ and ‘rose’—
Some fable ‘bout a girl who chose
To love a monster…
How quaint.
But what if Beauty
was the saint,
And the ‘Beast’ just some poor fool,
Who traded time to play love’s tool?
The facts got stewed, the truth went sour…
Here’s the thorn beneath the flower."

[MOTIF: THE MARKET] (lively mandolin)
(BARD snaps fingers. Vendors freeze mid-sale.)
"Here’s where it starts—a smirk, a glance,
A rose tossed down in mock romance…
(Minor chord—the rose wilts.)
But this time, see the thorns bite deep—
This time, the Beauty doesn’t weep."*

[MOTIF: THE DEVIL’S WALTZ] (sinister cello)
(BARD dons a horned mask. The orchestra twists.)
"Enter our real star, slick with jest—
He doesn’t want souls…
…he wants the jest."

[VERSE 2: BARD & CHORUS] (building frenzy)
"You think you know how love turns pale?
Wait till you see true hearts fail!
Not poison’s kiss, not family creed—
But time’s own claws,
And love’s own need!"

[CLIMAX: THE FALL] (orchestra collapses into silence)
(BARD tears a page—the sound rips like a scream.)
"So toss the Bard’s old book aside…
This tale’s alive.
And hungry inside."

(Blackout. A single rose ignites in the dark.)

The Thorn Beneath The Flower

[VERSE 1: LOVER] (charmed, offering a rose)
"A bloom for the bloom at the spice-merchant’s stall—
Though it’s frail next to you, and not half as tall."
(Beat. She eyes the rose, then him, wary but amused.)

[VERSE 2: BEAUTY] (teasing, plucking a petal)
"How sweet, sir—but see how this petal lets go?
Beauty’s the same: here today…
…then it goes." (She blows it away.)

[PRE-CHORUS: LOVER] (stepping closer)
"Then let’s speak of what doesn’t decay—
Like the way you just laughed when I tripped on the tray…
*Like the crinkle here—" (taps her nose) —when you’re fighting a smile.
Those won’t fade,
Not in a hundred years’ time."

[CHORUS: BOTH] (harmonizing as the market fades)
Oh, love, let the roses all wither in May—
Let the mirrors grow dusty, the silver betray.
You’ll still be my sunrise,
I’ll still be your storm…
Perfect’s the heart
That remembers your form.

[BRIDGE: BEAUTY] (soft, surrendering)
"What if my hair turns to moonlight?"
(LOVER, kissing her hand:) "I’ll love how it scatters the breeze."
"What if my hands forget their grace?"
(LOVER, spinning her:) "Mine will remember for these."

[FINAL CHORUS: BOTH] (running into a garden)
Now let the world call us fools in the dark—
Let them measure our love by the bloom, not the bark.
(They kiss; roses cascade.)
For roots grow deeper
Than petals show…
And this is the beauty
That no one can know.

A Bloom for A Bloom

[VERSE 1: DEVIL] (smooth, circling the Lover)
"See how the candle gilds her hair?
That gold could stay… if you dare.
One soul—one kiss of my flame—
And time forgets her name…"

(LOVER stares up at BEAUTY, who smiles unaware, running a comb through her hair.)

[VERSE 2: LOVER] (entranced, desperate)
"Let the stars stall in their tracks—
Let no frost bite her flax!
Take my heart, take my breath…
Just spare her from death."

(He grips the Devil’s hand. A thunderclap. BEAUTY’s comb snags—
—her hair turns silver. Her face creases. She gasps, clutching her throat.)

[CHORUS: BEAUTY] (raw, cracking mid-note)
What’s this weight in my bones?!
What’s this dust in my— (voice breaks)—lo-ove?
(She staggers; her reflection in the window is ancient.)

[BRIDGE: DEVIL] (licking the Lover’s ear)
"Oh, you fool—time’s not a stream.
It’s a noose. And now it’s…
(snaps fingers)
…tight."

(BEAUTY collapses to her knees upstairs as the Lover screams.)

[FINAL CHORUS: LOVER & BEAUTY] (intercut, shattered)
(LOVER:) I swore to love you past the end—
(BEAUTY:) Then why do I feel finished, then?
(LOVER:) Forgive me—
(BEAUTY:) —Was I not enough?
(DEVIL laughs as their voices twist into a grotesque waltz.)

[CODA: DEVIL SOLO] (cheerful, exit-music vile)
"Now every dawn’s a funeral bell!
But hey—at least she’ll never tell…
That you stole the one thing she owned:
The right to grow…
…alone."

(Vanishes. BEAUTY’s candle snuffs out. Blackout.)

Spare Her

[VERSE 1]
Beware the face too brightly spun,
The smile that steals the waking sun—
For beauty’s blade cuts swift and deep,
Where fools and saints alike will weep.
Oh, cursed gift! Oh, gilded chain!
To love her is to court your pain…

[CHORUS]
So let the roses choke with thorns,
Let every mirror crack with scorn!
Or else be doomed to chase the flame—
Her heart won’t love you
…just the same.

[VERSE 2]
(Enter the Lover, desperate, to the Shadows:)
"Then make her monstrous! Make her plain!
Let rot her cheek’s perfumed stain—
If ugliness could bind her tight,
I’d trade the moon for one foul night!"

[BRIDGE]
(The Shadows laugh, low and cruel:)
"We’ll twist the flesh… but not the rules—
For love that’s real won’t barter light,
Nor fear the dark…
…nor fear the sight."

[FINAL CHORUS]
So pray the stars forget your name,
Or love her true through blight or flame—
For hell or heaven, both agree:
The curse was never
…beauty’s plea.

Let The Rose Choke With Thorns

[Editors note. The original author did not complete this song, but we have reproduced it faithfully based on their written marginalia. ]

(A fiery, defiant aria with soaring highs and guttural lows—Beauty confronts the Devil in a storm-lit cathedral, her voice clashing with hellish whispers.)

[VERSE 1] (Beauty, trembling but resolute)
You took his soul on a technicality—
A "gift," you said, for my vanity.
Well, here’s my face, here’s my grace,
Rip them to ribbons, leave no trace…
But give him back his stolen breath,
Or I’ll undo your hell with death!

[CHORUS] (Orchestra swells; Devil laughs in counterpoint)
So strike your bargain, little queen—
My fires hunger, my teeth are keen!
What’s left to trade when love’s your price?
(Devil sneers:)
"Your… virtue?"
(Beauty, icy:)
"Try his vice."

[VERSE 2] (She steps forward, shedding jewels like shackles)
You want my tears? I’ve wept a sea.
You want my youth? It’s dust to me.
But he once swore—through rot or rue—
"I’d love you ugly."
…Prove you’re true.

[BRIDGE] (Devil’s voice slithers, then falters)
"What if I made him forget your name?"
(Beauty, smiling sharp as a blade:)
Then I’ll love him faceless, same as he claimed.
"What if he wakes and calls you ‘fright’?"
(She laughs:)
Then Hell’s outdone by mortal sight.

[FINAL CHORUS] (Triumphant, minor-to-major shift)
So take your contract, take your toll—
You lose. For love’s the greater hole.
Now burn his chains, and mark my blame:
I’ll walk in weeping…
…and leave in flame.

(The cathedral’s stained glass shatters—not from hellfire, but from her final note.)

Now a song were the lovers sing together and defeat the Devil because their souls are one and he can't take both.
SONG: "TWO SOULS, ONE FIRE"
(A soaring, battle-hymn duet—Beauty and Lover stand back-to-back as the Devil’s shadows writhe. Their voices weave into an unbreakable harmony, forcing Hell itself to recoil.)

[VERSE 1: LOVER] (defiant, gritty)
You whispered, "Take her face away—
I’ll love her truer in the gray."
Now here’s your flaw, your fatal cost:
You gambled Hell…
…and Love’s the ghost.

[VERSE 2: BEAUTY] (ferocious, lyrical)
You thought my curves held all my worth—
Then he loved Hell up from the earth!
So claw your contracts, gnash your lies…
Our love’s the wound
…that never dies.

[PRE-CHORUS: BOTH] (whispered, intense)
(Lover:) "One soul?"
(Beauty:) "Then make it two."
(Devil snarls:) "I OWN YOU—"
(Both, laughing:) "Oh, do you?"

[CHORUS: BOTH] (triumphant, harmonized)
Two souls,
One fire—
You’ll drown in what you can’t require.
Try to take him?
I’ll burn free.
Try to take me?
He walks with me.
(Devil shrieks as their joined hands ignite.)

[BRIDGE: DEVIL] (spitting, dissonant)
"Mortal fools! My chains are law!"
(Lover, grinning:) Then break them.
(Beauty, sweetly:) We just did.
(Their voices merge into a chord so pure, the ground cracks.)

[FINAL CHORUS: BOTH + ENSEMBLE] (ecstatic, gospel-tinged)
No grave,
No pyre—
Hell’s just love
That forgot its choir!
Dig your trenches,
Stack your shame…
We’ll be loving
Just. The. Same.

Dealing with the Devil (Unfinished)

from Breaking Open by Muriel Rukayser

How we live:
I look into my face in the square glass.
Under it, a bright flow of cold water.
In the night
In the night
In the night

In the night,
In the night,
In the night

At once, a strong arrangement of presences:
I am holding a small glass under the little flow
at Fern Spring, among the western forest.
A cool flaw among the silence.
The taste of the waterfall.

The waterfall 
The waterfall
The waterfall

In the night
wandering room to room of this world I move by touch and then something says let the city pour the sleep of the beloved Let the night pour down all its meanings
Let the images pour the light is dreaming

The light is dreaming 
The light
Is dreaming
Dreaming
Dreaming
The light

In The Night

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Dealing with the Devil (Unfinished)

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