CABARET LYRICS
Thanks to Abe Dueck -- husband of Vicki Forbes Dueck '66, who was the Cabaret Show's incredibly
talented piano accompanist & one of its marvelous singers -- we have a terrific DVD of all of the
wonderful events at the June 24th Boomer Reunion Dinner Ceremonies & Cabaret Show, which
we've posted on YouTube, with links on the Boomer web site!
LYRICS TO CABARET SHOW SONGS
Meantime, Vicki kindly prepared the following details about the lyrics of all of the songs that were
performed in the Cabaret show. Some of the lyrics were changed from the original, (some
intentionally, some NOT!) So Vicki decided to provide the lyrics as actually used in the show. We're
providing them here so that folks can follow along while watching and listening to the video.
Vicki noted that some songs were sung very quickly, and the 'feed' into the video camera was indirect.
So having these lyrics will hopefully be a useful tool for deciphering the words as you hear them sung
on the video by the talented Cabaret Show cast!
CABARET TONIGHT!
(FROM "CABARET")
Something familiar -- something peculiar,
Something for ev’ryone, a CABARET TONIGHT!
Melodies cheerful, You’ll get an earful!
Something for ev’ryone, a CABARET TONIGHT!
Nothing with “rap”, No Wagner “Ring”,
Glorious show tunes, that’s what we’ll sing.
Ballads or patter, we’ll make ‘em matter,
Giving our all for your delight!
OPERA tomorrow ~ “CABERET TONIGHT”!
Something ‘coquettish’ – Something ‘duettish’
Something for ev’ryone, a CABERET TONIGHT!
Sprightly and antic, or plain romantic!
Something for ev’ryone, a CABERET TONIGHT!
Nothing that’s long, snooty or dumb,
Pure entertainment; that’s why you’ve come!
Let’s take a sally …. Down Tin Pan Alley,
We’re gonna have a time, all right.
Concert Hall tomorrow, “CABARET ~ TONIGHT!”
CABARET
(From "CABARET")
What good is sitting alone in your room?
Come hear the music play;
Life is a CABARET, old chum, Come to our CABARET.
Put down the knitting, the book and the broom,
It’s time for a holiday:
Life is a CABARET, old chum,
Come to the CABARET.
Come hear the band, come taste the food,
Come have a glorious time this evening,
As we take you down memory lane.
No prophet of doom to send all your cares away,
Life is a CABARET old chum, Come to my CABARET old chum!
Come to this CABARET!!!
AMONG MY YESTERDAYS
(from the Musical, “The Happy Time”)
(A song about how we re-process our personal history)
Was it really all that sweet, In that house and along that street?
Mem’ry clouds in a thousand ways,
WALKING AMONG MY YESTERDAYS.
Did it happen? Was it Real?
Eyes can see what the heart can feel.
Visions vanish beneath the gaze,
WALKING AMONG MY YESTERDAYS.
Refrain:
Hold! Hold! Hold! Wait for me!
Light the picture, Let me see.
Souvenirs of the past remain.
Bits of pleasure and scraps of pain ~
Love may pass, but the perfume stays,
WALKING AMONG MY YESTERDAYS.
Now and then the image clears;
Truth is plain, then it disappears.
One more trick that the camera plays…
WALKING AMONG MY YESTERDAYS.
Refrain:
Hold! Hold! Hold! Wait for me!
Light the picture, Let me see.
Souvenirs of the past remain. Bits of pleasure and scraps of pain ~
Love may pass, but the perfume stays, WALKING AMONG MY YESTERDAYS.
YOUNG AND FOOLISH
(from “PLAIN & FANCY”)
Once we were foolish children, playing as children play.
~Racing through a meadow April bright ~ dreaming on a hilltop half the night.
Now that we’re growing older, we have no time to play.
Now that we’re growing wiser, we are not wise enough to stay
YOUNG AND FOOLISH, why is it wrong to be YOUNG AND FOOLISH?
We haven’t long to be ~
Soon enough the carefree days, the sunlit days go by.
Soon enough the bluebird has to fly.
We were foolish, One day we fell in love,
Now we wonder what we were dreaming of.
Smiling in the sunlight, laughing in the rain,
I wish that we were YOUNG, AND FOOLISH again.
JUBILATION T. CORNPONE
(FROM ‘OKLAHOMA!’)
Spoken: It feels like almost yesterday when I turned to Winnie Watson & I said to her:
“Scarlet, honey, it’s high time you knew that our town was founded by that beloved man
a-settin’ up on that even more beloved horse, JUBILATION T. CORNPONE.”
“Scarlet, honey, it’s high time you knew that our town was founded by that beloved man
a-settin’ up on that even more beloved horse, JUBILATION T. CORNPONE.”
When we fought the Yankees and annihilation was near,
Who was there to lead the charge that took us safe to the rear.
Why it was JUBILATION T. CORNPONE ~ Old “Tattered & Torn” Pone,
JUBILATION T. CORNPONE ~ He really made them wait.
When we almost had ‘em, but the issue still was in doubt,
Who suggested the retreat that turned it into a ROUT!
Why it was JUBILATION T. CORNPONE ~ Old “Tattered & Torn” Pone,
JUBILATION T. CORNPONE ~ He kept us hiding out!!
There at Appomattox, Lee & Grant were present, of course!
As Lee swept a tear away, who swept the back of his horse?
Why it was JUBILATION T. CORNPONE ~ Old “Toot Your Own Horn” Pone,
JUBILATION T. CORNPONE ~ A picture of remorse.
JUBILATION T. CORNPONE ~ A picture of remorse.
KANSAS CITY
(From “Oklahoma!”)
Ev’rything’s up to date in KANSAS CITY!
They’ve gone about as far as they could go.
They’ve got a big the-ay-ter, they call the “Bur-lee-que”
Fer fifty cents you c’n see a dandy show!
One of the gals was fat and pink and pretty
As round above as she was round below
I could swear that she was padded from her shoulder to her heel,
But later, in the second act, when she began to peel,
She proved that ev’rythin’ she had was absolutely real.
She went about as fer as she could go, “Yessir!”
She went about as fer as she could go!
SEVENTY-SIX TROMBONES
(From “THE MUSIC MAN”)
Seventy-six trombones led the big parade,
~with a hundred and ten cornets right behind.
They were followed by rows and rows of the finest virtuosos,
~The cream of every shape & kind.
Seventy-six trombones caught the morning sun~
With a hundred and ten cornets right behind.
There were more than a thousand reeds springing up like weeds,
There were horns of ev’ry shape & kind.
There were copper-bottom tympani and horse platoons,
Thundering, thundering all along the way,
Double-bell euphoniums and big bassoons, Each bassoon having its big, fat say!
There were fifty mounted canon in the battery,
Thundering, thundering louder than before.
Clarinets of every size, and trumpeters who’d improvise
A full octave higher than the score!!
Seventy-six trombones hit the counterpoint,
While a hundred and ten cornets blazed away,
~To the rhythm of “Harch, Harch, Harch!” all the kids began to march,
And they’re marching still right today!
THE HEATHER ON THE HILL
(From “BRIGADOON”)
Can't we two go walkin' together, out beyond the valley of trees?
Out where there's a hillside of heather, curtsyin' gently in the breeze.
That's what I'd like to do: see the heather--but with you.
Chorus:
Out where there's a hillside of heather, curtsyin' gently in the breeze.
That's what I'd like to do: see the heather--but with you.
Chorus:
The mist of May is in the gloamin', and all the clouds are holdin' still.
So take my hand and let's go roamin' through the heather on the hill.
The mornin' dew is blinkin' yonder. There's lazy music in the rill,
And all I want to do is wander through the heather on the hill.
So take my hand and let's go roamin' through the heather on the hill.
The mornin' dew is blinkin' yonder. There's lazy music in the rill,
And all I want to do is wander through the heather on the hill.
There may be other days as rich and rare.
There may be other springs as full and fair.
But they won't be the same--they'll come and go,
For this I know: That when the mist is in the gloamin',
and all the clouds are holdin' still,
If you're not there I won't go roamin'
through the heather on the hill,
The heather on the hill.
But they won't be the same--they'll come and go,
For this I know: That when the mist is in the gloamin',
and all the clouds are holdin' still,
If you're not there I won't go roamin'
through the heather on the hill,
The heather on the hill.
I COULD HAVE DANCED ALL NIGHT
(From “MY FAIR LADY”)
I could have danced all night! I could have danced all night!
And still have begged for more.
I could have spread my wings, and done a thousand things I've never done before.
I'll never know what made it so exciting;
Why all at once my heart took flight.
And still have begged for more.
I could have spread my wings, and done a thousand things I've never done before.
I'll never know what made it so exciting;
Why all at once my heart took flight.
I only know when he began to dance with me
I could have danced, danced, danced ~~ all night!
TRY TO REMEMBER
(From “THE FANTASTICS”)
Try to remember the kind of September
When life was slow and oh, so mellow.
Try to remember the kind of September
When grass was green and grain was yellow.
Try to remember the kind of September, when you were a tender and callow fellow.
Try to remember, and if you remember, then follow.
Follow, follow, follow, follow, follow...
Try to remember when life was so tender ~ that no one wept except the willow.
Try to remember when life was so tender ~
When life was slow and oh, so mellow.
Try to remember the kind of September
When grass was green and grain was yellow.
Try to remember the kind of September, when you were a tender and callow fellow.
Try to remember, and if you remember, then follow.
Follow, follow, follow, follow, follow...
Try to remember when life was so tender ~ that no one wept except the willow.
Try to remember when life was so tender ~
That dreams were kept beside your pillow.
Try to remember when life was so tender, that love was an ember about to billow.
Try to remember, and if you remember, then follow.
Follow, follow, follow, follow, follow….
Deep in December, it's nice to remember,
Although you know the snow will follow.
Deep in December, it's nice to remember, without a hurt the heart is hollow.
Deep in December, it's nice to remember,
Try to remember when life was so tender, that love was an ember about to billow.
Try to remember, and if you remember, then follow.
Follow, follow, follow, follow, follow….
Deep in December, it's nice to remember,
Although you know the snow will follow.
Deep in December, it's nice to remember, without a hurt the heart is hollow.
Deep in December, it's nice to remember,
the fire of September that made us mellow.
Deep in December, our hearts should remember ~ and follow.
Deep in December, our hearts should remember ~ and follow.
“I’M FIVE – A KID AGAIN”
I wish I were a kid again ~ Doing what I did again
Here I make my bit again ~ To be a kid again
Once more through the door ~ Once more as before
Into a land where I leave cares behind
Please take me back ~ There are things I must find
Oh, I wish I were a kid again ~ Doing what I did again
A kid again...
Here I make my bit again ~ To be a kid again
Once more through the door ~ Once more as before
Into a land where I leave cares behind
Please take me back ~ There are things I must find
Oh, I wish I were a kid again ~ Doing what I did again
A kid again...
I'm five, I'm five
I am a big girl now, I'm five
I can dress myself, I don't need Mom to help me anymore
And when I sit in my father's chair my feet can reach the floor, SEE THAT?
I'm five, I'm five
I am a big girl now, I'm five
My mother doesn't spank me just for going without a hat
She knows darn well I'd run away 'Cause I'm too old for that
What does she think I'm three? Not me!
What does she think I'm four? I'm more than four
I'm even more than four and a half...
I'm five!
(December 12th!!)
THE COURT JESTER
(“Court Jester” is a 1956 musical-comedy film,
starring Danny Kaye)
starring Danny Kaye)
When I was a lad I was gloomy and sad
And I was from the day I was born
When other lads giggled and gurgled and wiggled
I proudly was loudly forlorn
My friends and my family looked at me clammily
Thought there was something amiss,
When others found various antics hilarious
All I could manage was this –hoo hoo
Or this – hoo waahhh
My father he shouted he needs to be ‘clouted’
His teeth on a wreath I’ll hand him
My mother she cried as she rushed to my side
“You’re a brute and you don’t understand him”.
So they send for a witch with a terrible twitch
To ask how my future impressed her.
She took one look at me and cried “hehehehehe, he?”
What else could he be but a jester?
A jester! A jester! A funny idea ~ A jester!
No butcher, no baker, no candlestick maker
And me with the look of a fine undertaker
Impressed her as a Jester?
And I was from the day I was born
When other lads giggled and gurgled and wiggled
I proudly was loudly forlorn
My friends and my family looked at me clammily
Thought there was something amiss,
When others found various antics hilarious
All I could manage was this –hoo hoo
Or this – hoo waahhh
My father he shouted he needs to be ‘clouted’
His teeth on a wreath I’ll hand him
My mother she cried as she rushed to my side
“You’re a brute and you don’t understand him”.
So they send for a witch with a terrible twitch
To ask how my future impressed her.
She took one look at me and cried “hehehehehe, he?”
What else could he be but a jester?
A jester! A jester! A funny idea ~ A jester!
No butcher, no baker, no candlestick maker
And me with the look of a fine undertaker
Impressed her as a Jester?
Now where could I learn any comical turn
That was not in a book on the shelf?
No teacher to take me and mold me and make me
A merryman, fool or an elf…
But I’m proud to recall that in no time at all
With no other recourses but my own resources
With firm application and determination
I made a fool of myself!
That was not in a book on the shelf?
No teacher to take me and mold me and make me
A merryman, fool or an elf…
But I’m proud to recall that in no time at all
With no other recourses but my own resources
With firm application and determination
I made a fool of myself!
Spoken:
I bought a little gun and I learned to shoot.
I bought a little a horn and I learned to toot.
Now I can shoot and toot! Ain’t that cute?
I bought a little gun and I learned to shoot.
I bought a little a horn and I learned to toot.
Now I can shoot and toot! Ain’t that cute?
Sung:
I started to travel to try to unravel my mind, and to find a new chance.
When I got to Spain it was suddenly plain
That the field that appealed was “the Dance”!
The Spanish were clannish but I wouldn’t vanish,
I learned every step they had planned
The first step of all isn’t hard to recall
Cause the first step of all is “To Stand” ~ And stand
And stand, and stand, and stand, and stand….
I started to travel to try to unravel my mind, and to find a new chance.
When I got to Spain it was suddenly plain
That the field that appealed was “the Dance”!
The Spanish were clannish but I wouldn’t vanish,
I learned every step they had planned
The first step of all isn’t hard to recall
Cause the first step of all is “To Stand” ~ And stand
And stand, and stand, and stand, and stand….
Spoken:
*********PIANO***************
Griselda: You'll not die, you'll not have to fight him. Griswold dies as he drinks the toast.
Hawkins: What?
Griselda: Listen. I have put a pellet of poison in one of the vessels.
Hawkins: Which one?
Griselda: The one with the figure of a pestle.
Hawkins: The vessel with the pestle?
Griselda: Yes. But you don't want the vessel with the pestle, you want the chalice from the palace!
Hawkins: I-I don't want the vessel with the pestle, I want the chalice from the what?
Griselda: The chalice from the palace!
Hawkins: Hm?
Griselda: It's a little crystal chalice with a figure of a palace.
Hawkins: Th-the chalice from the palace have the pellet with the poison?
Griselda: No, the pellet with the poison's in the vessel with the pestle.
Hawkins: Oh, oh, the pestle with the vessel.
Griselda: The vessel with the pestle.
Hawkins: What about the palace from the chalice?
Griselda: Not the palace from the chalice! The chalice from the palace!
Hawkins: Where's the pellet with the poison?
Griselda: In the vessel with the pestle! Don't you see? The pellet with
the poison's in the vessel with the pestle.
Griselda: The chalice from the palace has the brew that is true! It's so
easy, I can read it!
Hawkins: Well then you fight Griswold!
Griselda: Listen carefully. The pellet with the poison's in the vessel with the pestle; the chalice from the palace has the brew that is true.
Hawkins: Where the pellet with the poison's in the vessel with the pestle,
the chalice from the palace has the brew that is true.
Griselda: Good man! Just remember that.
Hawkins: Just remember that, hmm ... The pellet with the poison... the pellet with the poison is in the vessel with the pestle, the chalice from the palace has the true that is brew. Eh... brew that is tru- The pellet with the poison's in the vessel with the pestle, the chalice from the palace has the true that is brew. Eh, eh, brew that is true. Eh. The chestle with the pal- eh, eh, palace with the...
Consuelo: Hey, let’s finish this song!
Sung:
When I fell overboard how his majesty roared
And before a siesta he made me his jester
And I found out soon that to be a buffoon
Was a serious thing as a rule
For a jester’s chief employment
Is to kill himself for your enjoyment ~
And a Jester ‘unemployed’ ~ is nobody’s fool !!!
And before a siesta he made me his jester
And I found out soon that to be a buffoon
Was a serious thing as a rule
For a jester’s chief employment
Is to kill himself for your enjoyment ~
And a Jester ‘unemployed’ ~ is nobody’s fool !!!
FOR ONCE IN A LIFETIME
(From “STOP THE WORLD- I WANT TO GET OFF!”)
Just once in a lifetime, a man knows a moment.
~One wonderful moment when fate takes your hand.
And this is my moment ~ my once in a lifetime
~when I can explore a new and exciting land
For once in my lifetime I feel like a giant.
I soar like an eagle ~ as though I had wings
For this is my moment. My destiny calls me.
And though it may be just once in my lifetime
I'm gonna do great things!
THE UGLY DUCKLING
(From the movie, “HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSON,”
starring Danny Kaye)
There once was an ugly duckling
With feathers all stubby and brown
And the other birds said in so many words
“Get out of town ~
There once was an ugly duckling
With feathers all stubby and brown
And the other birds said in so many words
“Get out of town ~
And he went with a quack and a waddle and a quack
In a flurry of eiderdown.
All through the wintertime he hid himself away
Ashamed to show his face, afraid of what others might say.
All through the winter in his lonely clump of wheat,
Till a flock of swans spied him there and very soon agreed
“You’re a very fine swan indeed!”
“A swan? Me, a swan? Ah, go on!”
“I’m not such an ugly duckling
No feathers all stubby and brown”
For in fact these birds in so many words said,
“The best in town, the best, the best
The best in town”
Not a quack, not a quack, not a waddle or a quack
But a glide and a whistle and a snowy white back
And a head so noble and high
Say, “who’s an ugly duckling?”
“Not I!”
“Not I!
Get out, get out, get out of town!”
That poor little ugly duckling
Went wandering far and near.
But at every place they said to his face
“Now get out, get out, get out of here!”
And he went with a quack and a waddle and a quack,
And a very unhappy tear
And he said “yes, you’re a swan ~
Take a look at yourself in the lake and you’ll see!”
And he looked, and he saw, and he said,
“I am a swan! Wheeeeeeee!”
TCHAIKOVSKY
(Without the least excuse Or the slightest provocation,
May I fondly introduce, For your mental delectation,
The names that always give me a concussion,
The names of those composers known as Russian.)
There's Malichevsky, Rubinstein, Arensky, and Tschaikowsky,
Sapelnikoff, Dimitrieff, Tscherepnin, Kryjanowsky,
Godowsky, Arteiboucheff, Moniuszko, Akimenko,
Solovieff, Prokofieff, Tiomkin, Korestchenko.
There's Glinka, Winkler, Bortniansky, Rebikoff, Ilyinsky,
There's Medtner, Balakireff, Zolotareff, and Kvoschinsky.
And Sokoloff and Kopyloff, Dukelsky, and Klenowsky,
And Shostakovitsch, Borodine, Glière, and Nowakofski.
There's Liadoff and Karganoff, Markievitch, Pantschenko
And Dargomyzski, Stcherbatcheff, Scriabine, Vassilenko,
Stravinsky, Rimsky-Korsakoff, Mussorgsky, and Gretchaninoff
And Glazounoff and Caesar Cui, Kalinikoff, Rachmaninoff,
Stravinsky and Gretchnaninoff, Rumshinsky and Rachmaninoff,
We really have to stop, this subject has been dwelt upon enough!
May I fondly introduce, For your mental delectation,
The names that always give me a concussion,
The names of those composers known as Russian.)
There's Malichevsky, Rubinstein, Arensky, and Tschaikowsky,
Sapelnikoff, Dimitrieff, Tscherepnin, Kryjanowsky,
Godowsky, Arteiboucheff, Moniuszko, Akimenko,
Solovieff, Prokofieff, Tiomkin, Korestchenko.
There's Glinka, Winkler, Bortniansky, Rebikoff, Ilyinsky,
There's Medtner, Balakireff, Zolotareff, and Kvoschinsky.
And Sokoloff and Kopyloff, Dukelsky, and Klenowsky,
And Shostakovitsch, Borodine, Glière, and Nowakofski.
There's Liadoff and Karganoff, Markievitch, Pantschenko
And Dargomyzski, Stcherbatcheff, Scriabine, Vassilenko,
Stravinsky, Rimsky-Korsakoff, Mussorgsky, and Gretchaninoff
And Glazounoff and Caesar Cui, Kalinikoff, Rachmaninoff,
Stravinsky and Gretchnaninoff, Rumshinsky and Rachmaninoff,
We really have to stop, this subject has been dwelt upon enough!
Rumshinsky and Rachmaninoff,
We'd better stop because we feel we all have undergone enough!
We'd better stop because we feel we all have undergone enough!
AMHERST IVY
(Originally, “Grand Old Ivy” from “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying”)
AMHERST IVY ~ Stand firm & strong.
AMHERST IVY ~ See the cheering throng.
AMHERST IVY ~ Please never fall
Why did they Rip, Rip, Rip the ivy from your wall?
You’re were down in the ground
And your roots were at the bottom of the dirt (Down at the bottom of the dirt)
Then they pulled you up & all of us were hurt (Very, very, very, very hurt)
We won’t forget you, That’s why they call you, They call you ‘AMHERST IVY’, AMHERST
AMHERST IVY ~ Stand firm & strong. AMHERST IVY ~ See the cheering throng.
AMHERST IVY ~ Please never fall ~ Why did they Rip! Rip! Rip the ivy from your wall?
GOODBYE!
Thanks for coming to see our show, Sad to tell you, “We’ve got to go!”
Grab your hat and head for the door. In case you didn’t notice, THERE AIN’T ANYMORE!
If you like our show, tell ev’ryone but, if you think it stinks, keep your big mouth shut!
We’re glad you came, but we have to shout “Adios” “Au revoir”, “Wiedersehen”, “Ta-Ta-Ta”, “Goodbye”, “Get Lost”, “Get Out!”
