Max:
The sun in this city fakes me out
It leaks through the drying leaves, and dimly dances about
It falls on the concrete, where the sparrows clean their wings
On on the old park bench where I sit to sift through things
Things don’t change that much
The cry of a siren wakes me up
It weaves through the treetops, and the sound of passing trucks
It winds down the canyons of mirror, glass and steel
And makes its way down streets full of feet and hats and wheels
Things don’t change that much
Things don’t change that much
FRANZ: Slow fox hunting with the Tsar, the Kaiser and the Kings
MAX: mmm, royal ladies under parasols, naked on the beach
BOTH: oooh, what a sight; blue blooms the autumn sky
Blue ends the summer – time
MAX: Backed up back to mossy walls suffocating in the peace
FRANZ: Stuck dead still, flunking steps, every clock a ticking tease
BOTH:
mmmm, falling down on our knees
Wake us, somewhere, elsewhere, please
We will play with the horizon
We will ride rails of light in our babies’ eyes
We will feel low tides risin’
We will drink burning tears like wine
Savor every dream every night
FRANZ: Dressed up fussy clowns, feathers, medals, brass and beads
MAX: they’re old and tired now,
Cries rock down the cobblestones and echo up the streets
BOTH:
mmmm, falling down on our knees
Blue flowers blossom bittersweet
We will play with the horizon
We will ride rails of light in our babies’ eyes
We will feel low tides risin’
We will drink burning tears like wine
Savor every dream every night
Hannah: I can’t possibly eat as much as I’d like to puke
Into the shiny boots of jingoes making news
Who was it who said we’d be better off dead?
Some bloodless fool who always laid alone in bed
Hey boys, what’s this race about?
Don’t you have better ways of gettin’ this out?
These words ramble aimlessly
Why this silly sewing done so seriously?
I used to lie on a beach with peach-colored sand
I knew I’d die with one touch from some Romeo’s hand
Hey, man, those are mighty big holes!
How did you dig them without letting people know?
Great hands, like Michelangelo’s, a shame:
You could have rubbed my legs, instead of digging holes
Hey, boys, shall we call it a day?
Let’s have a beer and think of other games to play
Here’s our victor on the sewing machine!
A man with his tools, a goddamned glorious thing!
I closed my eyes on the beach with peach-colored sand
I hoped that I would be Queen of King Romeo’s land
Slinking our way to the backs of our minds,
Not a pretty picture, just as well we’re going blind
Wishing these days could be left far behind,
Wishing those boys were marching home in peaceful times
I can’t possibly eat as much as I’d like to puke,
Wish the boys were home now, no more news
Hannah + Max: Fancy this, a heart after all!
In the open blue, it was hiding here
It is so unclear, and inviting
So why not seize the day?
Get undressed, throw the armor away
Take a chance, let it come what may
La la la . . .
La la la la la la
Hannah: You have a darkness in your eyes
It’s a little bit scary.
and not the kind of thing I would typically trust
Max: Tu as . . . je ne sais quoi
Et moi, I may be feeling something
Not a little unlike lust
Yield to this
Hannah + Max: Yield to this, why brace for a fall?
Floating weightlessly, breathing heavily
It is plain to see what we’re looking for
So why not seize the day?
Throw our clothes off, get carried away?
La la la . . .
La la la la la la . . .
Each day is like no other, no century like another,
In a river every moment passing new
This day is like no other, I climbed the Eiffel Tower
And saw the rooftops from the angels’ view
Now things will never, will never be the same
They will never, will never be the same
It took me by surprise the shocking new-ness of my seeing,
To find the round earth flat and crossed by lines
I thought of you in Paris, I remembered us together
I thought of all the things I should have said
Now things will never, will never be the same
They will never, will never be the same
We took a plunge in the river and floated away
Tangled ourselves up in pleasure and lived day-to-day
Let the world fall all around us and always believed
We could wrap ourselves ‘round each other
And do as we pleased
This day was like no other, I climbed the Eiffel Tower
And when I closed my eyes I thought of you
I imagined you in Paris, I remembered you still sleeping
I felt your quiet hand still held in mind
But things can never, will never be the same
They will never, will never be the same.
Never, no never, be the same
Max: Pink skin on the porcelain of a toilet magnificently clean
The cool tip of a finger on a silk sink spectacularly clean
The mirror: untouchable mercury
A vague face appearing in a pool of floating steam
Floating steam
Hannah: Pieces, broken pieces, may be pieces we never would have seen
Time is just a river, only fools try to paddle up that stream
The quaking has rattled us from our sleep
The world will awaken fitfully
Wait and see. Wait and see
Maria: The fact is, even science is as sensuous as anything might be
The caress of cool equations
and the firm touch of soothing certainty
The fire: immutable orange and blue
The face in the mirror , passing through
Passing through
ENS: No place but up, no place to hide
The slate wiped clean the canvas white
Walls and ceilings blown apart, bare feet on shattered glass
Draped in gauze of shame and fear we’re naked now at last
The water breaks, blood-rushing tide
The forceps reach and squeeze the prize
Black and restless, sparkling beads, our new-born babies’ eyes
Scan the room for useful clues and blurs are all they find
Franz: Oil sits on the surface of the water, annoyingly still
Floating, never blending, never soaking in the gravity or thrill
Of vibrating voices in my ears
The heat of your skin when you are near
When you are near
Max & Hannah:
A no-man’s land in Weimar
Of what was and what could be
We’re whistling past the graveyards,
And stuffing full what’s empty
The bloody woolen covers
Are stacked as tall as buildings
Did anybody wonder . . .?
The ghosts that come to haunt me
Can’t look on things as pretty
They died alone in funk-holes
Filthy, silent, frozen, empty
They said we’d skip to Paris
We’d celebrate in London
That we’d be home by Christmas
What a silly, mixed up world!
Don’t you think I’m very pretty?
drinking
alone’s such a
pity
You’re losing ground. You should try fishing.
Why bring us down? Why not start living!
Do you prefer brown or blue eyes?
Why don’t you
tell me what
you’d like?
You’re turned around. You should try knitting.
What’s with this frown? We should start living.
Restless boys, and feeling frisky girls!
Max & Hannah:
We thank the lord, the lord our God, for all
She gave, for all we’ve got We would never not adore her; she would
never let us . . . ROT! We thank the lord, the lord our God.
They told us not to bother,
They told us not to worry
In one ear out the other
It’s OUR friends dead and buried!
You shamed our weakling fathers
You crushed the hearts of lovers
And widowed most the others
You screwed our virgin sisters
Ripped bare the wombs of mothers
You murdered half our brothers
You make us SICK, grandfathers!
Do you think I’m very pretty?
Do you think I’m
ample breasted?
Won’t
these
help you
feel
Connected?
Max & Hannah: Out on the pier overlooking the lake
Stars sparkle gaily on midnight-blue waves
Visions I thought I put safely away
Float on the surface and screw up my days,
but you’re right
I really don’t care if we’re happy tonight
It’s all the same if we cry, aye, aye,
I’m always high
It’s all the same if you sleep with me tonight
I really don’t care if we die, aye, aye
Eyes, bleeding soldiers, cowboys and guns
Wrestling under my bed
Seeping through cracks in our sleeping, you’re right:
I’ll roll on, take up the next fight
Maria: Some stories blow that are soothing to spin
Of gentle gods and of ships coming in
On breezes that fill our flopping sails
And float on a sea of fairy tales
A assign grip, and then they slide through your hands
Mischievous drips of things we can’t understand
You dressed up a god to hear your prayers
And for all the prayers to show, one day
Maria & Max: Lies will fade;
Fade away, someday
Maria: If you had raised your eyes
He might have turned and walked away
Maria: Open your fist, and let it slide through your hands
It’s still a wind, without ships coming in
The sparkle of stories fades away,
And leaves us the golden dust you made
Hannah: rrrr beh bo, rrrr beh bo bo fumms, wo taa
rrrr beh bo, rrrr beh bo bo fumms, taa zaa
srrr Da un, srrr Da un Da srrr, wo taa
Sir! Da? Sir! I will accuse you, Sir, Da Da!
Totally Unreasonable Life
They’ll torture us, they’ll torture them
And then torture you, too
see lay runn, seee lay runn noh day, paa paa
see lay runn, seee lay runn noh day, taa zaa
brrr meek oh, brrr meek oh koh waa, maa maa
Sir! Da? Sir! I will arrest you Sir, Da Da!
Totally unfashionable Life
They’ll screw the Jews, communists too,
And then they’ll screeeeeew you
Weeping mums, you zesty ones
Will you still pawn the lie:
“Dulce et decorum est, pro patria mori”?
laa bo waa, laa bo waa toh ree, waa taa
laa bo waa, laa bo waa toh ree, taa zaa
Wilfred O., Wilfred O. was killed, la la
One week shy, one week shy of going home
Totally Unfathomable Life
We’ve murdered him, we’ve murdered them,
We’ll likely murder you, too
Weeping mums, you zesty ones
Will you still pawn the lie:
“Dulce et decorum est, pro patria mori”?
Franz: Someone’s sleeping the rest of the night
They won’t see this sunrise
They don’t know what it’s like
Each day following each night
They could tell us to stand down
If they say it, we could turn around
Dreaming of falling, feeling lighter than air
Eden may lie over there
Over these fields, a sky as blue as the sea
Blue as what heaven must be
They don’t know what it’s like
Each day following each night
They don’t know we’ve died at all
They don’t know a hawk from a handsaw
Used to be we would hover over the ground,
Drunk with the end of the world
Sliding through days, we smiled,
And threw off our clothes,
Thinking that heaven is real
Womb is empty, no child
Drained and bleeding, on time
Hannah: All ships that are sailing will come again to port
Speeding quietly to harbors
That wait for them to moor, again, just as before
Max & Hannah: I am waiting in the crow’s nest,
With a moonless night in tow
My sailing hosts are tidy
A mystery, these peaceful ghosts
And the rituals they know
The angels on the levee are smiling out at me
Their patience is unfailing,
Even though they’ve seen me pass this way
So many times before
The angels on the levee are waiting there for me
I’m up in the crow’s nest
Trying to unwind the rope that lets me down below
All ships that are sailing will come again to port
Speeding quietly to harbors
That wait for them to moor, again, just as before
