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1. Bright Lights, Big City
TAD:
Are we ready to roll?
ENSEMBLE:
Where are we rolling?
TAD:
Into the heart of the night!
JAMIE:
I am not the kind of guy
Who should be in a place like this
At this time of the morning
Sunday morning, 6 A.M.
I should’ve cut my losses at 3 A.M.
But I said, ‘No, I need more blow
To get me on my marching feet again.’
Look at the darkness shine
Right into mine
Bright lights, big city
Bright lights, big city
Now, this is what you wanted
All the frolic and the frenzy
Plenty of illusion here,
You live it every day
Know what you see is not what you get here
Dirty, pretty New York City
Hang on to each rush
Before it up and blows away
Look at the darkness come
Hard like a drum
JAMIE AND CHORUS:
Bright lights, big city
Bright lights, big city
COKE GIRL:
Yeah, yeah, yeah
JAMIE:
The problem is
I’m the kinda guy who’s lookin’ for the kinda girl
Who’d never be here
In a club like this at this time of the morning
JAMIE AND CHORUS:
Sunday morning, 6 A.M.
JAMIE:
I’m lookin’ for the kinda girl
Who I’d call at eleven
For some croissants and a coffee
Then we’d go to
JAMIE AND CHORUS:
Some museum
And a set or two of tennis
With Elizabeth and Dennis
Who have just got back from Venice
Oh, I’m a menace to myself
Dancing this close to heartbreak
JAMIE:
Falling away
COKE GIRL:
You got any blow?
JAMIE:
Is Stevie Wonder blind?
COKE GIRL:
I wouldn’t mind some
JAMIE:
Just a little taste
The soups on, as it were
COKE GIRL:
Sure
JAMIE:
Step into my office
COKE GIRL:
I love drugs
And everything they do
Don’t you?
JAMIE:
I do
BOTH:
Love drugs
I love drugs
COKE GIRL:
You got anymore?
JAMIE:
You cleaned out the store.
COKE GIRL:
Goodbye
JAMIE:
Aw, wait!
2. Back in the City
TAD:
Jamie!
JAMIE:
Tad!
TAD:
Monstrous events are scheduled for tonight
I went away, just for the day
To see my family
What a bore
Too many cocktails on the lawn
Discussing sodomy and nuclear war
Another yuppie puppy party
In Connecticut suburbia
The global meltdown has begun
And it’s beginning in suburbia
I lit across the bridge, I flew into a cab
I caught the first train back
TAD AND GIRL:
Grand Central Station here I come
I need the middle of your
Fastest, fastest track
TAD:
And then I get there and walk east on 42nd
To the place where the light hits the sky
That’s right, yeah
And I stand on my tiptoes and scream at the rooftops,
‘Hey, did you miss me?
Come over and kiss me!’
It’s great to be back in the city
CHORUS:
Great back in the the city
TAD:
It’s great to be back in my town
CHORUS:
Great back in my town
TAD AND CHORUS:
Great to be back where such plenty goes down
I got plenty to go around
TAD:
Look at the people
Swarming around like flies
They don’t know me
TAD AND CHORUS:
I’m a hundred stories high
TAD:
I’m lookin’ out my penthouse window
At the New York City skyline, I say,
‘Honey baby, you’re all mine.’
Yeah
It’s great to be back in the city
CHORUS:
Great back in the the city
TAD:
It’s great to be back in my town
CHORUS:
Great back in my town
TAD:
Back in the town where such
TAD AND CHORUS:
Plenty goes down
And there’s plenty to go around
CHORUS (repeated):
1984
TAD:
There’s money falling from the sky
Grab some, have some
TAD AND CHORUS:
Falling too fast
(Falling to fast)
Running too free
(Running too free)
Happy just to be in heartbreak
Jumping too far
(Jumping too far)
Crashing the ledge
(Crashing the ledge)
Dancing on the edge of heartbreak
Put all the hookers around the door
Turn down the tricks at the bar
Never the less, here we are
The more impossible it is to get in,
The more we want to explore
CHORUS (repeated):
1984
COKE GIRL:
The drugs make you feel the music
And the music makes you want more drugs
CHORUS:
Heartbreak
JAMIE:
And all you need is one more popper
One more ***
One more topsy-turvy, hunky-dory
Manic, manic, magic high
JAMIE AND CHORUS:
Listen to the voices
Raging round inside your head again
Like a message from the Vatican
They’re watching as you’re slipping,
As you’re ripping into tripping
Are you willing to be killing
All the dreams that you are having?
Skipping, dripping, slipping, sliding
When you really should be flying from heartbreak
Welcome to the party baby, come on in
Bright lights, big city
JAMIE:
We’ll get you in the middle of the universe
JAMIE AND CHORUS:
Bright lights, big city
Look at the lights
We’ll get you in the middle of the universe in 1984
Bright lights, big city
3. Sunday Morning 6 A.M.
ENSEMBLE:
It’s way after dark
A new day is dawning
Sunday morning heartbreak
JAMIE:
I’m heady and light
Flimsy as silk
Battered and bruised
As this carton of milk
MARY O’BRIEN MCCANN:
Jamie,
I am Mary O’Brien McCann
I’m a student at NYU
I am missing
I was last seen in Washington Square
Wearing a sweater and blouse
I am missing
Please, could you find me?
Please don’t go
Please, could you find me?
Please don’t go
Don’t go
BOTH:
Don’t go
JAMIE:
Don’t go
AMANDA:
Jamie
JAMIE:
Amanda?
AMANDA:
Tonight, tonight let’s go to Old EI
I read about it on a New York Magazine
We’ll spend the day together in
The bubble-maker, sugar sweet trouble
JAMIE:
Amanda
AMANDA:
Take a walk around the block
JAMIE:
Amanda
AMANDA:
Pick up some supplies
Hey, husband, buy your Sunday Times
And come home soon
Don’t forget to go to Zito’s
The smell of fresh beaked bread turns me on
Isn’t this a beautiful Sunday?
Isn’t this a beautiful Sunday?
JAMIE:
Amanda, I can see that Sunday now
Amanda, my typer was hyper all day that day
And later that night the words fell from the sky
And I plucked them off the rooftops from Manhattan
And I wrote them down for you and I
How long has it been since you left me, Amanda?
AMANDA:
Three months, maybe four
I don’t count anymore
JAMIE:
I don’t count anymore
BOTH:
Wasn’t that a beautiful Sunday?
Wasn’t that a beautiful Sunday?
AMANDA:
In our darling little hovel
JAMIE:
Before you became a model
AMANDA:
Before you threw away your novel
JAMIE:
The Great American Novel
AMANDA:
At the end of Chapter Four
JAMIE:
My typer isn’t hyper anymore
STATUE OF LIBERTY:
You are not the kind of boy
Who should be coming home
At this time of the morning
Heartbreak, Sunday Morning, 6 A.M.
All messed up, no place to go
So, tell me, what would mother say?
So say, pray, what would brother say?
I think it’s time you face the fact
Your wife has run away
Come let the darkness rise
Open your eyes
Bright lights, big city
Bright lights, big city
4. Coma Baby
ENSEMBLE:
*** train, *** rain
*** pain in my brain
Monday morning
Woke up grumpy, feeling frumpy
Feeling lumpy, cup of coffee
Read the paper
What’s the headline?
COMA BABY:
Coma baby, coma baby
Monday morning, coma baby
Will I ever see the light of day?
Stuck in here in mommy’s tummy
Warm in here, I want to stay
And chase the Monday morning blues away
ENSEMBLE:
Save us from the teenage terrorists,
Lottery winners, sicko creeps,
Elizabeth Taylors, living nightmares,
Life on other planets, Janet
Spontaneous human combustion, dammit
COMA BABY:
Coma baby, coma baby,
Look at Jamie, slept through Sunday
Late for work again
But not too bad
Well, he never fit in really
Father always on the move
New school every year
We all got our problems, baby
COMA BABY AND ENSEMBLE:
You’ve got to rise above it
Move on up
Shimmy, shimmy, gimme
Gimme, feel me fatal
Fire and metal, rocks and steel
Rim shaw, ricashay, do anything you feel
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Whoa, whoa, whoa
CHUCK BEAN:
This is Chuck Bean on the scene
Of yet another ***
Where the blame is down to crack,
The new smack
The Mayor vows to attack crack
I’ll be back
This is Chuck Bean on the scene
Live from New York City
And remember, people,
Survive, stay alive
COMA BABY AND ENSEMBLE:
Coma baby, coma baby,
Coma baby, coma
MARY O’BRIEN MCCANN:
Please, could you find me?
Please don’t go
5. Fact and Fiction
SECRETARY:
Gotham Magazine,
Department of Factual Verification
CLARA:
You’re terminally unpunctual
ENSEMBLE:
Fact!
CLARA:
Your work is quite dysfunctional
ENSEMBLE:
Fact!
CLARA:
I’ve had as much as I can take
JAMIE:
I’m just a boy in the city, Clara
Give a boy a break
CLARA:
Oh, no no no no,
I don’t think so Jamie
You can’t be a dreamer in an office that deals in fact
Not fiction, I’m talking, baby, fact
Not contradiction
I spoke with Mr. Depardieu
ENSEMBLE:
Fact!
CLARA:
And we’re moving the French piece
Up an issue
ENSEMBLE:
Fact!
CLARA:
I need it on my desk
Tomorrow at nine
ENSEMBLE:
Fact!
CLARA:
Can you handle it Jamie?
JAMIE:
I can handle it, Clara
SECRETARY:
Fiction!
JAMIE:
It isn’t that compelling checking
Other people’s spelling
Grammar isn’t glamorous,
Dictionaries either
I wish I was in fiction
I’m so tired of waiting
Wondering where along the line
I simply stopped exhilarating
I remember coming here the first time for my interview
I thought of all the names that had been made here
I expected to leave fact and go upstairs to fiction
The inevitability of it all was so convincing
Please, sir, could you read my writing?
Open invitation,
Criticize, construction
Here’s an introduction to who I am
And who I want to be
SECRETARY:
Jamie, line two, Monsieur Depardieu
He demands to speak to vous
Who is this guy?
6. I Hate the French
JAMIE:
Depardieu’s a restaurant critic
He hasn’t left Paris in years
He spends his days in cafes and cabarets
Driving me to tears
His spelling’s completely atrocious
His turn of phrase absurd
He thinks he’s pretty precocious
But his *** is full of merde
I hate the French
I hate them all
From Toulouse Le *** Trek
To Charles de Gaulle
I can’t stand the way they put that little thing above the ‘e’
I hate the French
I hate the French
I hate the French
I hate the French
I hate the French
I hate the French
I hate the French
Bonjour, Monsieur Depardieu
Vous too, Monsieur Depardieu
You’re making my life a misery too
So may I say something entre nous?
Go to hell Jacques Brel, the Eiffel Tower too
SECRETARY:
Jamie, Jacques Brel is Belgian
JAMIE:
I hate the French
SECRETARY:
He hates the French
JAMIE:
They’re beau gele
Their cheese, their Paris breeze
SECRETARY:
Their gay parades
JAMIE:
Pierre Cardin, your concaven
Has got a lousy stench
I hate the French
SECRETARY:
He hates the French
JAMIE:
I hate the French
SECRETARY:
He hates the French
JAMIE:
I hate the French
SECRETARY:
I hate the French
BOTH:
We hate the French
JAMIE:
They say that they have savoir faire
But I can’t see it anywhere
The world thinks jeune petit
Moi aussi
I hate the French
That’s the deal
SECRETARY:
Though I do agree with wine at every meal
JAMIE:
But apart from that, I have to say
I’ve never met a French, mench
I rest my case
I take the bench
I hate the French
SECRETARY:
Jamie, it’s your brother calling again
7. Brother
MICHAEL:
Brother, calling my brother
What the hell’s going on with you?
I’ve been calling for a week now
How’s your wife, man?
How’s you job?
How’s your life?
Why don’t you call me, brother?
Next week is the anniversary
Of our mother dying, brother
I’ve been trying to get a hold of you
Just to let you know
We’re going to spread her ashes
On the lake
But not without you, brother
Calling my brother
Where are you, brother?
If you see my brother
Could you ask him please to call me?
That he owes it to our mother
That I’m waiting in Box County
If the mountain will not come to me
Then I’ll come to Manhattan
Could you tell him that, please?
Could you tell my brother?
Calling my brother
And where’s Amanda?
AMANDA:
I won’t be coming home tonight
JAMIE:
Did you get a later flight?
AMANDA:
I’m staying in Paris
JAMIE:
For how long?
AMANDA:
I’m sorry
I don’t want to hurt you
One day I’ll explain
JAMIE:
What are you saying?
AMANDA:
My career is really taking off here
JAMIE:
Since when is modeling a *** career?
AMANDA:
Jamie, please
JAMIE:
Is there someone else?
AMANDA:
Well, that’s not the point
But…yes
JAMIE:
Who?
AMANDA:
A photographer from Paris
JAMIE:
You said they were all gay
AMANDA:
Au contraire
8. I Hate the French (Reprise)
JAMIE:
I hate the French
I really do
From Edith Piaf to Pompadieu
I’d rather have the English with their tea and Judi Dench
Marie Antoinette, bench that ***
I hate the French
I hate the French
I hate the French
I hate the French
I hate the French
I hate the French
I hate the French
I hate the French
I hate the French
I hate the French
I hate the French
9. Odeon
ENSEMBLE:
Odeon, Odeon
Odeon
JAMIE:
I know I should be working
But instead I’m busy shirking
All the drudgery and drivel of responsibility
Both eyes peeled for lonely girls
I don’t think I’m seeing any nuns
Who’d be interested in coming home with me
TAD:
Cherche le gram, man
Cherche le gram
My connection let me down
He had to leave town
Real quick, big hurry
I’ll score, don’t worry
GIRL#1:
Hey, aren’t you Amanda White’s ex-husband?
She was yummy, for a while I used to stop—
JAMIE:
No, no we’re not
GIRL #1:
Sorry, she was hot
Theresa:
Well son, we’d like to get to Bolivia right away
JAMIE:
I speak your lingo
TAD:
Bingo!
Let’s go everybody
It’s snowing in the bathroom
JAMIE:
Ha! That didn’t take long
ENSEMBLE:
Nice rush, cool ***
Mind ***, electronics
Gin and tonics, Reaganomics
Gimme more celebrities
Calvin Klein, Mary Booth
Bastian, hooking up
Christie Brinkley, I’ve been busted
Steve Ruble and Jackie O
Odeon
POT GIRL:
Seems like I’ve spent half my life in bathrooms lately
ENSEMBLE:
Odeon
THERESA:
I know what you mean
TAD:
Oh so neat
Bon appetite
So, are we ready to roll?
JAMIE AND ENSEMBLE:
Where are we rolling?
TAD:
Into the heart of the night!
All over the city tonight
A million nightclubs crave our cash
And past infinity desires, regimes, Savoy
Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy
I’m talking female confection
I’m talking something soft and sweet
I’m talking electricity, femininity
It’s better than drugs
TAD AND ENSEMBLE:
The libido tugs, the magnet chars
Animal *** because because
Man made woman, woman made man
It’s obvious, it’s obvious
I wanna have sex tonight
I wanna have sex tonight
Come on!
Come on!
GIRL #2:
See him?
GIRL #3:
Yeah?
GIRL #2:
Did him
GIRL #3:
Nice
See her?
GIRL #2:
Yeah?
GIRL #3:
Did her
GIRL #2:
Ew!
Did him
GIRL #3:
Did her
GIRL #2:
Did him
GIRL #3:
Did her
GIRL #2:
Did him
GIRL #3:
Did her
ENSEMBLE:
Can you make me come?
Can you make me come?
Can you make me come?
Can you make me come?
Can you make me come?
ALL:
Can you make me come?
Can you make me come?
Can you make me come?
Can you make me come?
Can you make me come?
Can you make me come?
Can you make me come?
Can you make me come?
Can you make me come?
Can you make me come?
Can you make me come?
Can you make me come?
Can you make me come?
Can you make me come?
Can you make me come?
Can you make me come?
Can you make me come?
Knocks and knockers
*** and cockers
Elevation, midnight blue
THERESA:
Would you be less quiet if you have the chance?
ALL:
I cordially invite you to bite it
Ride it, slip it, slide it
Gloss and glide it, light me up
Make me forget my whole life sucks
And a million *** won’t make that right
But, yeah, I wanna have sex tonight
I wanna have sex tonight
Come on!
Come on!
POT GIRL:
Got any smoke?
JAMIE:
Can Bob Hope tell a joke?
POT GIRL:
Bob who?
JAMIE:
I’ll get something for you
POT GIRL:
Hurry up, my mother’s gonna kill me
JAMIE:
Your mother?
POT GIRL:
Come on!
JAMIE:
Alright
ENSEMBLE:
I wanna have sex
10. Happy Birthday Darling
MOM:
You were such a funny boy
An awful baby, Jamie
A terrible screamer, a beautiful dreamer
A looker out of windows
But whenever you would put your darling little hand in mine
There wouldn’t be another proud as me
To be your mother
It just felt right
Hold my hand; are you still holding my hand?
Happy birthday darling, nine!
I can’t believe it seem like only yesterday since you came by
To say your first hello
Hey, how about a little rock and roll?
Let’s put some Beatles on the stereo
Have a Coca Cola, buddy
Honey, all I know is you’ve got it right from the start
Happy birthday darling, fifteen!
Can’t believe it, here’s your present
Yeah, my old typewriter
The one that you’ve been pining for
I read the book you lent me, it’s so powerful
James Joyce—now there’s a voice
No when you write my son, make the choice,
Find your voice; look down deep in your heart
Happy birthday darling, happy birthday darling
And I’m worried about Michael
And the things he doesn’t say
What with Daddy being away so much these days
Reach out to him Jamie, cause he thinks
That I don’t love him like I love you
Happy birthday darling, twenty-one!
I can’t believe it, graduation
English major, ivy leaguer’s what you are
A new job at the Kansas Star
Paint word pictures if you can
Paint the portrait of the artist as a young man
Deep breath and follow your heart
Happy birthday darling
Happy birthday darling, hold my hand
Happy birthday darling
Happy birthday darling
11. Missing
COMA BABY:
Coma baby, coma baby
Still I lie in mommy’s tummy
Warm in here, I think I want to stay
Mommy’s crying, mommy’s dying
Mommy might not even last the day
MARY O’BRIEN MCCANN:
I am Mary O’Brien McCann
I was last seen in Washington Square
Now I’m missing
I met a man with a plan
He took my shivering hand
Now I’m gone
Please, could you find me?
Please don’t go
Please, could you find me?
Please don’t go
JAMIE:
Don’t go Amanda
Amanda, I see your face everywhere
I sense your skin, smell your hair
There’s no escaping after all
There’s your poster on that wall
On that wall, on that wall
12. To Model
AMANDA:
To model is to show the world
The power of a beautiful illusion
To model it to wallow in a blissful state
Of chaos and confusion
The catwalk, the *** talk
The ulcers, the menopause at twenty-five
To model, to model is to fly
To model is to never have to go back to my Kansas City trailer
To model is to lose the fear I always used to feel
Of future failure
The flashbulbs, the camera wall
The media, the big *** in the upstairs lounge
To model, to model is to get me high
Didn’t I wanna be somebody?
Didn’t I wanna be someone?
Remember when I met you?
Me, the little flower girl from Kansas
All my glossy magazines and magic dreams
Of Studio 54, the Plaza Hotel
Mama said don’t marry you, he’ll run off like they always do
Like all her husbands did before
Mommy’s now on husband number four
Men always leave
But there you were, a boy with a book
Moving East, take me to
Bright lights, big city
Bright lights, big city, yeah
JAMIE:
Remember when we took that horse and carriage
Through the park and walked to Tiffany?
Lunch at the Four Seasons
Talking marriage and the giving up of liberty
The wedding bells, the cocktail check
That funny little hat you wore when walking down the aisle
I miss your smile, I miss your smile
AMANDA:
To model is to finally see another side of me
That was in hiding
To model is to shut my eyes and float upon this fantasy
I’m riding
I like it, I love it
The world outside my window every morning when I rise
I open up my eyes to see
To model is to release the me inside
You can see me Thursday
I’ll be modeling on MTV
13. So Many Little Things
JAMIE:
The rain on the porch of our house in Box County
The warmth of the folks by the fire inside
The hammock I swung on while figuring out
The world was too wide
That I never fit in, hidden from you
Mommy, always on the outside looking in
So many little things
So many little things
I misplaced my keys
The balance of my checkbook is never what it seems
So much tiny trivia
Like the color of my socks at school
Like those vicious little finger
Pointing out my otherness
So many little things
So many little things
Back at our apartment
The memories lurk like dust balls
In the corner of her closet I find bits of satin
Strewn around Manhattan
So many little tings
Records on the stereo
Elvis Costello
JAMIE AND ENSEMBLE:
I know the world is killing you
JAMIE:
So many little things
So many little things
At least the big things declare open combat on you
No sniping from the trees
Or days like these
So many little things
I misplaced my keys
I don’t wanna go home
Who needs the memories?
I listen for the echo
Of a melancholy silence
The presence of her absence
Shrieks and moans
And says
So many little things
So many little things
Tonight I should stay home with some comfort food and some Family Feud
‘So Jamie, for $10,000 what could you have said to your mother
Before she died?’
So many little things
14. Back in the City, Pt. 2
TAD:
Monstrous events are scheduled
Monstrous event are scheduled for tonight
I gotta date a half past eight with Natalie and Slinky Inga
Before it’s late I wanna have the wrapped around my pinky finger
I need a favor, Jamie
My cousin Vicky, she’s in town tonight
I think you’ll like her flavor
So could you entertain her?
Meet her at nine for a cocktail or three
Could you do that for me, Jamie?
There’s a gram in it man
And she’s quite whoopdedoo
A philosophy major at Princeton U
Get up and get back in the city
Time to get back on the town
Back in the town here such plenty goes down
And we’ve got plenty to go around
15. Kindness
VICKY:
Well, it was my father really
Indirectly speaking, Daddy never read philosophy
But he lived by a strict philosophical code
Dad was in investment banking
Very proper, always thanking people
He was kind to me; I’d sit on his knee when he’d get home
He would say to me,
‘Think of what the world could be if we could just be
Kind to each other.’
I thought about what Daddy said
I thought about the thoughts in my head
At 12 I found this book by Young
‘Considering Thoughts of Modern Men’
That was when I found I like
To delve into the human psych
And when my musings got confusing
Daddy said, ‘Just do what you can
And think of what the world could be
If we could just be kind to each other.’
And Daddy found another woman
Daddy found much younger woman
I came home to find Mommy flailing,
Wailing at the wall
Kindness, there’s not enough kindness in the world
Daddy’s lying on a beach now
With Gloria the stewardess
His contradictions spilling out
Of his new tight blue jeans
So much for his riff on kindness
I mark it down to human blindness
But I don’t mind too much, cause I love him
I say, ‘Nice jeans Dad.’
Just to be kind
Think of what the world could be
If we could just be kind to each other
Kindness, there’s not enough kindness in the world
Kindness
16. Perfect Feeling
JAMIE:
Kindness? Heavy
I don’t meet that many benevolent people
VICKY:
I’m not that surprised
Manhattan
JAMIE:
I’m Vicky
VICKY:
No, you’re Jamie
JAMIE:
Right, you’re Vicky
VICKY:
And you’re Jamie
JAMIE:
Look at those freckles
I didn’t know the made them anymore
Vicky, Vicky
One in a million
VICKY:
The philosophy of love
Think about what Plato said,
‘You love therefore you are’
JAMIE:
You send me reeling
BOTH:
What a perfect feeling
What a perfect feeling
VICKY:
Amanda?
JAMIE:
Heavy
VICKY:
Do you still love her?
Here’s my number
JAMIE:
I’ll call you
VICKY:
You better
You’re a writer, write me a letter
JAMIE:
From out of the blue, it’s green for go
I’m in the pink
Kissing a philosopher really colors the way you think
BOTH:
What a perfect feeling
What a perfect feeling
JAMIE:
What a perfect feeling
17. Bright Lights, Big City, Pt. 2
JAMIE:
Isn’t this refreshing,
Me not ending up an evening
In some comatose, unconscious stupor
On a bathroom floor?
Yeah, yeah, I like this
Yeah, I like this more
Cause tonight, tonight I am happy
Tonight I happy tonight, tonight
18. You Couldn't Handle It Jamie
CLARA:
You couldn’t handle it, Jamie
You couldn’t handle it, Jamie
These proofs are a mess, two accents reversed
An electoral district in France incorrectly identified
Inexcusable, Jamie
In fifty years of publication
We’ve only issued one retraction
What about our reputation?
Do you know how serious this is, Jamie?
You couldn’t handle it, Jamie
You couldn’t handle it, Jamie
I’ve given you the benefit of the doubt before
But not today
I would like to know what you have to say
JAMIE:
Come on, come on
I know what it’s like
I’ve seen you before
Weeknights on Columbus Avenue
Clutching your drink
Piano Bar Blue
Waiting for someone, anyone at all
To say hello
How did it all start coming undone?
19. My Son
CLARA:
My son
JAMIE:
Your son?
CLARA:
Dylan’s 13 now
My son lives with his dad
My son, he has a good life, big fun
In his Michigan home
I wasn’t a good wife
But still, I miss him today and tomorrow
And I always will
My son
When he left, I was crazy, way gone
Bellevue depressed, no one could break through my darkness
No one, not even my son
I’ve a chemical imbalance they say
Four lithium carbonate tablets a day and I’m swell
Like hell!
Don’t tell my son
JAMIE:
I presume I’m fired?
CLARA:
Effective immediately
I’m sorry, Jamie
20. Wednesday
BLUES MAN:
Wednesday
Middle of the week day
Everybody on their way somewhere
You wanna go somewhere, too
But you’ve absolutely nothing to do
And every other person has a job except you
And every other person has a life except you
Isn’t that depressing, baby?
Whoop do do do do
Wednesday
Middle of the week day
You got your Tuesdays and your Thursdays
Your Saturdays and your Sundays
Your Mondays and your Fridays, your Fridays
Your weekends, see the point that I am making
Is that all the days are taken
Except the one right in the middle of this
Freaky, whack-a-*** of a week
So to speak, well, that’s right
Wednesdays are all mine
Uncut Peruvian flake, the closest you get to God these days
JAMIE:
How much?
BLUES MAN:
Fifty and a half
JAMIE:
Wanna taste?
BLUES MAN:
Who are you?
John DeLaurian?
JAMIE:
Alright, alright, alright
I’ll take it
BOTH:
Drain-o, drain-o for the brain-o
Drift away your Wednesday
BLUES MAN:
Yeah, middle of the week day
21. Camera Wall
CHUCK BEAN:
People, this is Chuck Bean
On the scene at Rocafellar Center
For the MTV extravaganza starring
Amanda, the hot new thing
There’s Versace with Oscar De La Renta
For Simon de BonBon and Duran Duran Duran
Hey, are you hungry like the wolf?
This is Chuck Bean on the scene
Where fashion and music meet
Where the word on the street is
You better look good if you wanna go far
Cause today’s supermodel is the new superstar
Aw, yeah, here come the ladies
MODELS:
Walk toward the camera wall
Supermodel is the best job in the world
Walk toward the camera’s call
Don’t know how I got into that, oh no no
Didn’t want to get into that, oh oh oh
TAD:
Jamie, Amanda’s right over there
JAMIE:
Where?
AMANDA:
Sitting in my dressing room
Staring in the mirror at I don’t know who
So many different of me
Appearing, disappearing
Who are they?
I can be a ***, I can be a vamp
A princess or a junkie, *** or a ***
Bend me, shape me, anyway you want me
Image me up and the camera will tell you
Who I am
MODELS:
Walk toward the camera wall
Walk toward the camera wall
AMANDA:
Swinging to the rhythm of a beat that I don’t recognize
Inside I’m a mess
I’m higher than a kite
Please tell me, is it day or night?
And, God, I hate this dress
Lip gloss, weight loss
Face lift, nose job
Silicone, novacaine, plastic features
Plastic beauty, plastic me
Look and see and the camera will tell you
Who I am
Here I am
MODELS:
Walk toward the camera wall
Supermodel is the best job in the world
Watch us go into super slow-mo
JAMIE:
Amanda!
TAD:
Jamie, what are you doing?
JAMIE:
Amanda!
TAD:
Jamie, Jamie!
JAMIE:
Look at me!
TAD:
Jamie, for God’s sake, man!
JAMIE:
Amanda, look at me!
Remember me, your husband?
TAD:
What the *** is—Jamie!
JAMIE:
Remember me?
Jamie?
Models (repeated):
Walk toward the camera wall
CHUCK BEAN:
This is Chuck Bean on the scene of a sensation
There’s an eruption in the crowd
The coked-out husband stalking Amanda
JAMIE:
Don’t worry about me
I’m doing fine
I could write a book
I might draw the line
Could-a, would-a, should-a
Yes, well all know that one, don’t we?
It’s the psycho killer look
It’s the fact that I mistook myself for someone else
CHUCK BEAN:
This is Chuck Bean on the scene
Deep inside Jamie’s head
Where did he go wrong?
How did it come to this?
JAMIE:
The voice is getting louder
More valerian, marching power
CHUCK BEAN:
What’s wrong with people in love?
JAMIE:
If I lie down, I might die
If I lie down, I might die
Don’t worry about me
I’m doing fine
I don’t need you, brother
I don’t need you, mother
I don’t need this job
I don’t need this wife
I don’t need, I don’t need
I don’t need, I don’t need
Don’t worry about me
I’m doing fine
I could write a book
I might draw the line
Could-a, would-a, should-a
Yes, we all know that one, don’t we?
It’s that psycho killer look
It’s the fact that I mistook myself for someone else
For someone else
22. Heart and Soul
MICHAEL:
Christmas morning, cold and frosty
Huddling underneath the tree
I can see us now, cuddling Mommy
Mommy always loved you more than me
Psychologically speaking,
That was way beyond control
Till I let things settle in my heart,
Heart and soul
Christmas morning, decade later
I am waiting by the phone
I can see me now; you said you’d call me
Three hours later I forgive you once again
Theoretically speaking,
I’m still waiting for that call
Wondering what to do
Cause brother, when it comes to you
The heart tends toward mercy
And the soul leans toward love
And my heart and soul in my dream of life loves you
Heart and soul
VICKY:
I’ve been dreaming, little children
Making messes on their Dungarees and dresses
Riding painted ponies through holes in the sky
Philosophically speaking,
If I share my dreams with you
We could find a place somewhere in time
BOTH:
Where the heart tends toward mercy
And the soul leans toward love
And my heart and soul in my dream of life loves you
Heart and soul
Where the heart tends toward mercy
And the soul leans toward love
And my heart and soul in my dream of life
MICHAEL, VICKY, AND MOM:
Loves you
MICHAEL AND VICKY:
Heart and soul
MOM:
Loves you
MICHAEL AND VICKY:
Heart and soul
Heart and soul
23. Brother, Pt. 2
MICHAEL:
Brother, calling my brother
JAMIE:
Michael, what are you doing here?
MICHAEL:
What the hell’s going on with you?
I’ve been calling for a week now
JAMIE:
Yeah, I know
MICHAEL:
And, so?
JAMIE:
And, so?
MICHAEL:
So, why don’t you call me back?
I don’t get it
This week is the anniversary
Of our mother dying, brother
I’ve been trying to get you
Just to let you know—
JAMIE:
You’re going to spread her ashes on the lake
MICHAEL:
But not without you
Brother, calling my brother
Face it, Jamie, face it now
It’s been tough on all of us
Deal with it somehow, be a man
You can do that, can’t you, brother?
JAMIE:
I gotta go
MICHAEL:
No, you’re not going anywhere
JAMIE:
Look, don’t be an ***, Michael
MICHAEL:
Hey, Mr. Wonderful,
Who galloped in from New York
For the last act of Mom’s life?
With your stupid rented sports car and your stupid model wife!
JAMIE:
Shut up!
MICHAEL:
Like it was some New York party you didn’t mind being late for!
JAMIE:
Shut up!
MICHAEL:
You never had to exert yourself for anything
School, girls, awards, fancy jobs,
They all just fell in your lap!
JAMIE:
Shut the *** up!
MICHAEL:
Make me!
24. Mummies at the Met
JAMIE AND ENSEMBLE:
Mummies at the Met, Met
Mommy used to take me to see
Mummies at the Met, Met
Mommy used to take me to see
MOM:
Come on boys,
TV off!
Family outing!
10:45 from Lambertville, New Jersey to Penn Station, express
Let’s get dressed and put some
Eggs and bacon in those tummies
And it’s all aboard and off to see the
ENSEMBLE (repeated):
Mummies at the Met, Met
Mommy used to take me to see
Mummies at the Met, Met
Mommy used to take me to see
Mummies at the Met, Met
COMA BABY (overlapping):
Coma baby, coma baby
MARY O’BRIEN MCCANN (overlapping):
I am Mary O’Brien McCann
I am gone
COMA BABY:
I am warm
BOTH:
I am warm/gone
JAMIE:
So many little things
So many little birds
Singing in the sunrise
A year ago tonight
The memory still bright
So many little words
Go flying out the window
Dissolving in the sunlight
Mom, let me give you morphine
To take away the pain
25. Are You Still Holding My Hand?
MOM:
It’s embarrassing,
This pain I feel
It doesn’t matter anymore
People waste their time being embarrassed
We’re only human after all
Are you still holding my hand?
Promise you’ll never let go
This pain I’m felling is like when you were born
I’d never felt such pain before
Not till now, that is
This pain
We’re only human after all
Are you still holding my hand?
Promise, you’ll never let go
Have you had many lovers?
I’ve never heard their names
There’s still so much to know
Responsibilities to the living
I’d never realized before
Not till now, that is
This life, this love
We’re only human after all
Are you still holding my hand?
Promise you’ll never let go
26. Brother, Pt. 3
MICHAEL:
I remember one October
She was raking leaves in the garden
Wearing your old ski team jacket, six sizes too big
I can see her smiling,
Fallen leaves in her hair, smelling the air
JAMIE:
I remember driving home from college
She was baking bread in the kitchen
She was not too good in the kitchen
The bread got burned, but I ate two slices anyway
With butter and jam
Amanda left me
I just got fired
I miss Mom
Responsibilities to the living
I’d never realized before
Not till now, that is
This life, this love
We’re only human after all
Are you still holding my hand?
Promise you’ll never let go
BOTH:
Are you still holding my hand?
Promise you’ll never let go
MICHAEL:
Brother, calling my brother
JAMIE:
Hey, brother
27. Monstrous Events
TAD:
Monstrous events are scheduled
Monstrous events are scheduled
Monstrous events are scheduled
For tonight
It’s Saturday, the city is alive with expectations
My breath is baited
I’m wet with anticipation
Please excuse the vernacular
But tonight will be spectacular
A mega party at a downtown loft
Your old treasure nice and soft
Come if you dare
And Amanda will be there
28. Stay in My Life
ENSEMBLE:
Na na, na na, na na, na
Na na, na na, na na, na na
Na na, na na, na na, na
Na na, na na, na na, na na
AMANDA:
Hey, Jamie
JAMIE:
Hey, Amanda
AMANDA:
This is my new friend
Man:
I’m Paul
AMANDA:
Say something Jamie
JAMIE:
We’re only human after all
Isn’t it amazing?
Isn’t it incredible?
Quite alarming,
This feeling of not feeling anything at all
The way you twirl your hair through your fingertips
Your kiss on my lips
Suddenly meaningless to me, now
No need to say, ‘Stay in my life.’
ENSEMBLE:
Na na, na na, na na, na
Na na, na na, na na, na na
Na na, na na, na na, na
Na na, na na, na na, na na
VICKY:
What time is it?
Where are you?
Whatcha doing now?
It’s late, I wanna talk to you
I miss you
JAMIE:
I miss you, too
VICKY:
I got your letter yesterday
You write so beautifully, Jamie
There is poetry spilling from you
Stay in my life
ENSEMBLE (repeated):
Na na, na na, na na, na
Na na, na na, na na, na na
Na na, na na, na na, na
Na na, na na, na na, na na
JAMIE AND VICKY:
Stay in my life
Stay in my life
VICKY AND ENSEMBLE:
Na na, na na, na na, na
Na na, na na, na na, na na
Na na, na na, na na, na
Na na, na na, na na, na na
VICKY:
And the words will fall again
Catch them, Jamie
ENSEMBLE:
Catch them, Jamie
VICKY AND ENSEMBLE:
Catch them, Jamie
29. Wordfall
JAMIE:
I am not the kinda guy
Who should be coming home
At the time of the morning
Sunrise, Sunday morning, 6 A.M.
One day, there’s a Sunday coming closer
Where my typer might be hyper
With the fire of a novel once again
Come light the darkness die
Come light up my
Bright lights, big city
Bright lights, look at the words falling from the sky
STATUE OF LIBERTY:
Heartbreak
COKE GIRL:
Sad
TAD:
Drugs
CLARA:
Fact
SECRETARY:
Fiction
BLUES MAN:
***
TAD:
Monstrous
AMANDA:
Model
MICHAEL:
Mother, brother
COMA BABY:
Missing
MARY O’BRIEN MCCANN:
Find me
STATUE OF LIBERTY:
Sunday
VICKY:
Philosophy
CLARA:
Fact
SECRETARY:
Fiction
MOM:
Happy birthday darling
ALL (repeated):
Bright lights, big city!
JAMIE:
Bright lights, big city
Bright lights, big city