Curtain Raise
There's a busy bee up & out runnin' around
Don't know left from right, don't know up from
down
Fallen hard on harder times
& he's still tryin' to make out the fine
line
Now he's carryin' leads for a tri-colored breed
As a brace of wanna-be refugees
From centuries away trace the line of the day
Wavin' daggers from papier-maché
There were princes & preachers & peasants
You could tell by their gowns & their gait
A Scandinavian heir in a lazy repair
& a stare of long studied negate
That he'd ripped off a crook, a bad B-movie
hook
That world-weary "don't-bug-me"-attitude
But as the censers came flyin', he'll forever
deny it
But he was the first one to duck
So turn down the house lights & turn up
the sound
There's a scent of cold sweat & a hush
on the crowd
Clear the stage & stay in the shade
Quiet, everybody, & cue the Curtain Raise
There was Juliet stridin' forth & back
Tryin' for a bird's eye & eyecontact
With the sullen heir from a different age
While the King kept his eye firmly on the stage
& the tri-colour cursed as another fuse
burst
& the night scene got darker that the King
had concurred
& off the bee buzzed like a leper concussed
To suss & to quiet the fuss
Ophelia was dancing serenely
& each night at a quarter to nine
She was raped & misused by a blaggart who'd
usually
Be sleepin' tight by that time
& the man of the stands received everyone's
commands
& complaints & demands just flowed
into his hands
But he smiled & restrained while the Jack-of-all-Trades
Taught the rhumba to Lady Couché
So turn down the houselights
Each night as the final meal had been sought
The jester was doing his best to hold court
But tried a little too hard to keep laughin'
From a joke he was hopin' would happen
The producer reclined, a sad philistine
& tried to look out of his glasses to spy
Something that he could fix
That wasn't broken or quit
But just to remind them that he's the guy
Ophelia cracked open another round
While Juliet was tryin' her best to come down
The sky was a dark kind of yellow
From fires fanned by a squat, bearded bellow
& the locals caroused, out of fashion &
blouse
Out of house, out of costume the late nights
would mount
Then they'd slip on their kit & as the
curtain quit
They would whip out a trip to recount it
They were big time boys makin' bit time noise
In a place where the web was a spider's joys
& the light in the eyes of the local girls
cried
Of a prize that was quite beyond surprise
The King couldn't care less & the Prince
was a mess
As he proudly confessed any chance he'd get
& Ophelia shut in all the wine with gin
& the beer with a shake of her head
From out on the outskirts the busy bee
Watched the story unfold in tranquility
Only marred by his ticks & his tension
An alien in disbelieving suspension
'Cause the King has no Queen & his heir
is just redeemed
By his own mind & a presence that the bee's
never seen
So he cracks open a beer & says, to no
one there,
"Here's to life & a laugh & a
dream!"
So turn down the houselights
Cut from a sultry summer day's dream
Sky was a bright shade of blue
Crisp crystal air with a warmth runnin' through
& the bee slipped his shoes, slipped his
ticks & the blues
Of an alien sluicing latrines on a cruise
Had his soul wrapped inside of a dream
At the proscenium arches, the curtains still
closed
The hyper was mixing with the comatose
The henchmen were dazed & diffused
As the rain dribbled slow off armour substitutes
Ophelia was crying & Juliet was trying
Her best to negotiate peace in time
& the heir gave his stare & sighed
heavy & clear
& resumed the long suffering grin through
his beard
So turn down the houselights
Delusion rides high on a pretense
& pretense runs high on applause
Make him feel he's succeeded his cause
When it's all in a day's work & all in
a game's worth
& everything is up & for grabs
Who's foolin' who, who's the rused, who's accused
& does anyone bother with keeping score...?
So turn down the houselights
Words & Music by
TK Berg © 2006