“Allegro” LYRICS

Charlie:
Our world is for the forceful
And not for sentimental folk,
But brilliant and resourceful
And paranoiac gentle folk!

Joe:
Not soft and sentimental folk!

Charlie:
“Allegro,” a musician
Would so describe the speed of it,
The clash and competition
Of counterpoint­­–

Emily:
The need of it?

Charlie:
We cannot prove the need of it!

We know no other way
Of living out a day.
Our music must be galloping and gay!

Joe:
We muffle all the undertones,
The minor blood-and-thunder tones,
The overtones are all we care to play!

Charlie, Joe and Emily:
Hysterically frantic,
We are stubbornly romantic
And doggedly determined to be gay!

Emily:
Brisk, lively,
Merry and bright!
Allegro!
Same tempo
Morning and night!
Allegro!
Don’t stop whatever you do,
Do something dizzy and new,
Keep up the hullabaloo!

Emily and Ensemble:
Allegro! Allegro!
Allegro! Allegro!
Allegro! Allegro!

Joe:
We spin and we spin and we spin and we spin,
Playing a game no one can win,
The men who corner wheat,
The men who corner gin,
The men who rule the airwaves,
The denizens of din—

Ensemble:
They spin and they spin,
They spin and they spin.

Charlie:
The girls who dig for gold
And won’t give in for tin,
The lilies of the field,
So femininely thin,
They toil not, they spoil not,
But oh, how they spin!

Ensemble:
Oh, how they spin!
Oh, how they spin!

Joe:
May’s in love with Kay’s husband,
He’s in love with Sue!
Sue’s in love with May’s husband,
What are they to do?

Tom’s in love with Tim’s wife,
She’s in love with Sam!
Sam’s in love with Tom’s wife,
So they’re in a jam!

Charlie:
They are smart little sheep
Who have lost their way,

Charlie, Joe and Emily:
Blah! Blah! Blah!

Charlie, Joe, Emily and Ensemble:
Brisk, lively,
Merry and bright! Allegro!
Same tempo
Morning and night!
Allegro!

Don’t stop whatever you do,
Do something dizzy and new,
Keep up the hullabaloo!
Allegro! Allegro!
Allegro! Allegro!
Allegro! Allegro!