anne's opera
TRANSCRIPT
8/14/2019 ANNE's Opera
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NIGHT IS OVER (Anne)
Night is hereMy day has begunThe night is longI hate the sunAt night I work
And my kids run me raggedall day long.
Independent, self sufficientA modern wifeAnd I mean it.
I won’t steal from my husband for my needsWhy should I borrow or beg,When I can spread my legs?
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I do my work quickly,Keep my workplace clean,
And fast,
It keeps them coming back for more.Soft and pillowy,
The neighborhood whore.
But relax ladies,Men put away your wood,
Yours is not my neighborhood.
****************
Strange in this placeTo hear the sounds that children make
Whoever brought them has made a mistake.The clatter of kids playing on a swing
Strange are the feelingsChildren’s laughter brings.
The dark and quiet of junkie parkHas been penetrated
By the noise of little boys.In this place to tie your armAnd shoot up in the dark.Where junkies have shot
The street lights out.
********************
Like a hound dog on the trailI can sense men looking for tailLike dogs circling in the hunt.
Finding what they want, I put up no front.
My radar can find the stiff
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On a body hid in a car trunkThe guy with kids is no john,I don’t need my radar on.
A man with small kids fills me withAnxiety and suspicion
But it’s not my businessI’ll continue to my destination.
But they are on my benchLater there I will lie
Pleasing my customersOr after work getting high.
Kids eating, spilling soda and gooAlong with infected blood spilt on there too.
**********************************************
HOOKER SONG
Can I do a trick for you?An overcoat avoids the spatter
Don’t spread herpes, do not kissWhat kind of life is this?
In a mud swamp of diseasesQuickly on with the coat
Not to seem eagerI have to make a quota
I pity the man
Alone in the cityI sit on his lap
His shy hands get busyFor a moment he is not alone
In the big cityFinding welcome in my home
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We are not like their wivesThey want exclusivityWe want popularity
Our work is to give pleasureThe housewife makes her pleasure into work.
ANNE AND TOM(Scene; an urban park, dirty and rundown in the shadows
between afactory and tenement, the unsteady flicker of the lights of a
bar can
be observed.)
TomWelcome to my visitation. Would you like to go for a coffee
at BurgerKing?
AnnI'm not here for recreation, I'm a girl who is working.
TomThose are my boys on that swing.
AnnThey look a lot like you.
TomYes, they do.
AnnIt's so sad the separation.
My children are safe at home with their dad.
TomDo you work in the factory?
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AnnNo, that's not how I make my money.
I do what I can to help straighten men out
You know, menOne eyed, club foot, sweat stank, fetishist, drunk and with
justenough cash.
Puke breath, dirty hands,Young and nervous with shy hesitation
Old and dreary with sick fixation.If I can stand the smell I take them to the hotel.
Bathing the unwashed and doing for them what no wife
could stand.Without contempt or adoration
I do it for the cash.
TomWe all must do what we can.
Once I wanted a wife and a family. I wanted a woman in mylife with
whom I could get along equally. Not one who would leave all
thethinking up to me. Was that nature's plan, to heap all the
weight onthe man? And when the babies started to arrive she became
like anotherchild. Without guile or subtlety I felt she was too dependant
on me. Ionly meant to remark it casually that I felt inside the need
to be
free. And with that my wife became my enemy."What's her name? I'll take everything you got. I'll divorce
you onthe spot."
Soon she remarried and I stayed alone. The support I payfor the
kids we have leaves me too poor to think of a new family.
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Once was my springtime for loving and lustTaking all kisses without trusting or trustThinking how good a husband I could be
To any woman who would settle for meNever again did I let a woman in my lifeUntil this feeling for another man's wife
I can not take you awayNot from all this
Too many commitmentsToo many kids
I can't take you away like young lovers do
Where were you then?Was there ever anyone like you?
Her leery glances to protect our intimacyThere were no spies in the shadows
As the park grew darker we were quite alone
(ANNE)I know I can trust you
But don't repeat this to anyone
(TOM)Her secrets prefaced by ritual remarks
Attempting to rebuild trust after it has been shatteredOn her knees she made the effort to remove the stain
(ANNE)I don't know who I can trust after the last one I told
I am forever hopeful and a foolI thought that he could change my life's history
(TOM)Far from the first and sure not to be the last
I was a powerless listenerI rose to shower this victim with forgiveness
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And to heap on compassion
(ANNE)Once hopeful in the telling and retelling it is now a drug
I accentuated every sad note of my storyTo see a shocked expression
Or a shrugOn many different faces
Upon this foundation my castle was builtWith a ring of keys in hand
Still none fit the door to that happy landStraight or stoned I shared my measure of guilt.
DO YOU TRUST ME? (Anne sings)
May I pick up your child?Do you mind?
You can see I am gentle and kindA natural mother butOne born to suffer
My boys are now young menI can not remember them
Out on the swingPlaying free
When they visited meIn the Women's Penitentiary
When I was high I dreamed I was still a good mother
Imagining my kids were safe where they areSleeping and locked in the trunk of my car.
After prison I was able to start overThe drugs I was craving forever strongI would not repeat what I did wrong
Tonight they are with their dad at homeAnd I can stay out all night long.
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In prison I rebelled against authorityThe only thing they could take from me
Where visits with my family.
How do you wreck the life of a child?Take away a poor baby's smileNot there to help them grow
There is so much they need to knowSo little a mother could I be
On a Sunday from noon til three.
(TOM CONTINUES)
I've seen you at night under the street lightNow you offer yourself for freeYour way of saying you like me
My passion for you will never be sated.If you were not to another man wed
I would take you straight to bedOnce again I feel like I am alive
And not all dried up at thirty five.
YOU STUPID GIRL (Husband's song)
This bacon tastes like rubber,
Haven't you taken out the trash?Not spaghetti again for supperI need you like I need a rash.
All the rooms need to be swept and dustedDo you just lay in bed watching TV?
Must I tell you to do everything?
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At least my pipes are not getting rustedYou are my lusty depository.
The stupid girl who turns me on
You make my world go round and roundYou are my sun and moon
Doing your best work in the bedroom.
See your mother, she's still a mill rat,Imagine how poor you would be,
But really you had no choice,You had not come home with me.
And potato chips are not a vegetableA meat dish is not hash.
Why did I drag you out of your mobile home?You will always be white trash.
CHILD'S SONG (ANNE SINGS)
Is this the place I belong
I hide when Daddy is homeI can't help but wonder what's wrong
Hiding in the corner begging for a crumb.
BANSHEE (ANNE SINGS)
I was a banshee in the streetI used to throw my love around
Dragging little boys into the closet at schoolCrying over a new heartbreak every week
Wanting the love I never hadAnd needing it so bad
There were lots of names for a girl like meI was a banshee in the street
Like a dog on a leash
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With wet kisses for whoever I could reachNeeding love and out of control
MY DADDY'S BAR (ANNE SINGS)
I was glad to be with him when we lived togetherBut after our marriage I avoided him like sin.
I went to the church, PTA meetings and even visitedMy mother in law
Another nightAway from home and him
I take out the trash and say I am going for cigarettes at thestore
But I won't be home til it's morning once moreAshamed of being in his sight
Makes for a very long night at homeI do not know who will
Send the children off to school.
One night I was drawn to the lights of this bar.From my husband's gaze I shrank
Into the depths of this world I sankOf bikers and drinkers and tattooed ladies
Where no one is judging me.
Wandering into the door of my father's barWhere he made me a whore and I was his star
"Whose little girl is this?" asks a voice with a hiss"Come and sit with me, sit on your daddy's knee"
Could it be so? Twenty years agoA voice still calling me
It does not have to ask twiceBegging me into this place
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Here my youthful energy is restored.
A housewife flown her nestHere I drink hardest and laugh loudest
Casting off my inhibitionDashing responsibility like a stack of dirty dishes
No one touches my reputation for inebriation
(DEALER SINGS)I run my business from my pocketAnd like those bottles on the shelf
My product sells itself I need no attention here
I do not want her near
(ANNE SINGS)Whose eyes are those I see? A guy in the shadows
Flirting with me?A few drinks will free my curiosity
And a few drinks after that I will flirt back.
(dealer quietly rebukes Anne)
(ANNE SINGS)You think you can so coolly push me away
There are ten other guys here with whom I can play.
(DEALER SINGS)The girl who is laid back
She has that look in her eye,Although she is no prize,
She really needs to get high.
Shaking and shuffling they come and goThe parade of druggies are such a bore
She says she is smart but what does she knowAren't loose women all the same?
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A little smoke and she's in my bedA needle makes it better since sex is mostly in your head
Here I have the essence of happiness
First I will tie off your arm and pop up a vein
(ANNE SINGS)I am a virgin again
It was supposed to feel good then
(DEALER SINGS)Don't flinch as I tighten
No need to be frightened
I should have been a doctor or surgeonI don't feel any of your pain
(ANNE SINGS)Cover my eyes and turn away
The ocean roars on a beautiful beachSinking in the sand unafraid to breath
I am all beauty on the shore of a tropical seaSuch a wonderful thing is happening to me
For the first time in my life I am light and free.
BIG MAN (HUSBAND SINGS)
I know I am no competition for your addictionI won't spend a dollar for your dope
You can go out then as a whoreReturn with new secrets for the boudoir
You can no longer live here for freeYou must share your adventures with me
Of freaks and men who are odditiesYou will not find a man bigger than me.
Children who may not be mine but carry my nameTo keep my kids with me I will bare any shame
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I have set my woman freeDo not call me a prick
It means an open the door for meAny time I want to wet my wick
The vice that feels so niceI am not one to condemn
I want to hear about all of themThe moose, the midget, the bi-couple too.
It is no price for me to pay, insteadI get the bonus of a free whore in my bed
Of course I live by rules and the moral code of oldBut when my pants are on the floor those rules go out the
doorAnd I don't tell my children that their mother is a whore.
Handling the truth today is so elusiveThe price I pay for a father-in-law who was abusive
What is right or wrong when you are led around by yourdong?
I take what is my measure of guiltMy fault for taking a wife so well built
She is the type men likeAnd I like to hear
What she does with other menDoes that make me queer?It's all a secret down below
I never know what will turn me on nextIs there a woman here who would lie about sex?
PLEASURES OF A CHILD (Anne sings)
Kind smile,Warm food,Clean bed,Nice place,
Being happy
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A ray of sunshineOn a smiling little face.
Free from fear
And held tightFor his touch
At nightI loved my daddy so
I would never say "no"
I understoodWhen he said
He did not want them to be
Jealous of him and me
Today I step into this barI sense my daddy is not farI can smell him very near
In a dark room that stinks of beer.
Could it be so? Twenty years agoA voice still calling me
"Whose little girl is this?" asks a voice with a hissIt did not have to ask twicePulling me into the place
My youth and energy are restored"Come and sit with me, sit on your daddy's knee."
In my father's barWhere he made me a whore and I was his star.
THE FRONT (Husband's song)
When I tell you to say yes you say noIf I tell you to come then you go
I am the man don't you see?
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And you must learn from me.Only then will we be a family
In our home we will live by a codeJust like my father and his father long ago.
Let's have seven kids you saidWell ten was the number in my headIf you can't obey me it's just as wellThen all of your plans can go to hell
I thought I knew what marriage meantBut month after month I feel nothing but regret
Years cut through me like a dull knife
For our families I put on a good frontBut there is nowhere left to run
I met you and soon threw away my life.
Divorce is a saving graceOne you don’t deserve
I don't know what the bible meantDivorce should be a sacrament.
MOTHER'S LAMENT (ANNE'S MOTHER)
I could not be party to goings on in my own homeI should have never left them alone
They were far too much alikeMy lazy handsome husband
Too shy to knock on pleasure's doorWith our most beautiful daughter who proved to be a whore.
Daddy's pride and joyI wish she had been a boy
Oh, that is even more a curseA boy would have been worse.
The little whore
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She couldn't say NoShe stole my man awayWhen she was only three
And more of a woman than me.
With the charge Child Lover policemen watchedHe would never be able to follow us downI packed the kids and we went to America
Where the evil one would no longer be around
THE FRONT (ANNE SINGS)
Two young CatholicsIt seemed like an agreeable matchYet something rank was seeping in
Like water in the walls in an old house on a rainy dayFetid smell, a fungal odor, the stink of hypocrisy
Everything touching it became slimy as well
Living for years under the oppression of liesMother changed my name more than once,
Unable to scrub away the past,Again I was someone else
Mother put up the claim that I was a virgin,A good girl
"Good because I watched her night and day."An unwed mother with 6 children that was something for her
to sayMy husband claimed to be a country boy who did not smoke,
drink, or
get laid.He sputtered when he spoke like a wet candle that snapped
and sizzledonce it was lit.
Something was wrong with that picture.
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THE SOMEONE I NEED (ANNE)
Who I could be with the someone I need
This life on Earth really messed me upStarting almost from birth and how I grew up
With someone I need it would be more than love
A thing that is trueWould save a life or two
Me and that someone whoWould start a brand new day
And wipe the past away
You see I am so dumbI got stuck with someone
Who made me feel how I once didBeaten down and lied to
Like when I was a kid
I paid the priceI’m paying it twice
He took me from my hovelWith a promise that his love will
Give me the life of a queenAnd because I was a woman I believed
That he would give me everything I need
Even when we were innocentHis love did no more than pay the rentEven when his kids came through me
I was only being what I was born to beHe was not the man for a woman like me
I need someone who will take a step that is boldNot repeat the mistakes of oldNot a standard Stepford wife
But born again into life
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I will accept equalityIf I am also treated womanly
With the touch
And the words I need to hearA promise you will always be nearFor the little things I appreciate
Like a special day you let me sleep lateThen I will be the equal that you seek
The touch of my hand is not like yoursI don’t mind if you open doors
By showing me you are strong and I am weak
If you do I will be the woman you seekBy getting you to bend your ways
My strength will equal yours.
DON’T BE MY FRIEND (ED)
I’m not a snob when I say, I don’t need another friendA friend to break my heart in the end
I don’t need a woman friend.Happily divorce I am a born again bachelor
There is no woman who I have metWho did not have an agenda
It takes a woman to make a man swaggerUntil the angry husband appears to make him stagger
When she says, take me, I’m yours
That doesn’t mean take her for grantedI never met a woman who was a friend
Without it getting romantic
It takes a woman to say about someone else,It was only sex
When morning comes and you are the one
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Who she no longer respects
You might as well say she thinks you’re gayWhen every other guy she knows is a lover
It’s one more way to make your marriage endBy telling your wife you have a new woman friend
It might be my superficialityThat I’d like her to see a man when she looks at me
And if it is a boyfriend she wants I will drive her crazyBy talking about fashion, crafts, coupons and babies
I don’t need a female friendI don’t want my woman troubles to start again
I am too much of a man to run awayOr tell her my girlfriend is on her way
Isn’t jealousy still accepted universally?
There must be somewhere else I can be
When I see one heading for meSingle’s so much easier on my sanity
I only have the normal things wrong with meI don’t want to be Mr. Popularity
For the source of all men’s problemsThy name is women
I DON’T WORRY (HUSBAND)
In business as with wives, one must capitalizeI need not go out for other loversThat saves me time and moneyShe brings every fantasy to meI don’t waste time with worry
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In for one or in for a million, it’s all infidelityNo matter how far she roams
No one else will offer her a homeI will not go sourly
Counting her lovers hourlyAnd I do not seek new company
Being satisfied with fantasy.More savings
All for me
MY NAME IS JOHN
Last week I started to worry about youAnd some of the things you have to do
There’s no retirement or health plan in your workAnd some of your customers are famous jerks
Too needful for the normal worldTo do what they must to get a regular girlI tried to see the world through the eyes
Of one of those pathetic guys
One must approach her very softYou must blend with the background
Or she will run off You must be respectful and never rude
If you want to catch a prostitute
But once you’ve got a dirty whoreYou can do it til you’re bloody soar
You can even do it on your grandma’s floor
Do not worry about decorumIf you can afford three or four of ‘em
Get one when you are boredOr if you feel the pressure in your guard
Get one to practice for your dateOr so you will not commit a rape
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Hire a whore if you need a thrillAnd they are also easy and fun to kill
(ANNE JOINS)
It is so sweet to hear your fear for meIt almost is like you have a touch of jealousy