For Low Voice Alone, from I Hear America Singing
Duration: 3:44
First Performances: 9 May 2024 / Christopher Scott, baritone / Rauh Studio Theater, Pittsburgh, PA
Dedication: “For Christopher Scott, 2024.”
Text: Daron Hagen
Publisher: Peermusic Classical
Program Note:
Written for the film / stage 2024 revival of I Hear America Singing for the character of Roger, an alcoholic baritone who struggles to remain sober during a critical weekend in New York City when, compelled to come to terms with his failed marriage by the fact that he must perform with his ex-wife, he breaks down. The song-aria is an A-B-C-B-A form, combining opera and musical theater singing techniques with body percussion that serves to physicalize the character’s psychic self-flagellation. Denizens of the Lincoln Center neighborhood will remember Paddy McGlade’s, which stood at the southwest corner of 67th Street and Columbus Avenue for more than 100 years before being closed and replaced by a Starbuck’s.
Lyric:
…To beat time.
…To lessen the longueurs.
...To forget.
...To remember.
It's the patient and the nurse.
It's the blessing and the curse.
It's both pram and hearse.
I don't think like you.
I don't drink like you.
I know I have a problem,
but don't tell me what to do,
Because who,
who wouldn't want the feeling to last forever?
Who wouldn't want potential to always be there,
Like the feeling of hanging in mid-air?
It's the beginning and the end.
It's the friend you always lacked.
It's tender til it renders you as stupid as a fact.
…To beat time.
…To lessen the longueurs.
...To remember to forget.
...To forget to remember.
I'm going to McGlade's for a drink.