CHORUS:
Here he comes.
Mister Whiz.
Sound the drums,
Here he is.
Raconteur,
Bon vivant.
Tell us, sir,
What we want
To know:
The modus operandi
A dandy
Should use
When he is feeling low.
BEN:
When the winds are blowing.
CHORUS:
Yes!
BEN:
That's the time to smile.
CHORUS:
Oh!
BEN:
Learn how to laugh.
Learn how to love.
Learn how to live.
That's my style.
When the rent is owing,
CHORUS:
Yes!
BEN:
What's the use of tears!
CHORUS:
Oh!
BEN:
I'd rather laugh,
I'd rather love.
I'd rather live
In arrears.
Some fellows sweat
To get to be millionaires,
Some have a sport
They're devotees of,
Some like to be the champs
At saving postage stomps.
Me, I like to live.
Me, I like to laugh,
Me, I like to love.
Some like to sink
And think in their easy chairs
Of all the things
They've risen above.
Some like to be profound
By reading Proust and Pound.
Me. I like to live.
Me. I like to laugh,
Me, I like to love.
Success is swell
And success is sweet,
But every height has a drop.
The less achievement,
The less defeat.
What's the point of shovin'
Your way to the top?
Live 'n' laugh 'n' love 'n'
You're never a flop.
So when the walls are crumbling,
CHORUS:
Yes!
BEN:
Don't give up the ship.
CHORUS:
No.
BEN:
Learn how to laugh,
Learn how to love.
Learn how to live.
That's my tip.
When I hear the rumbling,
CHORUS:
Yes!
BEN:
Do I lose my trip!
CHORUS:
No!
BEN:
I have to laugh,
I have to love.
I have to live.
That's my trip.
ALL:
When the wind is blowing,
That's the time to smile.
When the rent is owing,
Never lose your style.
BEN:
Some get a boot
From shooting off cablegrams
Or buzzing bells
To summon the staff.
Some climbers get their kicks
From social politics.
Me, I like to live.
Me. I like to love...
(He momentarily forgets his lyric.)
Some break their asses
Passing their bar exams.
Lay out their lives
like lines on a graph...
One day they're diplomats-
Well, bully and congrats!
Me, I like to live,
Me, I like to love...
(He goes blank again.)
Me, I like-me, I love-me.
I don't love me!
(Ben begins to rove.)
CHORUS:
Success is well
And success is sweet,
But every height has a drop.
The less achievement,
The less defeat.
What's the point of shovin'
Your war to the top!
(The company sings bits of songs heard previously. Everything
we've seen and heard all evening is going on at once, as if the
night's experience were being vomited. Ghosts, memories and party
guests--all there. The cacophony is terrible, and we can barely hear
Ben as he races from one group to another screaming into the
chaos.)
CHORUS:
Now, if you see Lucy "X,"
Youthful, truthful Lucy "X,"
Let her know she's better than she suspects.
Now if you see Jessie "Y," etc.
BEN:
Phyllis!