THE DOLLS OF NEW ALBION: A STEAMPUNK OPERA
PAUL SHAPERA
ACT ONE.
NEW ALBION 1:
Intro: Gm Eb C D
Gm
Several hundred years before, a gambler and a monk embarked
Eb
On a long trek through the endless prairies of the North;
C
They had a fierce debate about God and chance and fate,
D
And to resolve it agreed a game of cards indeed be played.
Gm
The game went on all day, and through the next and next they played,
Eb
And around them a shelter was built to shield the rain,
C
A street around the shelter formed, then a church, a house, a bar,
Gm D Gm D Gm
And that is how the city of New Albion was born.
Gm D Gm D Gm
That is how the city of New Albion was born.
INTERLUDE: Gm Eb C D
Gm
New Albion today, With bustling streets, machines, cafes
Eb
And the nice, the wise, the eccentric and insane
C
The Mafia’s run by a red haired dwarf with just one eye
D
Whose affairs he decides with a pair of silver dice
Gm
Over the Zeppelin Union Pilots, a castrati boss presides
Eb
And we hear his song each afternoon as he flies by
C
There’s prisons made of lead, and gargoyles of iron shreds
Gm D Gm D Gm
And Annabelle McAlistair who’s raising up the dead
Gm D Gm D Gm
Annabelle McAlistair who’s raising up the dead
INTERLUDE: Gm Eb C D
Gm
The Lodge on Ashland Street is where the Alchemists Guild meets
Eb
And to join you have to craft a glass pearl from a young girl’s dream
C
A group of thieves they heard, broke in the lodge to steal the pearls
D
But in the morning they were found there sitting staring unperturbed
Gm
The twilight fog they say, an aphrodisiac contains
Eb
Nonsense, but yet they copulate in doorways anyway
C
There’s inventors and inbred in upper class it’s been said
Gm D Gm D Gm
And Annabelle McAlistair who’s raising up the dead.
Gm D Gm D Gm
Annabelle McAlistair who’s raising up the dead.
Gm D Gm D Gm
Clever little Annabella with her clever head.
Gm D Gm D Gm
Oh, Annabelle McAlistair who’s raising up the dead.
ANNABEL RAISES THE DEAD:
INTRO: Bm
Bm
Winding all the dials and the wires and the spires and the
Bm
Tests for the connections and injections still to run
Bm
Capacitors and meters and the alkali and beakers
Bm
The restating of equations for the phase about to come
D G
Please come back to me there’s so much we could be
D Bb
Please come back, with voltage I invoke
D G
Please come back from empty cracks and berths of black
D Eb
Come to me, I’m summoning the Ghost
Em D
Be my angel, my angel
C
Be my angel, rescue me
Em D
Be my angel, my angel
C
Be an angel be with me
G F
Please come back from bowels of black
Em D
From silent shores to me once more
C G
Through veils and gates and seas of slate
Am D
To blood wet moors where I await ashore
INTERLUDE: G F Em
Bm
Bm
Years of all my theories and hypothesis and inquiries
Bm
No gathering cadavers and they kicked me out of school
Bm
All alone with theorems and experiments and endless tests
Bm
Years in labs and numberlands but now I’ve reached the goal
D G
Please come back so we can have a life at last
D Bb c
Please come back, I grab at heaven’s throat
D G
Please come back, I beckon, beg and cry and laugh
D Eb
Come to me, I’m summoning the ghost
Em D
Be my angel, my angel
C
Be my angel, rescue me
Em D
Be my angel, be my angel
C
Be an angel be
G F
Please come back from bowels of black
Em D
From silent shores to me once more
C G
Through veils and gates and seas of slate
Am D
To blood wet moors where I await ashore
INTERLUDE: G F Em
B E
Please come speak to me
B E
Please come speak to me
B G#m
All the things we can share and conceive
A E
If you'll come speak to me
B E
I remember you from school
B E
You were dashing and I so uncool
B G#m
You didn't know I was alive until that one night
A E
we spoke and you kissed me
B E
But then I was expelled
B E
You married her as well
B G#m
And now you‘ve died, but I can bring you back to life
A E
And soon you'll speak to me
Em
Be my angel, be my angel
D
Be my angel, rescue me
C
Be my angel, be my angel
Be an angel be with me (X3)
D G
Please come back so we can have a life at last
D Bb C
Please come back, I grab at heaven’s throat
D G
Please come back, I beckon, beg and cry and laugh
D Eb
Come to me, I’m summoning the ghost
G F
Please come back from bowels of black
Em D
From silent shores to me once more
C G
Through veils and gates and seas of slate
Am D
To blood wet moors where I await ashore
OUTRO: G F Em
ANNABEL HAS A DOLL:
INTRO: Dm Bb A (x2)
Dm
And so around 3 AM,
A recently deceased man
Bb A
Found himself wound in the land of living again
Dm
Bound in a body,
Of gears and wheels but oddly
Bb A
He has no voice and his steel joints barely can bend
Dm
The one sound he makes in fact
He streams radio broadcasts
Bb A
He plays a country station if you give him a pat
Dm
Our dearest Annabel is
Quite thrilled and ecstatic
Bb A
She has a friend who just was dead and yet she brought back
INTERLUDE: G D Em D
C G Bb C
G D
What may please does not content
Em D
All resolves but never ends
C G
All that comforts is not true
Bb
All you love does not love you
D C D C
I have a dolly and we like to go on walks
D C G
We like to stroll around the park all while he listens to me talk
D C D C
About the people and the places that I never got to see
D C G
‘Cause I wouldn't leave my house, but that's before he was with me
G A G A G
We share a world, which is wonderful to see it's like a dream
A C
where no one calls me failure if I don't succeed
D C D C
I have a dolly it's like flowers in the spring
D C G
And but no matter how I talk to him he never says a thing
G D
What may please does not content
Em D
All resolves but never ends
C G
All that comforts is not true
Bb
All you love does not love you
D C D C
I have a dolly and he goes with me outside
D C G
which used to be a problem for me, oh but now I never mind
D C D C
Ice cream and carriages I always thought were nice
D C G
But never had someone to share them with because the lab's my life
G A G A
Annabelle no friends you must be brilliant and the best
G A A
You must be better and industrious, or you are worthless
D C D C
But now I have dolly a dear friend with whom I go
D C G
Out for walks and talks but he's mute and just plays the radio
D A
Elysium
Em F#m
The place the when your sorrows end
G D A
Why’d you bring me here again
D C D C
I have a dolly who can keep me company
D C G
We go to shows, parades and cabarets though people stare at me
D C D C
But I've shown that I am brilliant and I've conquered life and death
D C G
The only thing my father said is that one must be a success
G A G A
And now I've got a friend, a silent clockwork double
G A A
Who can be there for me to lean on when I feel sad and troubled
D C D C
I have a dolly, and he's very stabling,
D C G
If not a little just too distant, cause he never says a thing
G D
What you hold may wish to go
Em D
What you believe may not be so
C G
All that brings you piece of mind
Bb
May not stay for a long time
G D
What may please does not content
Em D
All resolves but never ends
C G
All that comforts is not true
Bb
All you love does not love you
C F
Can’t you speak to me?
C F
Won’t you speak to me?
C Am
All the things we could share and conceive
F
If you’d just speak to me
D A
Elysium
Em F#m
The place the when your sorrows end
G D
Why’d you bring me here
G D
Oh why'd you bring me here
G D A
Why'd you bring me here again?
ANNABEL'S LAMENT:
INTRO: Bb F Eb
Gm F Eb
Bb F
Ghosts of dreams, ghosts of memory
Eb
That will not leave or lay in quiet
Gm F
Ghosts that cry about the life
Eb
You let go by
Bb F
Ghosts of pasts of little girls who
Eb
Learned their math, grasped their facts
Gm F
Tried their best to reach success
Eb
Just as they were asked
Bb F
The girl learns to hide, deep inside
Eb
Of fractions and facts and worlds of math
Gm F
A long lonely land she can understand
Eb
Annabelle in Numberland
Bb
You could have been my angel
F Eb
Been my angel, been my angel and been with me
Gm
Could have been my angel
F Eb
Been my angel, been my angel and rescued me
INTERLUDE: Bb F Eb
Gm F Eb
Bb F
Ghosts of love you never knew, you
Eb
Just construed like well penned plays
Gm F
Ghosts of scenes, embraces, things
Eb
You only knew in dreamt up days
Bb F
Ghosts of frowns for little girls when
Eb
Friends came round to waste her time
Gm F
Ghosts of creeds, rebukes received
Eb
Children are not what achievers need
Bb F
Fractions and maths, sweet companions,
Eb
Equations and facts who always stand
Gm F
By as you go your road alone
Eb
Annabelle in Numberland
Bb
You could have been my angel
F Eb
Been my angel, been my angel and been with me
Gm
Could have been my angel
F Eb
Been my angel, been my angel and rescued me
INTERLUDE: Bb F Eb
Gm F Eb
Bb F
Ghosts of me, ghosts of who
Eb
I could be and been with you
Gm F
Ghosts of dreams, of who you thought
Eb
You'd one day be when you grew up
Bb F
Ghosts of breath, of little girls
Eb
Who promised, stressed they'd be their best
Gm F
Ghosts of days that fade away
Eb
As failure holds your hand til Death
Bb F
And deep in the place you escape where
Eb
Theorems and thoughts your hopes and plans
Gm F
All are derailed and then you failed them
Eb
Annabelle in Numberland
Bb F
Liquids and labs, fractions and facts,
Eb
Is all you had, all that you understand
Gm F
And as you age, all that remains with
Eb
Annabelle in Numberland
Bb
You could have been my angel
F Eb
Been my angel, been my angel and been with me
Gm
You could have been my angel
F Eb
My angel, been my angel and rescued me
Bb F
My angel, my angel
Eb
My angel and been with me
Gm F Eb
My angel, my angel
OUTRO: Bb F C D Eb E F F#
WE BID THE FIRST GENERATION ADIEU
INTRO: D#m F# B Bb
D#m
So Annabella destroys her
D#m
Doll, her beloved toy boy
B
And takes all the notes that she made
Bb
And packs them away
D#m
Thus Annabella vows that she
D#m
Won’t tell a soul and stay lonely
B
Defeated now she sadly
Bb
Creeps back to her lab
D#m
Thus friends we bid adieu to
D#m
The 1st generation, but don’t move
B
We’ve 3 more Acts to get through
Bb
So come let’s ensue
D#m
The future beckons and won’t wait
D#m
The next generation’s on its way
B
Dead things and broken love stories
Bb
For us await
ACT TWO.
NEW ALBION 2:
Intro: Gm Eb C D
Gm
And so a generation’s passed, Annabel married at last
Eb
And she had a son she named Edgar but alas
C
She died when he was 10 his heart was broken but since then
D
He’s grown and found his darling Fay with whom he wants to wed
Gm
The red haired dwarf he had a son when the son turned 31
Eb
He stabbed his father so new mob boss he’d become
C
As his father slowly died he told his son with tear stained eyes
D
He was the proudest that he’d ever been in his entire life
Gm
A cat burglar’s around who is the toast of the whole town
Eb
His is the most daring heists ever to abound
C
In reality in fact it’s two 18 year old girls and
D
Their pet albatross Simon and a brilliant mouse named Sam
Gm
In the Botanist’s Lodge they’ve bred a plant who can think thoughts
Eb
It communicates by opening its petals on and off
C
But alas one day it went into a deep meditative trance
D Gm
Searching for enlightenment and has not made a move since then
EDGAR GETS HIS HEART BROKEN:
Intro: Dm F Bb (x2)
Dm F
The restaurant was lovely
Bb
The food, the wine, it all seemed
Dm F Bb (C)
A perfect night and she looked so divine
Dm F
I poured myself a new one
Bb
She says it’s over and done
Dm F Bb
She says she found someone and it’s goodbye
Am G Bb G
One day you will learn, and you will burn like my heart burns
Am G Bb G
One day you will learn, and you will burn like my heart burns
INTERLUDE:
Dm F Bb (x2)
Dm F
I had the prawns with mango
Bb
She had the cod and miso
Dm F Bb (C)
And says she loved me and she really tried
Dm F
I would have had the lime pie
Bb
But I was dying inside
Dm F Bb
She left, I sat, pretended not to cry
Am G Bb G
One day you will learn, and you will burn like my heart burns
Am G Bb G
One day you will learn, and you will burn like my heart burns
INTERLUDE:
Dm F Bb
Am G Bb G
One day you will learn, and you will burn like my heart burns
Am G Bb G
One day you will learn, and you will burn like my heart burns
Am G Bb G
One day you will learn, and you will burn like my heart burns
THE OLD TRUNK IN THE ATTIC:
Intro: Dm A Bb A
Dm
The old trunk in the attic
A
Where grandmother’s broken heart was tossed
Bb
In a box with a ballet shoe
A
And dead soldier’s cross
Dm
The old trunk in the attic
A
With the candlesticks your great uncle saved
Bb
From the girl in the market
A
Whose mother he once paid to go away
Dm
The old trunk in the attic
A
With a dress for a child but hardly worn
Bb
Stained in a memory
A
And tears for a name you’ll never learn
Dm
The old trunk in the attic
A
Where your grandfather’s glass eye lays to rest
Bb
Your sweet aunt’s nostalgia
Dm A Dm A Dm
And Annabella’s formula for raising up the dead
Dm A Dm A Dm
Annabella’s formula for raising up the dead
Dm A Dm A Dm
Clever mother Annabella with her clever head
Dm A Dm A Dm
Oh, Annabella’s formula for raising up the dead
EDGAR BUILDS A BUSINESS:
INTRO: D
D E
E F
F F#
Am E D F
D D E
So Edgar tries the experiments he’s read
E F
Annabella’s formula for bringing back the dead
F
The experiments of course prove a success
F# G Ab A
And thus a crazy notion comes into his head
Bbm Cm
One day you will see
C# Eb F
That I can be someone you never thought I’d be
Bbm Cm
One day you will see
C# Eb F
That I can be someone you never thought I’d be
INTERLUDE:
D
D C Bb A
G F A (x2)
Bm A C G (x2)
D A
My friends step right up, I have brought you a thing,
C G
Why it's a miracle process that you will never believe
D A
Your grandma, your parents, your child, I say who
C G
Yes whomever you've lost I can bring back to you
D A
You doubt me of course, think I'm out of head
C G
But this week I'll choose 5 folks and bring back their dead
D A
And I'll put them in quality, mechanical dolls
C G
Life sized, yes for free and you'll see it's not talk
INTERLUDE: Bm A C G (x2)
D A
My friends, can you hear me, the crowd's grown so big
C G
And these orders, why I'll tell you I barely know how to keep
D A
Up with, so I must tell you, I'm building a store
C G
Where your dead ones can be brought to you folks once more
D A
With all this success I can offer new deals
C G
Their bodies now come in different colors and feels
D A
Like mahogany, lilac, and deep oaken red
C G
Seven models to choose from to fit your dear dead
INTERLUDE: Bm A C G (x2)
D A
Gentlemen welcome, will the board please sit down
C G
our profits this quarter are almost beyond count
D A
We're opening new factories, starting new ads
C G
We're making our fortunes, so I've one thing to ask
D A
There's a man they call Sillof and he once stole my girl
C G
I want him destroyed, all he has in this world
D A
His business his home and his carriage all crushed
C G
I want him left penniless, face down in the dust
INTERLUDE:
D C Bb A
G F A (x2)
(picking:)
D A Bm A G D Bm A
D A Bm
All your intentions take their toll
A G
All you hate enthralls your soul
D Bm
When you win you sometimes lose
A
And all you love does not love you (x2)
D A
Fay, good to see you. I asked you here so
C G
You could listen to what I want to offer to you
D A
That man who you left me for, you know he's in ruins
C G
A broken down wreck, but Fay my fortune booms
D A
And I have a surprise, your dear long dead dad
C G
I have taken the liberty of bringing him back
D A
He sits now in my parlor, but Fay the only way
C G
You can see him or talk to him is to come back and stay.
FAY CONSIDERS EDGAR'S PROPOSAL:
INTRO: Em G C
Em G C
Once we saw a band play
Years ago I hardly
Em G C
Knew you like I came to in our day
Em G C
I was so excited
I fussed to hours prior
Em G C
And when you knocked my heart nearly gave way
Em G C
When does intimacy
Become so cruel and petty
Em G C
Become a pit of loathing, disgust and hate?
Bm A C A
One day you will learn, and you will burn like my heart burns
Bm A C A
One day you will learn, and you will burn like my heart burns
Bm A C A
One day you will learn, and you will burn like my heart burns
Bm A C A
One day you will learn, and you will burn like my heart burns
ACT THREE.
NEW ALBION 3:
Am
And so the years they fly, a generation goes on by
F
And new faces, new places of New Albion arrive
Dm
The doll that Edgar brought back for Fay well sure enough
E
He’s Jasper, the same one that Annabelle herself called up
Am
Edgar and Fay had a son, a young man who’s named Byron
F
And he’s inherited the Doll, his dear Jasper whom he loves
Dm
After years and years of folks bringing back their dead ones, droves
E
Of Dolls fill the city in streets slums and homes
INTERLUDE: Am F Dm E
Am
Yes, there's slums just full of dead, they don’t walk or talk instead
F
They’re like blank slates on which their friends and relatives project
Dm
The big subculture in these times is Voodoopunk and every night
E
Byron and Amelia are immersed and acolytes
Am
The red haired dwarf’s son ran the mob for years and years but then
F
He was run out by 2 women and a brilliant mouse named Sam
Dm
The voodoopunks, to mock the world, for city mayor run a Doll
E
They show up at the rallies and attempt to rile the crowd
THE MOVEMENT 1:
Dbm
Dollay Dollay, Dollay Dollay,
Dbm
Dollay Dollay, Dollay Dollay.
E
In the movement, In the nights of dead and dance
Dbm
In the movement, The haunted held within our hands
E
In the movement, Jasper, love is why I do
Dbm
In the movement, the love I never get from you
A
In the movement, Come and dance through the night
Abm
In the movement, Ridden by the blinding light
Gbm Abm
At the crossroads and the barrow
A B
We have come to court the shadow
E
In the movement, Loa live within our hands
Dbm
In the movement, Our voodoo opens other lands
E
In the movement, Drugs and dance and spirits whirl
Dbm
In the movement, And we reject our father’s world
A
In the movement, Come and dance through the night
Abm
In the movement, Ridden by the blinding light
Gbm Abm
At the crossroads and the barrow
A B
We have come to court the shadow
E
In the movement, In the nights of dead and dance
Dbm
In the movement, The haunted held within our hands
E
In the movement, All for love is all I do
Ebm
In the movement, the love I never get from you
A
In the movement, Come and dance through the night
Abm
In the movement, Ridden by the blinding light
Gbm Abm
At the crossroads and the barrow
A B
We have come to court the shadow
(COUNTERPOINT:)
[Can’t you speak to me
Can’t you speak to me
All the things we could share and conceive
If you’d just speak with me]
E
My friends these elections this season to come
E
Your capitalists, socialists, facists and bums
A
Your left and your right are both out of their heads
A
So this year for office, we're running the dead
E
Vote for our Doll for his stance never bends
E
He knows we are equal when it comes to the end
A
Your money and taxes, your debts and your gains
A
One day at the end we will all be the same
E
Your government robs you and bleeds you and now
E
My friend’s one day soon will come break your door down
A
Instead of the system my friends walk away
A
Come ride at the crossroads come do it today
E
You think that this world you live in is all?
E
Come feel the spirit the Baron he calls
A
Don’t be a zombie vote dead all the way
A
Vote voodoopunk, we dance with you on your grave
VOODOOPUNK
INTRO: Gm Eb D
Cm Ab
Ya ko, hoo-o-la-oh A-hee-lay-oh-la-hey
Cm Ab
Ya ko, hoo-o-la-oh A-hee-lay-oh-la-hey
Gm
The Sidhe are coming over, the Sidhe are pass back over
Cm Eb D
The Sidhe will come back over, doll-ay doll-ay
(Counterpoint:)
[Anwen open, Anwen open to me
Anwen open, come oh Sidhe]
Gm
Doll-ay doll-ay, doll-ay doll-ay
Cm Eb D
Doll-ay doll-ay, hey
INTERLUDE: Gm Cm Eb D
Cm Ab
Ya ko, hoo-o-la-oh A-hee-lay-oh-la-hey
Cm Ab
Ya ko, hoo-o-la-oh A-hee-lay-oh-la-hey
THE MOVEMENT 2:
C
In the movement, In the nights of dead and dance
Am
In the movement, When I’m offering out my hand
C
In the movement, I don’t need you to pretend
Am
In the movement, All I ask for is a friend
F
In the movement, Drugs and dance and spirits whirl
Em
In the movement. As we flee our father’s world
Dm Em
At the crossroads so it goes we
F
Need a love you cannot show me
C
In the movement, Loa live within our hands
Am
In the movement, Our voodoo opens other lands
C
In the movement, Drugs and dance and spirits whirl
Am
In the movement, And we reject our father’s world
F
In the movement, Come and dance through the night
Em
In the movement, Ridden by the blinding light
Dm Em
At the crossroads and the barrow
F
We have come to court the shadow
(COUNTERPOINT:)
[Can’t you reach for me?
Can’t you reach for me?
The burdens I bear that you never do see
If you’d just please help me]
C
My friends look around at this world that you’ve known
C
The leeches are sucking you dry to the bone
F
The zombies are letting it all get away
F
So vote for our Doll and throw it away
C
You don’t need a master, no government who
C
Will take all you’ve earned, tell you what to do
F
Our Doll will not lead you, he’ll not bleed you dry
F
Nor bribe nor coerce nor fail you nor lie
C
There’s coming a time not so far from right now
C
When your rights will be gone and they’ll make you bow down
F
We stand at the crossroads and offer a way
F
To ecstasy, freedom, a path, a new day
C
This welfare of zombies is come to an end
F
Your people, your children are out of their heads
C
They’ve left you for sex, drugs, drums and the dead
F
Come now and join us, come join us my friends!
C G
Over years Jasper’s taken
Am
Words and instrumentations
G
From the music he channels night and day
C G
And he’s used them to make
Am
A new song he can play
G
To the crowd as he tries to communicate
ELYSIAN NIGHT:
E B
Elysium
F#m G#m
The silent sighed lost lullaby
A D B
Elysian night
E B
Elysium
F#m G#m
The child who climbs the edge of time
A D B
Elysian night
E B
The place the child you hardly knew
D A
Sailed to in his wooden shoe
E B
Past the last star in the sky
D A B
Where wishes never wished go lie
E B
Elysium
F#m G#m
The silent sighed lost lullaby
A D B
Elysian night
E B
The place where all the love you shared
D A
Went day by day til none was there
E B
Where yearning and forgotten dreams
D A B
Are nursery rhymes the quiet sing
E B
Elysium
F#m G#m
The silent sighed lost lullaby
A D B
Elysian night
E B
Elysium
F#m G#m
The child who climbs the edge of time
A D B
Elysian night
E B
The childhood friend you knew was there
D A
But never saw or touched and where
E B
They went when never called again
D A B
The place their loneliness all ends
E B
All the sorrow, guilt and shame
D A
Burdens borne and karma paid
E B
In one soft breath like candlelight
D A B
Dispersed in endless Elysian night
E B
Elysium
F#m G#m
The silent sighed lost lullaby
A D B
Elysian night
E B
Elysium
F#m G#m
The child who climbs the edge of time
A D B
Elysian night
THE SUICIDE:
G Bm
Jasper’s song that he made
Em
All the Dolls in the town play
D G
And it broadcasts all throughout the day
Bm
There's a girl in a small flat
Em
With a cruel father who’s quite sad
D
And she listens and feels a deep compassion
INTERLUDE: G D C C F C D
DISTORTED: G Bm Em D
G
INTERLUDE: G D C
G D
A place I cannot bear to be
F C
Where loneliness, brutality
G D
And days of endless, dismal sky
Bb G
Just go by and by and by
G D
Another place I never knew
F C
A distant, silent, sweet refuse
G D
With razor, rope and no lament
F C D
I go to where my sorrows end
G D
Elysium
Am Bm
The silent sigh beyond this life
C F D
Elysian night
G D
Elysium
Am Bm
The girl who cries her last goodbye
C F D
Elysian night
BONFIRE OF THE DOLLS:
INTRO: Am F C Dm Em
Am Em
Beside the girl’s body her suicide note
F C
And the words from the doll’s song was all that she wrote
Am Em
It was published in papers, discussed, yet despite
F C
This the dolls kept broadcasting all day and all night
INTERLUDE: G Dm Em
Am Em
Columnists bantered, parent groups fumed
F C
And distrust, fear and anger rose, spread and loomed
Am Em
The dolls were derided, distained and decried
F C
And everyone waited for the match to ignite
F C
It won’t be too long folks til our doll runs this town
Eb Bb
We’re voting him in and it’s happening now
F C
We’re all at the corssroads where worlds connect
Eb Bb
And your kids are all dancing each night with the dead
Am Em
Kill the dolls kill the dolls everyone screamed
Bb F
Now my friends just hold on, that is not what we mean
Am Em
But whatever he meant no one cared or would hear
F C
There was blood in their eyes and a riot was reared
INTERLUDE: C Bb Ab G F Eb D (x2)
Am F Am Dm Em
Am Em
The streets are chaotic as bonfires glow
F C
In the alleys and flames fear and furor just grow
Am Em
The dolls are picked up and then thrown in the fire
F C
And the fever of violence and panic conspire
Am Em
Poor Byron he runs to find Jasper, his love
F C
As the dolls are torn limb from limb, torched and burned up
Am Em
No one‘s left to listen to his speeches or cries
F C
He’s fanned the flames that kill his dear doll tonight
Ebm Gbm
Where’s my angel?
B Abm Bb
Where’s my angel?
Ebm Gbm
Where’s my angel?
B C F
Where’s my angel?
OUTRO:
Gm Eb Gm Cm D Bb Eb Gm Cm D (x3)
Am F Am Dm E C F Am Dm E
Am
ACT FOUR.
THE BALLAD OF THE GAMBLER AND THE MONK:
Am Ab G Gb
You remember at the start, the Gambler and the Monk played cards?
INTERLUDE: D Em G A (x2)
D Em
Years before a Monk and Gambler embarked
G A
On a long trek right through the great lands of the North
D Em
They had a debate about God, chance and fate
G A
And agreed it be settled through just one card game
D Em
Day after day they sat there and they played
G A
As the weeks and the days and the months passed away
D Em
Travelers came in just to watch and drink gin
G A
And bet on which one would eventually win
INTERLUDE: D Em G A (x2)
D Em
As a whole town was then slowly built round them
G A
The Gambler's pot rose and Monk’s pot went down
D Em
And thus came to pass the final hand came at last
G A
But before it was played the Gambler’s heart it gave way
D Em
He hollered and cried right out ‘for he died
G A
A curse from his lungs: the game was not done
D Em
He swore they’d be back to finish at last
G A
And fist to the sky, the Gambler died.
OUTRO: D Em G A (x2)
NEW ALBION 4:
Intro: Gm Eb C D
Gm
Meanwhile we come back to the fourth and final act
Eb
Byron got himself a trophy wife and had
C
A daughter who he named Priscilla and she came
D
To age in a city that is now a police state
Gm
New Albion today is a harsh and martial place
Eb
The riots destroyed buildings, streets and throughways
C
The City took control through a state of martial law
D
That remains to this day as troops of armored cops patrol
Gm Eb
And on this day of my enlistment
C D
I shed my skin of will and innocence
Gm Eb
I pledge allegiance and devotion
C D
I’ll be the power that you flex
Gm Eb
I am your arm of execution
C D
I am the trigger of your gun
Gm Eb
I am the binding and the order
C D
My duty to you has begun
Gm
Random searches are the law, looking for remaining Dolls
Eb
And if found execution is immediate for all
C
Any token of the dead, whether relative or friend
D
Is forbid and if found you may or may not be seen again
Gm
Jasper’s still around and he’s with Priscilla now
Eb
They sit and hide together deep within the family house
C
The spend their days resigned from the brutal world outside
D
And play a never ending game of cards to pass to time
PRISCILLA AND JASPER PLAY CARDS:
INTRO: Cm Ab Db Bbm G
Cm
Club and spade I raise,
Ab
Here in this parlor in this never ending game we play
Db Bbm G
And we hide, just you and I, as day fades into day
Cm
Hidden in our room,
Ab
With a game that no one ever seems to win or lose
Db Bbm G
And the shades of flames remain from a world we keep far away
Cm
Ghosts of towns, ghosts of cities
Bb
Games that brought its sad demise
Ab
The only way to end the game
G
One who plays must sacrifice
INTERLUDE: Cm Ab Db Bbm G
Cm
Diamonds now I raise,
Ab
Outside we’d die and there is nowhere else I’d rather stay
Db Bbm G
In the scrawl beyond these walls in a cold and coarse and vicious place
Cm
Here where there’s no time,
Ab
There’s no loss or lies or need to speak of sacrifice
Db Bbm G
It’s no way to win a game and why else would a person play?
Cm
Ghosts of games, you’re always caught in
Bb
Ones you play but cannot win
Ab
The only way the game can die
G
One who plays must sacrifice
Ab Bb Cm Db
And on the day we come it’s over
Fm Eb Ab Bb
And you will have your fate laid out and spun,
Ab Bb Cm Db
It’s execution, and you may pray if you get comfort
Fm Eb Ab Bb
It’s on that day you’re duty’s done
Cm
Ab
Ghosts of Fay, the child I loved
Eb
Whose eyes and smile you remind me of
Fm
In the years I’ve been trapped here
Eb
Only you I’ve come to love
Ab
A ghost am I, one if they knew of
Eb
Who, with you, they’d come and kill
Fm
Ghosts of death I wish to die
Eb
But sacrifice so you might live
Cm
Ghosts of love, of little girls you
Bb
Talked and watched as they grew up
Ab
Ghosts of things and rings and gifts
G
You give to them so they might live
Cm
Ghosts of towns, ghosts of cities
Bb
Games that brought their sad demise
Ab
The only way to end the game
G
One who plays must sacrifice
(COUNTERPOINT:)
[Hearts and now I fold,
You can’t mean that you just dream of death and wish to go?
You’re my soul, my angel,
The only thing that keeps me whole
How can you want to die?
All this time and all these years that slowly pass on by
You’re alive so I don’t die?
What kind of twisted sacrifice.]
Ab Bb Cm Db
And on the day we come it’s over
Fm Eb Ab Bb
And you will have your fate laid out and spun,
Ab Bb Cm Db
It’s execution, and you may pray if you get comfort
Fm Eb Ab Bb
It’s on that day you’re duty’s done
Cm
PRISCILLA CONTEMPLATES:
INTRO: Bm G Bm G
Bm G
Some speak about love in a sweet way
Bm G
Enchantment, romance and dizzy dream states
Em C
And some just wait and pace their cage
Bm G
Some speak about love as a passion
Bm G
As rapture and cries and sighs and gasps and
Em C
Some resign to yearn inside
Am
These odes of tear stained banter and dew eyed candor
C
That wither in the world, the world that
D
Just deceives you and beats and bleeds you
B
And leaves lonely little girls
Em C
And some sacrifice, anyway
Am D
Some sacrifice, it all away
G
Ah, the fallen and the burdened,
D
And the wreaths upon their grave
Em
When you’re broken there’s no assurance
C
You've made a better place
INTERLUDE: Bm G Bm G
Bm G
Some speak about love in a kind way
Bm G
The friend that won’t leave and makes your day sane
Em C
As you bide and cringe and hide
Bm G
Some wait for a stranger to touch and fill them
Gm G
Some wait for the stranger who will kill them
Em C
And some just pace their lonely cage
Am
With one dear doll who keeps you from crying but cries too
C
Silently inside
D
Some speak of love and kindness and clutch in blindness
B
And take and hoard and hide
Em C
And some sacrifice, anyway
Am D
Some sacrifice, it all away
G
Ah, the fallen and the burdened,
D
And the wreaths upon their grave
Em
When you’re broken there’s no assurance
C
You've made a better place
INTERLUDE: Bm G
Bm G
Hello, police?
Bm
Hello, police?
G
A felony, you need to see
THE DAY THEY COME:
INTRO: F
F C
Circles never stop themselves,
Dm C
Nothing that you’ve ever held
Bb F
Were you promised or reneged
Ab
And sometimes when you lose, you win. (X2)
Cm
Prisiclla, what’d you do?
When You come for me,
Eb
You know they’ll also kill you too
Ab
You’re young, your song unsung,
Bb
There’s still so much for you to do
Ab
Prisiclla what’d you do?
Now they’ll come and you must
Cm
Run or else they’ll kill you too
Ab
Your life so I can die
Bb
Is wrong and you must know that’s true
Ab
Ghosts of life, ghosts of lives
Gm
I’ve watched fall and pass me by
Fm
Ghosts of all the selfish, vain
Eb
All the blindness, all the pain
Ab
All the fools and petty games
Gm
All the shallow all the same
(COUNTERPOINT:)
[All these years you’re here, you suffer quietly,
It’s barbarous to think that’s fair
There’s no one who thinks of you
The game is gonna end right here
I’d help you to
Die, if I could, but...
I’d help you to die if I could , love
Some sacrifice anyway
Some sacrifice it all away.]
Cm Ab
And on the day we come it’s over,
Fm G
And you will have your fate laid out and spun,
Cm Ab
It’s execution, and you may pray if you get comfort,
Fm
It’s on this day your duty’s done
Cm Ab
And on this day you’ve been caught guilty,
Fm G
The sentence, citizen is death
Cm Ab
It will be carried out this instant
Fm G
Say any prayers that you want said
(COUNTERPOINT:)
[One day you will learn
And you will burn like my heart burns
One day you will learn
And you will burn like my heart burns
Ghosts of all the selfish, vain
All the blindness, all the pain
All the fool and petty games
All the shallow all the same]
[Some speak about love, in a sweet way
Some sentiment of bliss and dream states
Some speak about love in a kind way,
Some sentiment of rapturous states.]
Ab Eb
Please, my angel, my angel
Fm G
Please my angel, my angel
Ab
Please, my angel, my angel
Fm G
Please my angel
(COUNTERPOINT:)
[And some sacrifice
Some sacrifice
Some sacrifice
Some sacrifice]
[I am the arm of execution
I am the trigger of your gun
I am the binding and the order
It’s on this day you’re duty’s done]
F Em
Please go back to berths of black
Dm C
To silent shores from me once more
Bb F
Through veils and gates and seas of slate
Gm C
And blood red mores where I’ll see you once more
F C
Circles never stop themselves,
Dm C
Nothing that you’ve ever held
Bb F
Were you promised or reneged
Ab
And sometimes when you lose, you win.
I WILL BRING YOU DOWN:
Soldier 7285, why didn’t you fire?
Soldier 7285, why didn’t you fire?
Soldier 7285, you are hereby notified of your court martial for negligence of duty
Why didn’t you fire?
INTRO: C Bb F (x2)
C
I saw her eyes, I’ve never faced
Bb F
That kind of look that haunted grace
Ab
The way she died so willing just
Bb F
To die for love, to die for love
C
What kind of masters must I serve
Bb F
That make this into such a world
Ab
Where one must break such beauty and
Bb F
Bring this to pass with such cruel hands
INTERLUDE: C Bb F
C
Soldier 7285
Bb F
Is who I am it is my life
Ab
But I perceive another place
Bb F
And it must be built upon your grave
Ab Bb
And I will bring you down
Eb
I will bring you down
F
I will bring you down
INTERLUDE: C Bb F (x2)
C
And if I fall someone will see
Bb F
The way I went, just like she
Ab
With eyes of love and heart of light
Bb F
They too will fight, they too will fight
C
Today I say it will begin
Bb F
Today I will begin your end
Ab
Today the wind that comes, portends
Bb
Will be your end, will be your end
Ab Bb
And I will bring you down
Eb
I will bring you down
F
I will bring you down
I will bring you,
Ab
I'll bring you down
I'll bring you down
Bb
I'll bring you down
Eb
I'll bring you down
F
And I will bring you down
INTERLUDE: Ab Bb Eb F
Ab
I'll bring you down
Bb
I'll bring you down
I'll bring you down
WE BID YOU ALL ADIEU:
INTRO: D#m F# B Bb
D#m
The revolution that rises
D#m
Has stories for another time
B
Our tale for this evening
Bb
Comes to a close
D#m
So we bid adieu to
D#m
Our players and of course you
B
We hope this little history
Bb
Lesson we’ve shown
D#m
Has been illuminating,
D#m
Our facts have been kept straight and
B
Names and situations
Bb
All remain unchanged
D#m
Alas friends we cannot stay,
D#m
The future is always on its way
B
Thus ends our little passion play
Bb
As played today.
