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Words: Beringer, with apologies to Edmund Morris and Edward Arlington Robinson
Music: Zaenker / Yonki / Kimberley / Beringer
The voices:
Francis Beringer: Theodore Roosevelt, John Flammang Schrank
Stefanie Zaenker: Edith Roosevelt, Jane Addams
J. Robbins: William Howard Taft
Legend:
TR: Theodore Roosevelt, ER: Edith Roosevelt, JA: Jane Addams
WHT: William Howard Taft, JFS: John Flammang Schrank, C: Chorus
Guest vocals by J. Robbins
Pedal steel by Howard Parker
lyrics
I. Malaria Dream: Medora
In which former President Theodore Roosevelt has a malaria dream; hallucinates the presence of his wife Edith; and discusses his time in North Dakota and Washington, DC.
(TR) I have roved and rambled
With my life gambled
Where bison thundered
And bullets flew
But for all my fakings, insane undertakings
Never once could I fool you
(TR, ER) When the news landed
And fate commanded
To Washington we’d make our way
Where many long nights
From dark to daylight
We’d spend with people of high renown
But for all their glamor and boisterous manner
(TR) My lips did stammer for that Dakota town
II. Expedition
In which Roosevelt, in 1909, undertakes an expedition to eastern Africa and reminisces about his international adventures; the European powers scramble dangerously to remake the world; and a return to public life is considered.
(C) When fame’s despotic music rings
The ashen scramble to be kings
As long as glory’s weighed in dust
They’ll say they’re fit for that great trust
Violent science in his talk
And hints of regal in his walk
And glints of iron in his eyes
But never doubt, nor yet surprise
(TR) Years further going, my wildness showing
I cut through jungles and crossed more seas
Foreign congregations, leaders of nations
Stood more than happy to welcome me
In grand apparel, kings dukes and earls
They tried to impress with sword and crown
But for all their splendor, they’re all pretenders
My heart still ached for that Dakota town
My own continent recedes out of mind
Just seven weeks since my life was left behind
I gaze through eager pince-nez at the landscape ahead
Waves of pale gray grass billow, opaque anthill bloodshed
Failure to adapt to what is new and strange
So, too, with states, fizzling chemically, and rearranged
(C) When public acclamation rings
Ambition scrambles to be king
As long as glory’s weighed in dust
They’ll say they’re fit for that great trust
III. Hat In The Ring: 1912 Campaign
In which a promise not to run for president again is broken; the real Edith expresses grave concerns about megalomania; and old political grudges are nurtured.
(TR) Unobscured
With lions sitting at the gate again
Roaring unintended acknowledgments
That I’m familiar with my fate again, for what that’s worth
(ER) Here you sit so bitter, so battered by the past
The mind can be a counterfeiter
Selling wounds that shouldn’t last
I mourn for none can so restore
The man I thought I knew before
He’s a magnet, a comet with molten and volcanic core
A relentless motion revolving and evolving door
(ER, TR) He’s a magnet, a comet with molten and volcanic core
(TR) My hat is in the ring
Let all the logothetes, mugwumps, spoilsmen, weasel worders, mollycoddlers, kittle cattle sing
IV. Taft
In which President William Howard Taft is betrayed by his friend and mentor Theodore Roosevelt; weaknesses are exploited; the Republican Party is split; and a confused dignity is chosen in the face of certain defeat.
(WHT) I couldn’t if I would, and I wouldn’t if I could
I come in peace and I don’t want to fight
A rat in a corner will hit hard, and bite
I have a part to play, I’ll play it
I have no heart to try and fake it
Whose side are you on?
(WHT, TR) Whose side are you on?
V. We Stand At Armageddon
In which the Progressive Party is formed; Roosevelt is nominated at its Chicago convention; Jane Addams and Edith express concerns about cultish behavior; and militant and religious language is wielded with precision.
(TR) Between the spoilsmen and the mugwumps
Flows the poison where the blood pumps
(TR, ER) Face is marred by sweat and dust
Fails again and just gets up
(TR) Onward Christian soldiers, we are marching as to war
Forget the smaller causes you were fighting for before
Our mighty army is the holy mother church of god
Brothers we are treading where the gentle saints have trod!
Bathed in acclamation
I am now bent on revenge
We stand at armageddon!
I am rattling on edge!
(TR, ER, WHT) Whose side are you on?
(JA) This isn’t an assembly!
(ER) This is a cult!
(JA) This is what you wanted?
(ER) This is the result?
(TR, ER, WHT, JA) Whose side are you on?
VI. Assassin In The Arena
In which Theodore Roosevelt is shot in the chest by John Flammang Schrank while giving a campaign speech in Milwaukee, and lives; and the election is lost to Woodrow Wilson.
(JFS, ER) When night draws near, you hear a knock
A voice will whisper, time is up
(TR) I didn’t notice I’d been shot
Until I began to read
Then I looked down
And saw how much I’d begun to bleed
(ER) Whose side are you on?
VII. River of Doubt
In which Roosevelt, in 1913, explores one of the last unmapped places on earth, the infamously inhospitable Rio da Dúvida in Brazil, and is nearly killed; the prospect of war in Europe consumes Roosevelt’s mind; President Wilson is relentlessly criticized; The Great War begins; and the government refuses to let Roosevelt enlist.
(TR, C) What do you see?
I see lightning coming!
What do you hear?
I hear thunder calling!
Don’t make a sound, I hear trouble headed our way
(TR) Hacking through the thickets, gasping liquid air
Insatiable piranhas swimming everywhere
Fire ants and stinging wasps we salt our wounds with sweat
Blood in water, sunlight, shade, we’re learning to forget!
Weasel worders, mollycoddlers, kittle cattle, tame!
The black blood crusts around the mouths of those you have betrayed!
Can’t you see the coming storm?
Can’t you see the coming storm?
You sheepish leaden oxen, forever at the plow!
You recoil then you crumple, you cowards, you’re cowed!
VIII. The Great War Against The Sky
In which exhaustion takes its toll on the defiant; grief at the loss of a child in war is unbearable; and death presents itself to a colossus.
(TR) It’ll take more than a bullet to kill a bull moose like me
(C) Face is marred by sweat and dust
Fails again and again and just gets up
Face is marred by blood and dust
Fails again and again and just gets up
(TR) The dust is dancing with the rust
The dead are fit for that great trust
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