Der Text ist so hermetisch-poetisch und irritierend, dass ich ihn an dieser Stelle posten m?chte, um euch als Experten f?r die wahre Bedeutung von Symbolen um Interpretationen zu bitten, damit sich dieses Werk zumindest in Ans?tzen erschlie?t - vor allem diejenigen, die sich unter Dingen wie "Graduates of the Pen" etwas vorstellen k?nnen. Bitte um Verzeihung, dass der Beitrag etwas l?nger wird, aber ich verzichte aus Gr?nden der besseren Lesbarkeit nicht darauf, die Verse mit Zeilenumbr?chen einzeln abzusetzen. Danke im Voraus f?r eure Mithilfe.
I. WHAT TIME DOES THE NEXT MIRACLE LEAVE?
My name is Francis Albert
Francis Albert Sinatra
And I sing love songs mostly after dark, mostly in saloons.
I've had some very good years.
I haven't missed a whole lot in those firecracker years,
And I don't want to miss a thing when the future appears.
I like to sit outside on a summer night with a drink in my hand.
And a little moonlit music on the stereo,
And look at the stars.
Then I get an urge to travel through that fabulous sky,
If they can do it in the movies, why can't I?
Seats are now available on the Satellite Special,
Leaving for Mercury, Venus, Pluto, Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune.
What time does the next miracle leave?
I want to be on board,
Save me a seat by the window
Where I can see
All those marvelous things to be seen out there.
Will the trees be green out there or bare?
What time does the next miracle leave?
Let's get this show on the road,
And when the Satellite Tours begin,
Count me in, count me in, count me in
Count me in, count me in, count me in ...
Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.
(musical interlude)
When I arrive at Venus
It will surely be spring,
And the girl I have waited for
Will be waiting for me,
And she'll dance with me all the afternoon,
Comfort me when the darkness falls,
And she'll still be there in the morning
When I need her the most.
Maybe when I get to Venus
I will never be lonely again.
Satellite Special leaving for Jupiter and Saturn,
Leaving for Jupiter, Saturn,
Jupiter, Saturn
Jupiter makes with the rain
Saturn makes with the crops
A nicer trade was never made and hopefully never stops.
If Saturn's fields are dry
Jupiter won't stay fat
So Jupiter leaves his forces on and that is that.
Next stop: Pluto, where the devil dwells, hahahahahahaha
Pluto is a rotten place an evil place they got in space,
It's Hades
It's Hades
Filled with graduates of the pen,
A sordid flock of criminal men
And ladies
Ladies? Ladies, ladies, ladies
It's pure hell when your journey ends there,
But you can bet your ass I'll meet a lot of friends there
We did it your way
Next stop: Mercury, Mercury, The Messenger
Mercury will lead us out to Neptune and his deep blue sea.
(musical interlude)
And then
And then to Uranus
Uranus
Uranus is heaven
Heaven, heaven, heaven
How will you know, Francis, if it's really heaven?
How will I know?
I will know
If they need me at the station,
With a cheese and tomato pizza,
Well done
Well done
And a little red wine.
The Satellite Special now leaving non-stop for earth, non-stop for earth, non-stop for earth ...
We will be on board when the next miracle leaves
It's time we were getting on board.
Please let me off in the desert,
Where I can see
All those wonderful things to be seen down there.
Will the trees be green down there or bare?
(coda)
II. WORLD WAR NONE!
Where I live in the desert,
It's so peaceful and warm.
And the cares of the world drift by,
Like clouds reflected in a quiet pool
But there always comes a time when a man has to think of the future,
War, war, war!
Has to think of his children,
War, war, war!
And the world they will live in
War, war, war, war!
I'm not sure if I can do anything to help them,
But I can try, I can try.
Time to build us a fire,
Seven hundred feet high,
We can fashion a fire
Fire
That will reach the sky
Reach the sky
We can feed the flames with the unkind deeds we've done
Feed the fire
'Cause we've got to get ready for World War None.
Ugly habits we've learned
In our struggle for gold,
Will be thrown in the fire
With the lies we've told
All our false suspicions
We can burn them one by one
That will help us get ready for World War None.
A little love is more effective than a rifle,
A little faith will take you farther than a jet
The rule to follow is the one forever golden
They haven't improved on it yet.
Keep on feeding the fire
Till the fire is hot,
With those un-neighborly feelings
We deny we've got.
Keep on trying for peace
Until that peace is won.
Then you're practically ready for World War None.
A whispered word of trust is louder than a bugle
An olive branch is so much stronger than a sword,
And the bombsite can't replace the stained glass window
For which we should thank the good Lord, thank the good Lord
Thank you, thank you, thank you
If we cherish our fire
It could possibly be
Bright enough to be seen
Far across the sea
When those other countries
See what we have done
Maybe they'll help us get ready
Get ready, get ready
For World War None.
World War None!
III. THE FUTURE
Gonna find me a gypsy and get my fortune told,
I'm gonna find me a gypsy and get my fortune told.
I'm gonna say please, missus gypsy, tell me what the future will hold.
Honey, a deck of cards and a crystal ball
Won't tell you a thing that you don't already know.
The future will almost certainly be whatever you want it to be
But with rockets, space ships, computers, inventions
Little buttons you can push and push
Let your imagination burst into flame and it will let you do
Whatever you damn well choose to do.
Given a choice I would choose
To have a magic wand that I could use
To draw a melody
From that enchanted maze of brass
And keys and wood and wind and steel.
And I would stand there, big and brave, and quietly say:
Ladies and Gentlemen, play for me, play for me.
(and the orchestra plays a beautiful melody)
IV. THE FUTURE (CONTINUED): I'VE BEEN THERE!
If the future could speak,
Would it tell us to leap before we look,
Would it dare us to live with danger or play it by the book?
If tomorrow brings us love, you can bet,
We will need all the help we can get.
And to tell the honest truth everyone of us could use
Some words of wisdom from a man who's paid his dues.
When I see a young couple walking slowly through the trees,
I don't have to follow them to know
How far they'll go.
I've been there.
If the boy is sulking and the girl is close to tears,
I know it doesn't matter who is right
Or who started the fight.
I've been there.
I've been there when the music played old songs, young songs,
Good songs, bad songs, sweet songs, sad songs.
I've been there when a certain smile made it difficult to breathe but so easy to fly
And a pleasure to cry,
So to all of you in the throes of early love where delightful confusion reigns supreme,
Let me try to help you rearrange your dream,
Let yourself live, let yourself love, let yourself go.
I've been there and I know.
V. THE FUTURE (CONCLUSION): SONG WITHOUT WORDS
Your imagination has an awful lot to give
It will let you live where you want to live.
I want to build a little house
Maybe two bedrooms
I want to build a little house on a stone.
(full musical interlude with chorus)
(brief transition)
I want to build a little house on a stone.
If a man has a story that he badly needs to tell
A man's imagination makes a lovely wishing well.
Make a wish, make a wish
I wish I could write a song everyone alive could understand.
A song that a Frenchman could sing to a Spaniard
A song that a German could sing to a Russian
A song that a peasant could sing to a king
Wouldn't it be wonderful, wouldn't it be grand
To write a song that the whole wide world could understand.
(chorus interlude)
Gonna find me a gypsy and get my fortune told,
I'm gonna say, please missus gypsy, tell me what the future will hold
Tell us what the future will hold.
VI. FINALE: BEFORE THE MUSIC ENDS
I reached the age of forty somewhat sooner than expected,
Living at a fairly hectic pace.
And when I count the years that I have happily collected,
The future shows its apprehensive face.
But now, Francis,
What the hell will you do now, Francis?
Quite a different song must be sung
When the singer is no longer young.
Before the music ends,
Before it fades away,
There are several very necessary things I must do.
Friends I must see again,
Certain places where I must be again.
Before the music ends I must go to Hoboken one more time.
I wanna run down the streets where that thin Italian kid ran.
And slow down at the school,
Where those nice old ladies tried to teach me,
Unaware that I knew much more than they did.
And stop at the poolroom for a beer,
And sadly say to myself: I don't know anybody here.
Francis, don't go home again.
One thing I'd like to do, before the music ends,
Is to thank some wonderful life-long friends,
I've never met but have known so well.
(background: Liszt's Liebestraum)
From one Frank to another, thank you for your dream,
Your dream is now my own.
And thank you Ludwig Van
(background: a snatch of the Fifth Symphony)
For the flights of fancy you sent me on.
Thanks, Mrs. Verdi, for Joe
And a special thanks to Giaccomo.