Epilogue: You and I / The Story of Chess

Lyrics

[Part I: You and I] [THE RUSSIAN] Knowing I want you Knowing I love you I can't explain Why I remain Careless about you [FLORENCE] I've been a fool to allow Dreams to become Great expectations [THE RUSSIAN] How can I love you so much Yet make no move? [THE RUSSIAN & FLORENCE] I pray the days and nights In their endless weary procession Soon overwhelm My sad obsession You and I We've seen it all Chasing our hearts' desire But we go on pretending Stories like ours Have happy endings [THE RUSSIAN] You could not give me More than you gave me Why should there be Something in me Still discontented? [FLORENCE] I won't look back any more And if I do— Just for a moment [THE RUSSIAN] I'll soon be happy to say I knew her then [THE RUSSIAN & FLORENCE] But if you hear today I'm no longer quite so devoted To this affair I've been misquoted You and I We've seen it all Chasing our hearts' desire But we go on pretending Stories like ours Have happy endings [Part II: The Story of Chess] [ENSEMBLE] Each game of chess Means there's one less Variation left to be played Each day got through Means one or two Less mistakes remain to be made [MEN & WOMEN] Not much is known (Each game) Of early days of chess (Of chess) Beyond a fairly vague report (Means there's one less) That fifteen hundred years ago two princes fought (Variation) Though brothers, for a Hindu throne (Left to be played) [WOMEN & MEN] The mother cried (Each day) For no one really likes (Got through) Their offspring fighting to the death (Means one or two) She begged to stop the slaughter (Less mis-) With her every breath (Takes re-) But sure enough one brother died (Main to be made) Sad (And then) Beyond belief (Such grief) She told her winning son (Beyond belief) "You have caused such grief (She said) I can't forgive (She could) This evil thing you've done" (Not forgive) [TENORS, WOMEN, BASSES] He tried to explain (He tried to explain) (He tried) How things had really been (How things had really been) (In vain) But he tried in vain (But he tried in vain) (How to explain) No words of his (No words of his) (But that could not) Could mollify the queen (Could mollify the queen) (Mollify) [WOMEN & MEN] And so he asked (He asked) The wisest men he knew (Wise men) The way to lessen her distress (Had to, what on) They told him he'd be ([?]) Pretty certain to impress ([?]) [ENSEMBLE] By using model soldiers On a checkered board To show it was his brother's fault They thus invented chess [TENOR SOLOIST & WOMEN] Chess displayed (Each game of chess) No inertia (Means there's one less) Soon spread to Persia (Variation) Then west (Left to be played) [WOMEN & MEN] Next the (Each day got through) Arabs refined it (Means one or two) Thus redesigned (Less mistakes) It progressed (Remain to be made) [MEN & WOMEN] Still further west (West and) And when Constantinople (More west) Fell in 1453 (Chess moved, progressed) One would have noticed (Seemed like) Every other refugee (The world) Included in his bags a set (Had one set) [WOMEN & MEN] Once in the hands and in the minds (Renaissance) Of leading figures of the Renaissance (Gave chess the chance) The spirit and the speed of chess (To reach) Made swift advance (Parts most) Through all of Europe's vital lands (Games do not reach) [WOMEN & MEN] Where we must record (Each game of chess) The game was further changed right (Means there's one less) Across the board the western touch (Variation) Upon the pieces ranged (To be played) [ENSEMBLE] King and queen and rook And bishop, knight and pawn All took on the look We know today The modern game was born [MEN] And in the end We see a game That started by mistake in Hindustan And boosted in the main By what is now Iran [ENSEMBLE] Become the simplest And most complicated Pleasure yet devised For just the kind of mind That would appreciate this Well-researched and fascinating yarn [Part III: You and I Reprise] [FLORENCE] This is an all too familiar scene [THE RUSSIAN] Hopeless reflections on what might have been [THE RUSSIAN & FLORENCE] From all sides the incessant and burning question: [FLORENCE] "Bearing in mind your predicament now [THE RUSSIAN] What you did then [THE RUSSIAN & FLORENCE] We're just dying to know would you do it all again?" [ENSEMBLE] Each day we get through means one less mistake There for the making [THE RUSSIAN & FLORENCE] But they know full well It's not hard to tell Though my heart is breaking I'd give the world for that moment with you When we thought we knew That our love would last But the moment passed With no warning, far too fast You and I We've seen it all Chasing our hearts' desire But we go on pretending Stories like ours Have happy endings