Preludes Original Cast - Your Day lyrics

[DAHL] How was your day? [RACH] My day? [DAHL] Did you get any writing done? [RACH] Writing? [DAHL] Writing [RACH] No [DAHL] Describe your day [RACH] Describe my day My day My day began with waking I suppose I don't remember it clearly The moment I woke up My memory is vague I know I lay in bed Staring at Natalya In the beginning sunlight And then I remember waking again and she was gone She snuck out She sometimes does that Lets me sleep And that was the first hour (Music begins, based on the first 8 bars of the Piano Concerto no. 2 in C minor, op. 18.) And then I lay there For an hour Doing nothing Stretching my muscles Staring at the ceiling Staring at the day And that was the second hour Then I went to the kitchen We have a Bialetti It's a…it's a percolator I guess? It makes espresso The water is stored in a little tank below And it boils And goes up through the coffee grounds And above, then there is coffee I had to clean it out from the day before The coffee collects into a little patty Which I threw out And then rinsed it all with warm water And filled it with cold water And placed in the coffee and patted it down Very tenderly and delicately So the coffee wouldn't spill over And I spent so much time on this On being careful and clean And I think I put on music Maybe a Beethoven record Or Gordon Lightfoot…first it was Gordon Lightfoot My mother used to listen to him I know he's not cool But he brings back a fond feeling And I waited for the coffee And I made an egg In a cast iron pan And I grated cheese over it with a new cheese grater Salt, pepper A piece of toast bu*ter And that was the third hour And then I lay down in bed again And that was the fourth hour And then I lay down in bed again And that was the fifth hour Then I decided to start To start my day Really start Wake up wake up wake up Become presentable Able to accomplish things And I started towards the toilet To wash And I think I stopped at the chessboard Stopped at the Queen's Knight He had nowhere to go And that was the sixth hour Then I went to the toilet I brushed my teeth I stepped into the shower I kept the water a bit cool Afterward I trimmed my beard And the hairs get everywhere So It took a while to clean that up We don't have servants We're not rich You know Money is a worry And that was the seventh hour So it's three o'clock now School's getting out I haven't really eaten lunch And I've been inside all day The windows are open but the air is still different inside And it's bright out there I feel itchy and clammy Cooped up And I think how good it would be to go out How good to walk in the park How good to just go, anywhere See children Married couples Old men Dogs Squirrels and birds And trees And that was the eighth hour And And I know if I could write three short piano pieces I could get a payment And that would help And I think I think maybe some of those activities went on a bit longer So really we are at the ninth hour And that was the ninth hour And then I read a book I think Or, I read a little bit of a few books Books I really love I stared at the shelf for a while And tried to find ones I had forgotten about And I looked at a poem And then I sat at the piano And I played a Bach 2-Part Invention F minor Though, not very well I practiced the arpeggios at the end a bit Got it up to speed And then I was so tired And that was tenth hour And then I lay down in bed again And that was the eleventh hour Oh, oh, and all through the day too… All through the day I was reading letters Little notes that came in from booking agents Touring managers About a concert in Lisbon or Helsinki And I read the news And various journals And tried to keep up And I wrote a few letters back Threw many others away This I did all though the day So many minutes were spent with this Spent on other people Obligation A prompt reply A professional— An in-control— A sane way of doing things So many minutes On these worthless things So we are, we are at the twelfth hour? Must be And that was the twelfth hour And then Natalya came home And I left And came here And that was the thirteenth hour And this is fourteenth hour And then I'll go home in the fifteenth hour And then I'll talk to Natalya a bit Find out about her day And that will be the sixteenth hour And then I'll go to sleep For eight hours And those hours are easy ______________________ [DAHL] How long have your days been like this? [RACH] Three years [DAHL] That is a long time [RACH] I know [DAHL] What happened three years ago? [RACH] Nothing (RACHMANINOFF begins playing the Prelude in C# minor, op. 3, no. 2. RACH walks to the piano and slams the lid closed.)