Richard Kiley - Man of La Mancha (I, Don Quixote) lyrics

[Don Cervantes] May I set the stage? I shall impersonate a man Come, enter into my imagination and see him! His name... Alonso Quijana... a country squire No longer young... bony, hollow-faced... eyes That burn with the fire of inner vision. Being Retired, he has much time for books. He studies Them from morn to night and often through the Night as well. And all he reads oppresses him... Fills him with indignation at man's murderous Ways toward man. And he conceives the strangest Project ever imagined... to become a knight-errant And sally forth into the world to right all Wrongs. No longer shall he be plain Alonso Quijana... But a dauntless knight known as - Don Quixote de La Mancha! [Don Quixote] Hear me now Oh thou bleak and unbearable world Thou art base and debauched as can be; And a knight with his banners all bravely unfurled Now hurls down his gauntlet to thee! [Chorus] I am I, Don Quixote The Lord of La Mancha My destiny calls and I go And the wild winds of fortune Will carry me onward Oh whithersoever they blow Whithersoever they blow Onward to glory I go! [Sancho Panza] I'm Sancho! Yes, I'm Sancho! I'll follow my master till the end I'll tell all the world proudly I'm his squire! I'm his friend! [Don Quixote] Hear me, heathens and wizards And serpents of sin! All your dastardly doings are past For a holy endeavor is now to begin And virtue shall triumph at last! [Don Quixote and Sancho Panza] (Unison) I am I, Don Quixote The Lord of la Mancha ( I'm Sancho! Yes, I'm Sancho!) My destiny calls and I go (I'll follow my master till the end.) And the wild winds of fortune Will carry me onward (I'll tell all the world proudly) Oh whithersoever they blow! (I'm his squire! I'm his friend!) Whithersoever they blow Onward to glory we go!