Stephen Sondheim - Shaw lyrics

[DIONYSOS] I knew that I could do it I knew it, I knew it I knew they'd all pooh-pooh it And indeed they did I knew if I stuck to it I'd somehow get through it At times I thought, "Oh, screw it!" But proceed I did And oh, you kid -- ! I just met Shaw! I got to meet Shaw! There isn't any doubt The man's without A single flaw! I talked to Shaw I said to him, "Shaw The world is in a crisis." He said, "Listen, Dionysos What you need is Shaw I'll go with you," says Shaw "I happen to be free And who could be A bigger draw?" That instant generosity That's Shaw! The verbal virtuosity That's Shaw! The fearless animosity That mind with such velocity -- All right, there's the pomposity But that's just Shaw And maybe some verbosity But still you'll be in awe [DIONYSOS] And here comes Shaw! [SHAW] Dionysos, your arrival is most fortuitous. My fellow playwrights I fear have lost the art of conversation, but not, unfortunately, the power of speech [The SHAVIANS enter laughing] [DIONYSOS] He has no use for piety Or notions of propriety He'll show us our society In ways we never saw [SHAW] I'm sick to d**h of the Underworld. It is like sitting for all eternity at the first act of a fashionable play before the complications begin [DIONYSOS] The world will soon be dancing "The Shaw." [DIONYSIAN] How do you dance the Shaw? [DIONYSOS] [To the SHAVIANS] Tell him [SHAVIANS] First you think Then you comment [Music stops momentarily as they all murmur something brief And judicious to each other; then it resumes] [SHAVIANS] Then you think Then you discuss [Music stops again as they babble to each other more animatedly; two loud chords halt the discussion and music continues] [SHAVIANS] Then you read Then you make a quip [SHAW] All great truths begin as blasphemies [SHAVIANS] That's how you dance "The Shaw." [DIONYSOS] Isn't he amazing? Isn't he adorable? [to the SHAVIANS] Couldn't you die? Well, you already have Still -- [SHAVIANS] Words can dance Thoughts can dance Syllables can samba Sentences can waltz around in your mind Epigrams can leap and bound Simply from the way they sound -- [SHAW] Patriotism is the conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it [DIONYSOS] Even when he's not profound He's so refined! [SHAW] Democracy substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few [SHAVIANS] Shaw will show the way Shaw is for today Take him off the shelf [DIONYSOS] Everything he writes Dazzles and delights -- He told me so himself [SHAW] When a man knows nothing and thinks he knows everything That points clearly to a political career [DIONYSOS] Couldn't you just put him on Toast points and eat him for lunch? I'll show them Shaw! [SHAVIANS] First you think... [DIONYSOS] I want to share Shaw! [SHAVIANS] Then you reason... [DIONYSOS] I'm sure of Shaw! [SHAVIANS] Then you think Then you digress... [SHAW] The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them but to be indifferent to them; that is the essence of inhumanity. Next! [SHAVIANS] Such sanity, humanity Who cares about the vanity? His work is just so literate It leaves you all atwitter, it's Got gravity and levity That's why it's got longevity [DIONYSOS] A little short on brevity Is that against the law? [SHAVIANS] We still need Shaw! He's bringing back Shaw! The world will have an orgy Of Georgie Shaw!