William Finn - And They're Off lyrics

[GORDON] Ponies in the sun The race is soon beginning My father bet the family fortune On a sleek brown horse My father had a hunch We gave up lunch So Daddy could make a wager Ma would scoff She would scoff Hear her scoff And they're off! [ENSEMBLE] La la la la la [GORDON] Yeah, they're off! [ENSEMBLE] La la la la la [GORDON] And they move in a herd Like a four letter word And they're off! [ENSEMBLE] La la la la la [GORDON] Tickets float to the ground And the band starts to play As the horses go round [ENSEMBLE] And they're off! [GORDON] Mommy sat and cried But Dad was unaffected He said [JOE] "Have you ever had a better two minutes In the last three years?" [GORDON] She said [MIMI] "But Joe, the dumb horse lost!" [GORDON] He said [JOE] "Sometimes joy has a terrible cost I know that" [GORDON/MIMI] We would laugh We would sneer We would scoff And they're off! [ENSEMBLE] La la la la la [GORDON] Yeah, they're off! [ENSEMBLE] La la la la la [GORDON] Mommy's biting his neck As they roll on the deck And they're off [ENSEMBLE] La la la la la [GORDON] There is blood on the ground And the band starts to play As the horses go round [ENSEMBLE] And they're off! [GORDON] Isn't life funny? People lose money And have fun Betting, of course, is Hell on the horses And on families where the betting is done It's a joke to believe someone's won [MIMI/JOE] All we did was fight [GORDON] Plus they discussed the weather My father bet the family fortune Till it disappeared We also laughed a lot That was a thing I often forgot to mention But it's true Yes, it's true It is true And he's off! [ENSEMBLE] La la la la la [GORDON] Daddy's off! [ENSEMBLE] La la la la la [GORDON] We get letters from Maine Where he tries to explain Why he's off [ENSEMBLE] La la la la la [GORDON] What was lost was not found And the band starts to play As the horses go round [ENSEMBLE] And they're off! [GORDON] And they're off! [ENSEMBLE] I hear the bell at the starting gate [GORDON] They are off! [ENSEMBLE] We're salivating as we're moving, moving Down the track [GORDON] And they move in a herd Like a four letter word And they're off! [ENSEMBLE] Coming down the stretch [GORDON/ENSEMBLE] There is blood on the ground And the band starts to play As the horses go round [GORDON/ENSEMBLE] And round and round And round and round And round and round And round and round And round and round And round and round And round and round And they're off!