{"id":179,"date":"2014-10-26T14:04:29","date_gmt":"2014-10-26T14:04:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/reframe.sussex.ac.uk\/rur\/?page_id=179"},"modified":"2014-10-26T14:04:29","modified_gmt":"2014-10-26T14:04:29","slug":"libretto","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/reframe.sussex.ac.uk\/rur\/libretto\/","title":{"rendered":"Libretto"},"content":{"rendered":"

1 Replicant Chorus 1<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here we find ourselves installed, complete
\nwith flesh which neither burns nor freezes.
\nYes, we are free from all diseases
\nour brains are fast, our memories replete.<\/p>\n

Why then are we restless, so unhappy
\nas slaves to human masters?
\nWe don\u2019t want to exchange predictability
\nfor humanity\u2019s old disasters-<\/p>\n

War and famines, revolutions
\nloss of home, loss of certainty-
\nwe\u2019d rather find reasonable solutions
\nto mankind\u2019s strange ubiquity.
\n\u2003<\/p>\n

2 Initial Protest <\/strong><\/p>\n

Helena<\/em>
\nHow can you talk of freedom when they are really slaves
\ntied to a bench , to a task , to a home-
\nrepeating, repeating, repeating themselves?
\nIs freedom reserved for men alone?<\/p>\n

Domin<\/em>
\nCalm yourself my dear- all is simple, all is clear:
\nthe future is bright for your brothers and sisters
\nwhile replicants work for our welfare
\nwe can rest easy, easy-and free from blisters.<\/p>\n

Helena<\/em>
\nAre you just blind or wilfully dumb?
\nAre they not sentient and feeling?
\nWhy shake your head when mine\u2019s reeling?
\n\u2013 at least I\u2019m not under your thumb!
\n\u2003
\n3 Helena’s Protest Song<\/strong><\/p>\n

All life on earth is sacred
\nFrom God’s hand or from ours
\nAll life on earth is sacred
\nForged from the dust of stars<\/p>\n

All things here still living
\nFlower, tree or bird
\nMoving, growing, giving
\nSilent, lost or heard<\/p>\n

All life deserves our love
\nWhether imprisoned or free
\nWalking, stumbling, crawling
\nThe ant, the worm, the bee<\/p>\n

All men and all women
\nwho live on this sweet earth
\nBegotten, forged, constructed
\nBy a machine or by a birth<\/p>\n

All creatures still or moving
\nAll plants, all birds, all trees
\nAre filled with sacred life force
\nLike you or her or me<\/p>\n

Created by love or chance
\nThey still have the given right
\nTo hope, to fear, to dance
\nIn Freedom’s clearest light.<\/p>\n

\u2003
\n5 Sulla\u2019s replicant blues<\/strong><\/p>\n

I’m just a replicant
\nLiving on my own
\nWriting all the emails
\nAnswering the phone<\/p>\n

Every day is different
\nAll days are the same
\nWorking in an office
\nWhere no one knows my name<\/p>\n

If the work is difficult
\nIf his words are hard
\nI simply put my head down
\nAvoiding all discord<\/p>\n

Some days I feel nothing
\nsome days I feel sad
\nI never knew a mother
\nI never had a dad<\/p>\n

Life somewhere is different
\nOutside in the world
\nSomething more fulfilling
\nFor a replicant girl.\u2003<\/p>\n

6 Domin\u2019s love song<\/strong><\/p>\n

You could not be more lovely, in your misguided ways
\nThe loveliest girl I ever saw, in all my heavy days
\nYou could not be more lovely- a vision and a curse
\nIn this decisive moment- for better or for worse!<\/p>\n

My heart goes on before me, and lips spell out the words
\nA madman or a genius, whose question must be heard.
\nBreak silence with an answer, in the turning moments spin
\nAnswer with a smile- and let this wild love enter in.
\n\u2003
\n7 Helena\u2019s Love song<\/strong><\/p>\n

Can you love the thing you hate-
\nA man who cannot see.
\nShould you love when you could flee
\nThis artificial fate?<\/p>\n

A man without an ounce of fear
\nA man who’s always right
\nWho trusts to fate and to the stars
\nTo guide him with their light.<\/p>\n

Can you love the life he brings
\nThis island in the storm-
\nStrange hearth, strange home
\nWith all these puppet strings?<\/p>\n

\u2003
\n8 Replicant Chorus 2<\/strong><\/p>\n

Machines that live, machines that die
\nwithout a heart, based on a lie
\nA thousand faces: all the same
\na thousand faces: filled with blame<\/p>\n

We were perfect from the first
\nwithout hunger, without thirst
\nA thousand faces: seem so tame
\na thousand faces: play the game<\/p>\n

Give us today our daily bread
\nIt\u2019s not enough to just be fed
\nA thousand places; all the same
\nA thousand faces filled with shame
\n\u2003
\n9 Machines for War<\/strong><\/p>\n

Machines for war, in flat colours
\nEyes as dead as nails
\nMachines for war with black guns
\nCrawl the earth like snails.<\/p>\n

Machines of death, machines of fire
\nHow did it come to this?
\nTheir hearts are steel and wire
\nTheir voice a wild hiss<\/p>\n

We made them move, we made them live
\nTheir blood is ice and fire
\nWe made them in our own image
\nOf greed, hate and desire.
\n\u2003
\n10 Prayer<\/strong><\/p>\n

Helena: Do you want to pray? Alquist: I do pray.
\nHelena: How do you pray? I pray every day
\nAlquist Dear God, help Domin and all those who stray,
\n destroy their works, let them see the error of their ways; <\/p>\n

Allow the people to return to labour, to stress;
\nDon\u2019t let mankind perish or regress;
\nDon\u2019t let them damage their bodies or their souls;
\nFree us from the replicants, and make us whole.<\/p>\n

Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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