>Act
II
No. 17: Song (Lutin) & Chorus
Lutin. | ||||
Suppose you take, with open mind, Twelve handsome men — what do you find? |
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Twelve people, twenty-five years old, | ||||
Twelve shapes, in even series; | ||||
Twelve faces, cast in classic mould — | ||||
(A type that quickly wearies), | ||||
Twelve heads — the same from crown to nape | ||||
In tedious iteration; | ||||
Twelve noses — all alike in shape, | ||||
Without a variation; | ||||
Two dozen eyes — all large and
bright; Two dozen lips — all modelled quite Like Cupid's bow — and underneath Somewhere about three hundred teeth, |
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By average calculation. | ||||
This is a principle you may disseminate: Good-looking men are effete and effeminate. As for variety, they haven't got any — Morbidly mild in their mawky monotony! |
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Chorus. | ||||
This is a principle we may disseminate: Good-looking men are effete and effeminate. As for variety, they haven't got any — Morbidly mild, |
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Lutin & Chorus. | ||||
Morbidly mild, Morbidly mild in their mawky monotony! |
Lutin. | |||
But take twelve plain men,
and you find Variety of every kind! |
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You've eyes that swivel — eyes that squint, | |||
And dribbling eyes, and dozy; | |||
And mottled cheeks of every tint, | |||
And hair that's red and rosy; | |||
You've mouths that grin and mouths that gape; | |||
Large ears that don't offend us; | |||
Uneven teeth grotesque in shape, | |||
And noses, too — tremendous! | |||
You've noses flat and noses snub, Gigantic noses, noses club; You've noses long and noses short, And some that snore and some that snort |
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With energy stupendous! | |||
Why we're unpopular passes the wit o' me! Each of his kind is a comic epitome, Teeming with humours of dissimilarity — Quite a museum of peculiarity! |
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Chorus. | |||
Why we're unpopular passes the wit
o' me! Each of his kind is a comic epitome, Teeming with humours of dissimilarity — Quite a museum, |
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Lution & Chorus. | |||
Quite a museum, Quite a museum of peculiarity! |
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Page modified 13 March 2009