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Broadway production (1990)
Once on This Island the Musical - We Dance Lyrics
(Music by Stephen Flaherty and Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens)
[WOMAN]
Asaka, grow me a garden
[MAN]
Please Agwe, don't flood my garden
[TWO YOUNG WOMEN]
Erzulie, who will my love be?
[ALL]
Papa Ge don't come around me.
[WOMAN (spoken)]
Ah, such powerful,
Such temperamental gods rule our island.
[ASAKA]
Asaka, Mother of the Earth.
[AGWE]
Agwe, God of Water.
[ERZULIE]
Erzulie, beautiful Goddess of Love.
[PAPA GE]
And Papa Ge, sly Demon of Death.
[WOMEN]
Asaka, grow me a garden
[MEN]
Please Agwe, don't flood my garden
[WOMEN]
Erzulie, who will my love be?
[ALL]
Papa Ge don't come around me
Please Agwe don't flood my garden
Asaka grow me a garden...
[WOMEN]
We dance
[MEN]
We dance
[ALL]
To the music of the gods
The music of the breezes through
The green plaintain
The murmur of the river and
The roar of rain
And if the Gods decide to
Send a hurricane
[WOMEN]
We dance...
[MEN]
We dance
[ALL]
To their everchanging moods
[WOMAN (ASAKA)]
We know the gods are happy
When the green things grow
[MAN (AGWE)]
They're angry when the river
Starts to overflow
[ALL]
And since we never know
Which way the winds will blow...
We dance to the earth
We dance to the water
The Gods awake and we take no chance
Our hearts hear the song
Our feet move along
And to the music of the Gods
We dance!
[ANDREA (spoken)]
On the other side of the island,
safe behind high walls
and iron gates,
the grands hommes dance to a different tune.
[ALL]
La la la la la la la la
[DANIEL]
They drink champagne.
Entertain tourists at their fine hotels.
And tell their servants,
"Polish up the Mercedes!"
[ALL]
La la la la la la la la
[MAN]
Two different worlds
Never meant to meet.
[MAN]
The peasants labor
[WOMAN]
The grands hommes... eat!
[ANDREA AND DANIEL]
How fine
Our clothes are!
[ALL OTHERS]
We dance
[ANDREA AND DANIEL]
How fast
We drive!
[ALL OTHERS]
We dance
[ANDREA AND DANIEL]
We dance at parties...
[ALL]
While we are dancing
Just to stay alive...
[WOMEN]
We dance
[MEN]
We dance
[ALL]
What else is there to do?
[MAN]
But plant the seed
And pull the weed
And chop the cane
[TWO WOMEN]
And bear the child
And bear the load
And bear the pain
[THREE WOMEN, TWO MEN]
ANd as the rich go racing
To their own refrain
[ALL]
We dance to the earth
We dance to the water
The Gods awake and we take no chance
Our hearts hear the song
Our feet move along
And to the music of the Gods
We dance to the earth
We dance to the water
The Gods awake and we take
No chance...
[PAPA GE]
Two different worlds.
Never meant to meet.
But if the gods move our feet...
[ALL]
We dance! We dance! We dance!
[MAN (spoken)]
Once on this island,
there was a terrible storm!
[MAN]
Many huts washed away!
Many peasants drowned
by Agwe's angry waters!
[WOMAN]
But one small girl
caught his attention.
[LITTLE TI MOUNE]
Aaaahh!
[MAN (Agwe)]
And she was spared.
An orphan,
Plucked from the flood by Agwe.
[WOMAN (Asaka)]
Sheltered in a tree by Asaka.
[WOMAN (Erzulie)]
And sent on a journey by the gods.
A journey that would test the strength of love...
[MAN (Papa Ge)]
Against the power of death...
[MAN, WOMAN (Erzulie, Papa Ge)]
On this island of two different worlds!
[ALL]
The story of Ti Moune
[Thanks to Dani Starr for lyrics]
Read more: Once on This Island the Musical Lyrics
We Dance Lyrics from Once on This Island
Once on This Island the Musical Lyrics
SYNOPSIS
We Dance
One Small Girl
Waiting for Life
And the Gods Heard Her Prayer
Rain
Pray
Forever Yours
The Sad Tale of the Beauxhommes
Ti Moune
Mama Will Provide
Some Say
The Human Heart
Pray (Reprise)
Some Girls
The Ball
When We Are Wed
Forever Yours (Reprise)
A Part of Us
Why We Tell the Story
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