Lyrics: Bertolt Brecht
Music: Kurt Weill
PRIDE
Anna I
So we saved up, bought ourselves an outfit,
nighties, nylons, beautiful dresses.
Soon we found a job that was going.
A job as dancer in a cabaret.
A job in Memphis, the second big town we came to.
Oh, how hard it was for Anna!
Beautiful clothes can make a good girl particular
when the drinking tigress meets herself in the pool,
she’s apt to become a menace.
She began talking about Art (of all things).
about the Art (if you please) of Cabaret,
in Memphis, the second big town we came to.
It wasn’t Art that sort of people wanted.
That sort of people wanted something else.
And when a man has paid for his evening,
He would like a good show in return.
And if you cover up your bosom and thighs like a rotten fish,
Then you will surely see them yawning.
So I told my art-loving sister Anna,
“Leave your pride to those who can well afford it.
Do what you are asked to do and not
what you want, for that isn’t what is wanted.”
Family
O Lord, look down upon our daughter,
show her the way that leads the good to Thy reward.
Who fights the good fight and all Self subdues,
wins the Palm gains the Crown.
Anna I
Oh, but I had trouble, I can tell you
with her fancy, pig-headed notions.
Many nights I sat by her bedside,
holding her hand and saying this:
“Think of your home in Louisiana.”