Chant

[WORKERS]

Low, keep your head, keep your head low

Oh, you gotta keep your head low

If you wanna keep your head

Oh, you gotta keep your head low

Keep your head, keep your head low

Oh, you gotta keep your head low

If you wanna keep your head

Oh, you gotta keep your head

[PERSEPHONE]

In the coldest time of year

Why is it so hot down here?

Hotter than a crucible

It ain't right and it ain't natural

[HADES]

Lover, you were gone so long

Lover, I was lonesome

So I built a foundry

In the ground beneath your feet

Here, I fashioned things of steel

Oil drums and automobiles

Then I kept that furnace fed

With the fossils of the dead

Lover, when you feel that fire

Think of it as my desire

Think of it as my desire for you!

[ORPHEUS (WORKERS)]

La la la la

La la la la la

La la, la la

La la la la la la la la la la la

La la la la la la

La la

La la la la la la

La la la la la la

La la la la la la

[WORKERS & (ORPHEUS)]

Low, keep your head, keep your head low

(La la la la la la la…)

Oh, you gotta keep your head low

If you wanna keep your head

(La la la la la la la…)

Oh, you gotta keep your head low

(La la la la la la la…)

Keep your head, keep your head low

Oh, you gotta keep your head low

(La la la la la la la…)

If you wanna keep your head

[EURYIDICE & (HERMES), spoken (during previous stanza)]

Is it finished?

(Not yet.)

Is he always like this?

[EURYDICE and (FATES)]

Looking high and looking low

For the food and firewood I know

We need to find and I am

Keeping one eye on the sky and

Tryin' to trust that the song he's working on is gonna

(Oooooh)

Shelter us

(Oooooh)

From the wind, the wind, the wind

(Oooooh)

[PERSEPHONE]

In the darkest time of year

Why is it so bright down here?

Brighter than a carnival

It ain't right and it ain't natural

[HADES]

Lover, you were gone so long

Lover, I was lonesome

So I laid a power grid

In the ground on which you stood

And wasn't it electrifying

When I made the neon shine!

Silver screen, cathode ray

Brighter than the light of day

Lover, when you see that glare

Think of it as my despair

Think of it as my despair for you!

[ORPHEUS]

They can't find the tune

[HERMES, spoken]

Orpheus!

[ORPHEUS]

They can't feel the rhythm

[HERMES, spoken]

Orpheus!

[ORPHEUS]

King Hades is deafened by a river of stone

[HERMES, spoken]

Poor boy working on a song

[ORPHEUS]

And Lady Persephone's blinded by a river of wine

Livin' in an oblivion

[HERMES, spoken]

He did not see the storm coming on

[ORPHEUS and (FATES)]

His black gold flows

(Oooooh)

In the world down below

(Oooooh)

And her dark clouds roll in the one up above

[HERMES, spoken]

Look up!

[COMPANY]

Keep your head low

[ORPHEUS]

And that is the reason we're on this road

And the seasons are wrong

And the wind is so strong

That's why times are so hard

It's because of the gods

The gods have forgotten the song of their love

Singing la la la la la la…

[COMPANY and (ORPHEUS)]

Low, keep your head, keep your head low

Oh, you gotta keep your head low

If you wanna keep your head

(La la la la la la la...)

Oh, you gotta keep your head low

Keep your head, keep your head low

(La la la la la la la...)

Oh, you gotta keep your head low

If you wanna keep your head

(La la la la la la)

[EURYDICE]

Lookin' low and lookin' high

[FATE]

There is no food left to find

[FATE]

It's hard enough to feed yourself

[FATE]

Let alone somebody else

[EURYDICE]

I'm trying to believe

That the song he's working on

Is gonna harbor me from

[EURYDICE and FATES]

The wind, the wind, the wind

[HERMES, spoken]

Eurydice was a hungry young girl

[EURYDICE, spoken]

Give that back!

[HERMES, spoken]

She was no stranger to the wind

[EURYDICE, spoken]

It's everything we have!

[HERMES, spoken]

But she had not seen nothing

[EURYDICE]

Orpheus!

[HERMES, spoken]

Like the mighty storm she got caught in

[EURYDICE]

(spoken)

Orpheus!

(sung)

Shelter us!

[HERMES, spoken]

Only took a minute

[EURYDICE]

Harbor me!

[HERMES, spoken]

But the wrath of the gods was in it

[PERSEPHONE]

Every year, it's getting worse

Hadestown, hell on Earth!

Did you think I'd be impressed

With this neon necropolis?

Lover, what have you become?

Coal cars and oil drums

Warehouse walls and factory floors

I don't know you anymore

And in the meantime up above

The harvest dies and people starve

Oceans rise and overflow

It ain't right and it ain't natural

[HADES]

Lover, everything I do

I do it for the love of you

If you don't even want my love

I'll give it to someone who does

Someone grateful for her fate

Someone who appreciates

The comforts of a gilded cage

And doesn't try to fly away

The moment Mother Nature calls

Someone who could love these walls

That hold her close and keep her safe

And think of them as my embrace

[ORPHEUS and (COMPANY)]

Singing la la la la la la la...

(Low, keep your head, keep your head low)

[EURYDICE]

Shelter us

[HADES]

Think of them as my embrace

[ORPHEUS and (COMPANY)]

La la la la la la la...

(Low, keep your head, keep your head)

[EURYDICE]

Harbor me

[HADES]

Think of them as my embrace

Of you