Chess [musical] - Endgame

[CHOIR]

Tal; Tal; Lasker; Steinitz; Steinitz; Alekine; Botvinnik; Smyslov;

Spassky; Euwe; Karpov; Fischer; Petrosian; Anderson;

Capablanca; Capablanca; Morphy; Capablanca...

1866, Wilhelm Steinitz

1894, Emanuel Lasker

[MOLOKOV]

How straightforward the game

When one has trust in one's player

[CHOIR]

1921, Jose Capablanca

[MOLOKOV]

And how great the relief

Working for one who believes in

Loyalty, heritage, true to his kind

Come what may

[CHOIR]

1927, Alex Alekhine

[THE AMERICAN]

Though it gives me no joy

[CHOIR]

1935, Euwe

[THE AMERICAN]

Adding to your satisfaction

[CHOIR]

1948, Mikhail Botvinnik

[THE AMERICAN]

You can safely assume

That your late, unlamented employee

Knows if he wins, then the only thing won

Is the chess

[CHOIR]

1957, Vasily Smyslov

[MOLOKOV]

It's the weak who accept

[CHOIR]

1960, Tal

[MOLOKOV]

Tawdry untruths about freedom

[CHOIR]

1963, Tigran Petrosian

[MOLOKOV]

Prostituting themselves

Chasing a spurious starlight

Trinkets in airports sufficient

To lead them astray

[CHOIR]

1969, Boris Spassky

[FLORENCE]

Does the player exist

[CHOIR]

1972, Bobby Fischer

[FLORENCE]

In any human endeavor

[CHOIR]

1975, Anatoly Karpov

[FLORENCE]

Who's been known to resist

Sirens of fame and possessions?

They will destroy you, not rivals

Not age, not success

[THE RUSSIAN]

They all think they see a man

Who doesn't know

Which move to make

Which way to go

Whose private life

Caused his decline

Wrecked his grand design

Some are vicious, some are fools

And others blind

To see in me one of their kind

Anyone can be

A husband, lover

Sooner them than me

When they discover

Their domestic bliss is

Shelter for their failing

Nothing could be worse

Than self-denial

Having to rehearse

To endless trial

Of a partner's rather sad

Demands prevailing

[SVETLANA]

As you watch yourself caring

About a minor sporting triumph, sharing

Your win with esoterics

Paranoids, hysterics

Who don't pay any attention to

What goes on around them

They leave the ones they love the way they found them

A normal person must

Dismiss you with disgust

And weep for those who trusted you

[THE RUSSIAN]

Nothing you have said

Is revelation

Take my blues as read

My consolation

Finding out at last my one true obligation

[SVETLANA + THE CROWD]

Listen to them shout

They saw you do it

In their minds no doubt

That you've been through it

Suffered for your art

But in the end a winner

Who could not be stirred?

Such dedication!

We have never heard

Such an ovation

Skill and guts

A model for the young beginner

They're completely enchanted

But they don't take your qualities for granted

It isn't very often

That the critics soften

Nonetheless you've won their hearts

How can we begin to

Appreciate the work that you've put into

Your calling through the years

The blood and sweat and tears

The late, late nights, the early starts

There they go again!

Your deeds enflame them

Drive them wild, but then

Who wants to tame them

If they want a part of you

Who'd really blame them?

[THE RUSSIAN]

And so you're letting me know

[SVETLANA]

For you're the only one who's never suffered anything at all

[THE RUSSIAN]

How you've hated my success

[SVETLANA]

Well, I won't crawl

And you can slink back to your pawns

And to your tarts

[THE RUSSIAN]

And every poisoned word shows that you never understood

[SVETLANA]

Liar!

[THE RUSSIAN]

Never!

[SVETLANA]

Liar!

[THE RUSSIAN]

Never!

[SVETLANA]

Liar!

[THE RUSSIAN]

Never!

[SVETLANA]

Liar!

[THE RUSSIAN]

Never!

Never!

[SVETLANA + THE RUSSIAN]

Nothing you have said

Is revelation

Take my blues as read

My consolation

[SVETLANA]

Finding out that I'm my only obligation

[THE RUSSIAN]

Is there no-one in my life

Who will not claim

The right to steal

My work, my name

My success, my fame

And my freedom?