[THE RUSSIAN]
Knowing I want you
Knowing I love you
I can't explain why I remain
Careless about you
[FLORENCE]
I've been a fool to allow
Dreams to become
Great expectations
[THE RUSSIAN]
How can I love you so much
Yet make no move?
[THE RUSSIAN + FLORENCE]
I pray the days and nights
In their endless weary procession
Soon overwhelm
My sad obsession
You and I
We've seen it all
Chasing our hearts' desire
But we go on pretending
Stories like ours
Have happy endings
[THE RUSSIAN]
You could not give me
More than you gave me
Why should there be
Something in me
Still discontented
[FLORENCE]
I won't look back any more
And if I do
Just for a moment
[THE RUSSIAN]
I'll soon be happy to say
I knew her well
[THE RUSSIAN + FLORENCE]
But if you hear today
I'm no longer quite so devoted
To this affair
I've been misquoted
You and I
We've seen it all
Chasing our hearts' desire
But we go on pretending
Stories like ours
Have happy endings
[CHOIR]
Each game of chess
Means there's one less
Variation left to be played
Each day got through
Means one or two
Less mistakes remain to be made
[GROUP 1] + (GROUP 2)
Not much is known (Each game)
Of early days of chess (Of chess)
Beyond a fairly vague report (Means there's)
That fifteen hundred years ago (One less)
Two princes fought (Variation)
Tough brothers, for a Hindu throne (Left to be played)
The mother cried (Each day)
For no one really likes (Got through)
Their offspring fighting to the death (Means one)
She begged to stop the slaughter (Or two)
With her every breath (Less mistakes)
But sure enough one brother died (Remain to be made)
[GROUP 2] + (GROUP 1)
Sad (And then)
Beyond belief (Such grief)
She told her winning son (Beyond belief)
"You have caused such grief (She said)
I can't forgive (She could)
This evil thing you've done." (Not)
[GROUP 2 & 3] + (GROUP 1)
He tried to explain (Tried)
How things had really been (In vain)
But he tried in vain (To explain)
No words of his
Could mollify the queen.
[GROUP 2] + (GROUP 1)
And so he asked (He asked)
The wisest men he knew (Wise men)
The way to lessen her distress (How to)
They told him he'd be
Pretty certain to impress (Her)
[CHOIR]
By using model soldiers
On a checkered board
To show it was his brother's fault
They thus invented chess
[MALE SOLOIST] + (GROUP 2)
Chess displayed (Each game of chess)
No inertia (Means there's one less)
Soon spread to Persia (Variation)
Then west (Left to be played)
[GROUP 2] + (GROUP 1 & 3)
Next the Arabs (Each day got through)
Refined it (Means one or two)
Thus redesigned, it (Less mistakes)
Progressed (Remain to be made)
[GROUP 3]
Still further west
And when Constantinople
Fell in 1453
One would have noticed
Every other refugee
Included in his bags a set
[GROUP 2]
Once in the hands
And in the minds of leading figures
Of the Renaissance
The spirit and the speed
Of chess made swift advance
Through all of Europe's vital lands
[GROUP 2] + (GROUP 3)
Where we must record (Each game of chess)
The game was further changed (Means there's)
Right across the board (One less)
The western touch (Variation)
Upon the pieces ranged (To be played)
[CHOIR]
King, and queen, and rook
And bishop, knight, and pawn
All took on the look
We know today
The modern game was born
[GROUP 1 & 3]
And in the end
We see a game
That started by mistake
In Hindustan
And boosted in the land
By what is now Iran
[CHOIR]
Become the simplest
And most complicated
Pleasure yet devised
For just the kind of mind
Who would appreciate this
Well-researched, and fascinating
Yarn
[FLORENCE]
This is an all too familiar scene
[THE RUSSIAN]
Hopeless reflections on what might have been
[THE RUSSIAN + FLORENCE]
From all sides the incessant and burning question:
[FLORENCE]
"Bearing in mind your predicament now
[THE RUSSIAN]
What you did then
[THE RUSSIAN + FLORENCE]
We're just dying to know would you do it all again?"
[CHOIR]
Each day we get through means one less mistake
There for the making
[THE RUSSIAN + FLORENCE]
But they know full well
It's not hard to tell
Though my heart is breaking
I'd give the world for that moment with you
When we thought we knew
That our love would last
But the moment passed
With no warning, far too fast
You and I
We've seen it all
Chasing our hearts' desire
But we go on pretending
Stories like ours
Have happy endings