The Dieselpunk Opera Libretto

The New Albion Radio Hour, A Dieselpunk Opera 

Act 1: John

Overture

Announcer:

Welcome now, to the continuing adventures of lost and fabled New Albion brought to you by Papaver Cigarette, the smoke that takes the anxieties of the day and sweeps them away. There’s always an excuse for a Papaver cigarette!

Come with us, friends, back to a time that never was… The New Albion Radio Hour!

New Albion 5

Announcer:

Welcome back listeners to tonight’s broadcast.

For close to 10 years a civil war has raged across New Albio. It is only with the Battle of Crier’s Blvd that at last a victor emerges. But how was this battle truly won and lost? Join me, your host Lloyd Allen and The Dieselpunk Orchestra as we take a tour through our dear city, explore the events surrounding the Battle of Crier’s Blvd and meet tonight’s featured family, The O’Briens. Here on The New Albion Radio Hour!

Theres’s a city i could name, which i’m sad to say became
A quite uptight, opressive and obsessive police state
And ex soldier one day vowed to bring the martial regime down
By igniting revolution, but the question remained how

One night at half past three, he quietly snuck beneath
Parliament, the seat of power where government meets
In the water there that ran, a truth serum he did plant
And that is how New Albion’s civil war began

The revolution, friends, is here and it’s been going on for years
The undertakers and arms dealers all have crystal chandeliers
There’s a union now for spies who can be bought for any side
Their boss, the cigarette girl works the Rumba Club most nights

In Districts 3 and 4 and 1, there’s a red haired lad who runs
The gangs of orphaned, feral youth who under his watch have become
Organized, disciplined and for liquor, drugs and contraband
The mob and postal service use them to deliver cross the land

The power generators ‘neath Districts 7, 8 and 3
Excrete a dust, a sandy rust it’s been discovered lead
To quite a pleasing, dreamy high, thus it’s the new drug on the rise
But only three albinos living underground know where it lies

A tinker we all know, with a shop on tin pan row
Makes little metal fairies whose souls’ a flake of snow
The government’s last great big hope, the Super Soldier Plan you know
We’ll be looking at more closely, friends, so stay tuned to the show

The Green Room Pale 

Announcer:

We take you now to a small, morbid room deep in an underground bunker. His skin festering where the cables and iron tubes worm their way in and out of his reconstructed body, John O’Brien sits alone in the sickly green light, where only 2 mannequins with screens for heads keep him company.

Child on screen:

Past the world, past the night, past the stars where sea birds fly
Past your dreams to toyland’s shore, where we will meet again once more 

John:
There’s rust in my bones and sins in my flesh
My skin rots wires and iron infest
They’ve butchered my body to make me the best

Their mad dog of war they unleash on the world
To burn and ravage, gut and hurl
In between i sit here and think of the girl 

The scent of fragrance on the wind
Is all you are and all you’ve been
Lullabyes and dime store tales
No dreams escape the green room pale

No colors cloud your day dreams, your penny dreadful memories
Your worn through war time serial tales
No dreams escape the green room pale

Their one super soldier, the one that survived
The red pill’s for duty the blue’s for inside
Their failed plan for an army of gods made of iron

At night these screens light up with faces i’ve known
The flesh i’ve left rots and falls from my bones
I sit with the girl in the screen all alone 

 PA:

 Please exit the bunker, take the red pill, and report for active duty
Please exit the bunker, take the red pill, and report for active duty

In the fire in the fire
Bathe in the fire in the fire

The Pitch 

Announcer:

Come with us dear listener, as we go backwards in time, just a few years, to when John O’Brien was just a regular citizen, like you, enjoying a few drinks at his local pub as had become his ever increasing habit.

 

Guy:

Hey there buddy, you’re lookin’ down. Say, you’re John O’Brien, aren’t you? Ah, jeez fellow, i heard about what happened to your wife. Those damn rebels and their bombs, got no respect for law and order.  Who, me? Well look here, i’ll level with ya. It’s a damn shame to see a guy with your potential drink himself away like this is all. Yeah, you. We think you gotta lot of potential. That’s right, i’m from the government and i’m here to help. I gotta propisition for ya.

Things have got you down you don’t know where to run
They’re picking off the things you love one by one
Well i’ve got news for you, a life you enver dreamed come true

The War Department has a plan, needs men like you
We’re setting up a special force to end this coup
Don’t drown your sorrows, bud, quench your thirst on rebel blood

Get it up, step it up, grab a gun and settle it up
Enlist, get with the plan cause Freedom Corps will make you a new man 

We’re gonna take you, make you more than just a man
A god, a super soldier, yes an ubermensch
The next root race is on hand, you’ll be the new age of man

So put away that drink and let us change your life
Protect your city, save the day, avenge your wife
Kill some rebs, win the war, be a hero, be adored

Get it up, step it up, grab a gun and settle it up
Enlist, get with the plan cause Freedom Corps will make you a new man

Having Left

Child on screen:
Past the world, past the night, past the stars where sea birds fly
Past your dreams to toyland’s shore, where we will meet again once more 

John:
I sat beside your bed on the night before i left
While you slept i had my say
I know i had some drink, I explained you everything
About why i couldn’t stay 

My anger and my grief, liquor pain and broken dreams
I was no good for you babe
They offered me a way to quench my thirst for blood and rage
And so daddy went away

Your Daddy went away, your Daddy went away
The hole in which i fell didn’t want for you as well so Daddy went away 

I became the hand of karma, of wrath and fire and fodder
The terror in their night
The monster in the basement, the ogre of damnation
And the man inside died

But then one day the rage was all gone and what remained
Was a chasm in my chest
The only thing that mattered the child i turned my back on
The girl i should have kept
But Daddy left, Daddy left your Daddy left 

The things that i have done, the wrath that i have wrung
The widows who have wept
The beast that i’ve become the judgement and the blood
You must forget or be crippled by regret

Your daddy left, your Daddy left, your Daddy left
Your Mother was my life, my heart and soul and wife
She blew up and was gone, i didn’t know how to go on
I didn’t know how to accept

I wish for your forgiveness, i wish the past was different
I wish i would have known
I wish for starts and sails, pipe dreams and fairytales
But atonement time has flown

And if somewhere you hate me, if your memories of me faded
And resentment’s all you know
You can take some consolation at the sad end of his days
Daddy will die all alone

Daddy will die all alone
There’s no one else that’s left, just this room and war and death
Your daddy’s all alone

 

The Operation

PA:

 Please exit the bunker, take the red pill, and report for active duty

 

John:

Wade in the night to dance the wild ballet the brutal fray
Wade in the night to lost yourself inside the feral fight
Wade in the night embrace the unrestrained, the cruel ballet

In the fire, in the fire, in the fire, bathe in the fire
Wade in the night

Announcer:

And now we come to the Battle of Crier’s Blvd. After months of extensive planning the city government had devised an operation and piece of technology that could finally turn the tide of the war. Complicated as it was, it hinged upon their modified super soldier John O’Brien leading a platoon of men and taking a key facility.

 Their orders are also very clear that everyone they find is disposable with extreme prejudice.

…

Thus it is that John O’Brien, the lumbering iron golem, darling of the government’s modification experiments infiltrates the labyrinthian faclity and with a platoon of men razes a swath of blood and destruction behind them.

Finally they come to the door of the room they were sent to take. John orders the men to hold their positions in the hall and blows down the door. Inside are only 3 noncombatant hostiles, 2 men and 1 woman. 

The woman screams and so he aims at her first. There is a long pause as their eyes lock and hold. Finally John lowers his gun and sings.

John:
Past the world, past the night, past the stars where sea birds fly
Past your dreams to toyland’s shore, where we will meet again once more

Woman:
Daddy? 

John O’Brien and his daughter stand staring at each other for a long, frozen moment… until the sound of voices and weapons being locked and loaded echo from the hallway, breaking the spell. John nods slowly at his daughter. He reloads his weapon, turns around, raises it and walk out into the hall.

John:
Wade in the night when what you were is through, the light came for you
Wade in the night the day that you were found and lay your burdens down
Wade in the night even the walking damned defend their lambs
Wade in the night all your creations too return to you

In the fire
Bathe in the fire
Wade in the night

Act 2: Constance

The Thief

Announcer:
And now, a word from our sponsor.

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 And now, back to The New Albion Radio Hour!

 

Welcome listeners to the 2nd Act of tonight’s broadcast.  And tonight we have a special treat. The one and only Constance O’Brien, star of the stage is here in our very own studio to perform the lead role in  of our 2nd act. Welcome Miss O’Brien. We’re big fans here at The New Albion Radio Hour.

 Constance:

Oh thank you, Llloyd, the pleasure’s all mine.

 Announcer:
“So who will you be playing for us tonight?”

 Constance:
Well, as soon as i get in character, i’ll be Inanna, a young attendee of New Albion’s high society soirees, who has a secret agenda of her own.”

 Announcer:
Well, listeners, while Constance gets ready, why don’t you let me Lloyd Allen and The Dieselpunk Orchestra here set the stage for our next Act and tell you a little bit about her character.

 Here, on The New Albion Radio Hour

 The thief is a lady, a lonely girl who maybe
Knows the ways of loss from end to end
The world where she’s staying, its high class rules seem crazy
And she’s a low class girl who smiles and just pretends

She’s taking her time, she’s taking your cool
She’s taking your heart while she’s taking your jewels
She’s taking tonight. She’s taking tonight. She’s taken tonight
She’s taking it all, she’s taking your side

She’s taking it on, taking you for a ride
She’s taking tonight. She’s taking tonight. She’s taking tonight.
The thief is a lady, on her mother’s grave cried daily
And still lights a flame on Sundays at the shrine

But now she’s been staying in a world refined and stately
Where beauty hides a fierce and cruel design

She’s taking her time…
In the highest class of Albion, the laws are quite clear
If you’re female and divorced you have no rights to adhere
Your wealth, your home, your children are all his to decide

Ladies drink their tea in fear of being tossed aside
The thief has seen this very thing happen up close
Man cheats, then divorces, then down his wife goes
At 50 all her money, children, world and friends

Are gone in one brief flash and all she knows just ends
Amongst these fine ladies, word of mouth says maybe
If he decides to cast you cold aside
A thief, she can save thee, she only works for ladies

She’ll get that little nest egg he denied
She’s taking her time…

The Discussion 1

Thomas:
My sweet satin baby, two tickets are waiting
We’ll toast on the coast far from this town

Constance:
Tonight when all the lights hit the ballroom
And the shakers and the quakers twirl round
And one of them conceals a small case we’ve been hired to steal
Tonight when the heist goes down

Our client this time pays a pretty pocket
(Thomas: I’ll be there watching)
At last we can afford to skip town
(Thomas: and pouring drinks if trouble brews)

Tomorrow don’t you know to the Tusian Coast we’ll go
After tonight when the heist goes down
My sweet satin baby, two tickets are waiting
We’ll toast on the coast far from this town

The Soiree

Constance:
It’s a dance in the city with the dames dolled up all pretty
And they’re feeling fine and frisky tonight
And the beaus in their clothes with boots and tuxes, ties and bows
Getting flirty, smiling dirty all right

It’s a high class soiree, a hint of culture, tint of gay
The refined are lined to come out and play
With a fella on my arm i’m up to do a little harm
He’s my mark i’m out to charm and get paid

Mark:
Well aren’t you the cat’s meow.

 C:
You’re quite light on your feet yourself.

 Mark:
Would you care for a Papaver cigarette?

 C:
No, handsome, let’s just dance.

It’s the forefront of fashion, they’re sashaying at this bash and
All the trends are getting set left and right
All the wheeling and dealing, drinks and handshakes all are sealing
All the trysts and twists of business ignite

It’s the thrill of romancing all the belles are out a prancing
And i’m dancing like a devil tonight
It’s the science of flirtation all the wily games you’re playing
And you both think you’re the cat with the mice

It’s the partay, at the soiree come alive inside and rave away and play
It’s so risqué, where the rich play, come inside, come alive, come and wine and dine and hustle today

Mark:
Say, you don’t suppose  i  could i ask your father for permission to court you?

 C: My father is gone. Probably dead.

Mark:
Oh dear r

C:
And i ‘d rather not…

 Mark:
Well They say if you journey to the underworld you can raise the dead, or at least see them i suppose… what’s that Greek myth…

 C: You’re a better dancer than a conversationalist, darling.

It’s a dance in the city while the rich are sitting pretty
There’s a thief and she’s a sneaking in sight
While his eyes and hands are roaming i’m just eyeing up his coat
Where the little case i’m chasing lies

There’s a moment that’s growing where i’m going all for broke and
I just know it’s gonna show itself soon
With a dip and a touch and with some luck a clumsy bump
And then i’m done and gonna run to the moon

It’s the partay, at the soiree come alive inside and rave away and play
It’s so risqué, where the rich play, come inside, come alive, come and wine and dine and hustle today
At the partay, at the soiree come alive inside and rave away and play
It’s so risqué, where the rich play come inside come alive come and wine and dine and hustle today

Don’t be dismayed don’t you sit or stay clear cause all the action happens here
It’s a fact that these soirees are where decisions are made
And behind all the smiles there’s a beast here all the while

It’s a deadly affair, it’s ferocious in its glare
It’s a glamour a test it’ll go straight to your head
It’s the silent deadly brawl it’s the writing on the wall where you stand when the card fall

It’s a dance in the city all the wild and the witty
Getting giddy geared up pretty to play
It’s the body’s reaction to the musical attraction
It’s relaxing and it’s starting to sway

A sensation, a dip, the right rotation of the hips
A quick elation you maintain all the night
You can lose yourself in motion or commit something felonious
As a bonus cause you know it’s all right

The Bust

Thomas:
Do you have it?

 Constance:
Got it right here. Hang on, i’ll be back in a second…

 Police:
And on the day we come it’s over
Please all keep calm while we perform our vows
This man, an officer has eyed him
He is a rebel. Soldiers, shoot him now

And there’s a device we have been seeking
And it is in this room we know
There is a thief and she has got it
I…  what do mean she’s gone? Well find her. Go!

 Constance:
Run like the hunted
run like they’re coming
run like the sword will finally fall
run like the desperate
your last final minute
run like the end has come to call
run like the hours
the days all when counted|
run like they passed while dreamers slept
run like the fire, the winds of desire
run if you want to live again

run and taste the rain, run from mistakes you’ve made
run, run away
run and just embrace, run, the air the pulse the pain
run, run away

Jackie:
Constance!

 Constance:
Aunt Jackie?

 Jackie:
Quick, get in.

 Constance:
Aunt Jackie what are you doing here?

Jackie:
A dragnet’s on the street and your name is its list my sweet
The cops are blowing doors down while they weep
But you, my dear’ve been busy making pockets light and dizzy
I know the little secrets that you keep

My pals in the resistance caught wind of the existence
Of this dapper device called an MCG
And they hired this thief to swipe it then you show up dolled and diapered
Now i know the little secret that you keep

Constance:
Aunt J, i know you raised me after my folks died but these days
I’ve got a gig that’s heavy, crazy, sweet
I new name, boyfriend, life i meant to tell you but got tied
Oh these little family secrets that we keep

Jackie:
You new life sad to say the cops are peeling it away
Your name, your place dismantled piece by piece
That thing you took is precious to the cops, hawks and resistance
And they’ll string you up and swing you in the streets

There’s one way that this goes down, we’ve got to get you underground
This map is marked and bring that MCG
Down beneath the city a substation sits all ready
To receive that hot potato that you keep

Constance:
I don’t care about your plan, i only care about my man
When the cops came he was stuck and still inside
If they find out who he is, he’ll be beaten, tortured, killed
I could trade this stupid thing to save his life

Jackie:
Your fella’s not important, you forget that there’s a war on
There’s a greater good of which you now must thing
We’ve worked for years and now we’re gonna bring those bastards down
Ah these little family secrets that we keep

I will spill a straight admission, your aunt’s long since found religion
There’s a voodoo cult who meets under the streets
Go underground and find them and they’ll help you and they’ll guide you
They know the little secrets that you keep

Oh these little family secrets that we keep
Those little fam… Constance, come back!

Constance:
Run like the hunted
run like they’re coming
run like the sword will finally fall

run like the desperate
your last final minute
run like the end has come to call

run like the hours
the days all when counted
run like they passed while dreamers slept

run like the fire
the winds of desire
run if you want to live again

run and taste the rain, run from mistakes you’ve made
run, run away
run and just embrace, run, the air the pulse the pain
run, run away

Constance:
Thomas, Thomas

Thomas:
Inanna here i am

Constance:
Oh thank Gd baby
How did you escape?

Thomas:
Don’t worry now
Do you still have it?

Constance:
It’s right here, now come let’s blow this joint my dear
Tonight the heist went down

Thomas:
And on the day we come it’s over
I can help you if you just stay calm
There’s bigger things here than you realize
I’m sorry but this must be done

And on this day the party’s over
It’s time to wake up there’s a war to win

Constance:
This isn’t real, this isn’t happening
When did they turn you, how long since?

Thomas:
Just take my hand i’ll help you live

Constance:
Run, the tears  and shame,  run when you’ve been betrayed
Run, run away
Run when your heart breaks, run, the pain just slaps your face
Run, run away

Run…. Taste the tears you make, run from mistakes you’ve made
Run, run away
Run…… somewhere far away
Run, run away

The Underground

Announcer:
And so, hunted and devoid of option, Constance heads to the tunnels beneath the city

 Choir:
The quiet the lost, the halls forgot
The slouching engines growl
The long, dark land, the lost enchant
In the under, in the underground

The concrete deep which breathes beneath
Where half mad creatures prowl
The tribes and ones who’ve not seen the sun
In the under, in the underground

In the under, in the underground
Lost streams flow in dark below
Where eyeless sailors drown
Forgotten gods and faeries lost

In the under, in the underground

Announcer:
And so, stumbling beneath the dark labyrinths beneath the city, Constance…

 Constance:
Wait.. wait… you…

 Announcer:
Finds herself persued by…

 Constance:
Don’t… don’t i know you?

 Announcer:
No, no. Shh… don’t break character

 Constance:
But there was… there was……. There was like, a, radio broadcast?

 Announcer:
Another life in another world, dear

 Constance:
Who are you?

Announcer:
Whoever the story needs me to be. Now come, let’s slip back into character. Sh…

Choir:
Cold dreams wind through feasts of blind
Fallen angel frown
The cults who’ve fled call forth the dead
In the under, in the underground

The quiet the lost, the halls forgot
The slouching engines growl
The long, dark land, the lost enchant
In the under, in the underground
In the under, in the underground

The Wasteland

Constance:
Angry adolescents with no parents left
Hang out all night sharpening their attitudes and smoking cigarettes
Laugh and howl and cry until the room spins
Hang on to Katy, all i know is tomorrow night i’ll do it all again

In the wasteland
Where the ashes, ashes all fall down from worlds that could never stand
In the wasteland
Where rings of roses, broken boughs, just fall down and down and down

I raged with Katy through our last teens years
We’s too wild to notice and too sad to care
I learned the wind blows and the bough it breaks
So i looked to have some laughs, some grass, and shots of what you got i’ll take

At 2 A M a pack of wild kids laugh swig bottles back
Stumbling and fumbling i bid good night and slap their backs
I’d stray to the graveyard and pass out on my mother’s grave
Til my aunt comes, puts a blanket round me, and just sits and stays

In the wasteland
Where the ashes, ashes all fall down from worlds that could never stand
In the wasteland
Where rings of roses, broken boughs, just fall down and down and down

Katy’s daddy threw her mum aside
Left her with nothing, and i’d loved her, she was always kind
And in her hour of need no one would look around
Someone had to step up, but i was ground and drowned and so far down

I’s in the wasteland….
My dear Daddy, whiskey on his breath
I never knew him really and one day, daddy left
But still he’d say “my girl if only one thing now

I ever teach you sweetheart…. Do not stay down
Little girl oh little girl you don’t stay down
You kick and scream and scratch, you roar and thrash but don’t stay down
The last breath you take, spit in their face, You lick your wounds another day

But get off the ground, go take em down, oh little girl, don’t stay down
Daddy dear, i could use your voice right now
Life’s smacked me round and i’m so down, i just can’t get up from here
I put that angry girl behind me and i rose

From ash just like you asked, i could use her here now, though
I’m in the wasteland
Where the ashes, ashes all fall down from worlds that could never stand
In the wasteland

Where rings of roses, broken boughs, just fall down and down and down
Little girl oh little girl you don’t stay down
You kick and scream and scratch, you roar and thrash but don’t stay down
The last breath you take, spit in their face, You lick your wounds another day
But get off the ground, go take em down, oh little girl, don’t stay down

The Discussion 2

Thomas:
And if you stay calm i can help you…

Constance:
You must be glad now you finally found me
Lord knows what they offered you to rat
I just want to know when did they turn you, when’d you go?
How long’d you plan to stab me in the back?

Thomas:
I was never turned i was undercover
Constance, this was never about you
This city, people’s lives, we must step up and sacrifice
To bring peace back, i swear that this is true

Constance:
You told me that you loved me
You told me we were meant to be
You lied and you broke my heart
You told me that you loved me

You used me and you played me

Thomas:
Like you played your marks
Like you played your marks

The thief is a lady and i hoped that one day maybe
When this is over me might have a chance
I swear that i came to love you and now save you
But lives depend on finishing what i began

Constance:
You told me that you loved me
You broke me and you shattered me
With every word, which maybe I deserve
But I loved you with all my heart

I loved you and you ripped me apart
I loved you and now it’s gone

Thomas:
No!

 Constance:
What?

 Thomas:
It’s them

 Constance:
Who?

 Thomas:
You don’t know what they’ll do to me

 Constance:
Who?

 Thomas:
The Voodoopunks

Constance:
Aunt Jackie?

Jacqueline:
Policeman, it’s sublime to meet you here now at this time
I notice that you’ve made my dear niece cry
But don’t worry ‘bout that, no, i’ve brought some friends to say hello
We’re so glad that you have thought to stop on by

Policeman, we all know that up there we’re afraid to go
You kill us in cold blood day after day
But now we’re underground and you are on our own turf now
The Voodoopunks request your presence at our soiree

The Voodoopunks

Voodoopunks:
Mortus re-de-unte ad nos
reditum ad can-ta-re

Mortus re-de-unte ad nos
reditum ad sal-ta-re

Dollay oh oh we come dollay
Dollay oh oh we come dollay
Dollay oh oh we come dollay
Dollay oh oh we come to play

Jackie:
All one, tonight we call, spirits come
All one, tonight we call, spirits come
Oh no Policeman you can be the vessel
Spirits come and they take possession

They bring us songs from Elysian Night
They sing songs make you lose your mind
Dollay, dollay oh
Dollay, dollay oh oh

Dollay, dollay oh
Dollay, dollay oh oh

Oh Policeman we collect these songs
Brought from the dead and we sing along
All who hear they sing and cry
It takes control you lose your mind

All can, tonight we call spirits dance
All can, tonight we call spirits dance
Policeman, tonight you’re the vessel and
I promise you we’ll make you a new man

I promise you we’ll make you a new man
Policeman, years of dead we call
We find the songs that they bring us all
The ones that no one can deny

The ones that make you lose your mind
The ones that though you’ve never heard
Make you sing and know each word
Policeman, it is time you knowThe spirit comes and now you go

The Substation

 Announcer:

After using her ex boyfriend as a vessel for spirit possesion and showing off a few of their potent, hypnotic songs of the dead they’ve collected over the years, with which they hope to use to end the war, the Voodoopunks finally guide Constance to the substation where she can at last drop off the device that has caused her so much trouble.

 Constance:
Boys now please don’t freak i brought this stupid M C G
I’ve had a long and really hellish day
Take it and go do whatever you think you have to
I want this bloody thing far away

With this i wash my hands i lost my life and all i had
And all i want to do is go to bed
I…

(door blows down and soldier enters)

Act 3: Jacqueline

 

Waiting

 

Lloyd:

And now, a very special word from our sponsor.

 

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And now, back to the New Albion Radio Hour!

 

Welcome back to the 3^rd and final act of our special broadcast focusing on the crucial Battle of Crier’s Blvd which decided the outcome of the war.

 

We open hours after the events of Act 1 and 2. Jacqueline O’Brien sits in an islolated substation deep below the city with the captured Thomas.

Jackie:

Waiting

Thomas:

Waiting, and conversation

Jackie:

Still no word from the surface

Thomas:

And so he bought the farm and left the city

Jackie:

But by then she was so drunk she couldn’t keep it straight

Still no word

Thomas:

But they never performed together ever after

Jackie:

He would have gotten it if he’d been able to wait

Still no word

Thomas:

I could hear my mother crying,

Jackie:

Waiting

Thomas:

Trying to be quiet, and it was then

That i vowed that i’d become a policeman

Prevent that sort of thing from happening again

Jackie:

Waiting

Thomas:

Waiting

Jackie:

Still no word

Thomas:

So have you ever been in love?

The Best Of Times

Jackie:

A book store a fair, a music hall, park everywhere i went i saw her

At a circus run down on the outskirts of town we sat down and started talking

The hours stop, the days unwind, at a quarter to the best of times

In hindsight i wish the sweet painful bliss of seduction had drawn out longer

Cause we fell in fast, fell hard and the world spun past like a waltz that swept along us

The hours stop, the days unwind, at five to the best of times

From money she came, weekends in those days our soirees were the wildest in town

The inspired the mad, the thinkers the poets all laughed, raised a glass and whirled past

The hours stop, the days unwind, it’s precisely now the best of times

But times they darken. The purges had started. On the day they came Dorothy was taken.

The doors all were locked. The parties all stopped. I learned to drink scotch in a dark room forsaken.

Years passed but then, i saw her again sewing clothes in a room without fans

She didn’t know me. She couldn’t you see, in her eyes, something missed

There’s a trick with a pick, the doctor gives it a nick

It makes you docile real quick

The hours stop, the days unwind, moments pass, memories sigh

At half past the best of times

Going

Soldier: Hello? Hello? Can anyone hear me? If anyone can hear me, run! Run!

Jackie:

It’s time to go and see what’s happening up there

Thomas:

Jacqueline, what about me?

Lloyd:

And so Jacqueline hands Thomas over to the Voodoopunks to be executed

 

Jackie:

What? No! No…. are you insane? I’m doing no such thing.

 

Lloyd:

Jackie, it’s the story. You have to.

 

Jackie:

I don’t have to do anything, Lloyd. For heaven’s sake, he’;s barely old enough to drink. He’s misguided but he doesn’t deserve to die.

 

Announcer:

Well there’s a new sentiment…

 

Jackie:

Besides, we used him enough.

 

Thomas:

Used me for what?

 

Lloyd:

Jackie…

 

Jackie:

Lloyd, this isn’t up for discussion. Thomas, you’re coming to the surface with me. The war should have been over by now. The soldiers should be incapacitated, but… something’s gone wrong.

 

Thomas:

Jackie, what did you do?

 

Jackie:

I think something very bad…

 

Lloyd:

And so… (sighs) and so as Jacqueline and Thomas head to the surface, we go back several hours into the past where a company of soldiers have assembled at Crier’s Blvd, beneath where a rampaging John O’Brien had inexplicably turned against the other government soldiers.

The Blood Red Dogs

The Blood Red Dogs:

Lock and load, let it go,

the loathsome side show

is coming on down the town

barker in your hand

it’s a bedlam jam

we’ll be tearing it up all around

fir in the hole

it’s a breezy stroll

we’ll have tea in hell today

when the Blood Red Dogs

come to do a job

and send you on your way

Company Captain:

We’ve come here to clean and we’ve come here to play

We’ve come as the butcher to pack them away

The target’s beneath us and headed our way

He’ll be out here in 20, so look lively, mates

And expect some more company, cause we’re sexy machines

When they hear that we’re here, the Rebs will convene

That cannot resist us, they want a night

Of mayhem, so shoot all who come here on sight

The Blood Red Dogs:

Lock and load, let it go,

the loathsome side show

is coming on down the town

barker in your hand

it’s a bedlam jam

we’ll be tearing it up all around

fir in the hole

it’s a breezy stroll

we’ll have tea in hell today

when the Blood Red Dogs

come to do a job

and send you on your way

Jackie:

We’re ready to transmit on the MCG. Get the policeman. Put the policeman up against the MCG.

Possessed Thomas:

Dollay oh oh we come dollay, dollay oh oh we come dollay

Dollay oh oh we come dollay, dollay oh oh we come dollay

Company Captain:

Fifteen more minutes, til we get to play

Though this song in our helmets should soon go away

This new MCG that transmits to you men

Will revolutionize tactics , but it’s buggy as hell

Ignore this damn music, stay focused instead

When i find out who did this, i’ll piss down their neck

Do not start singing, stay…

Dolly oh oh we come dollay

The Blood Red Dogs:

Dollay oh oh we come dollay

Dollay oh oh we come dollay

Dollay oh oh we come dollay

Dollay oh oh we come to play

Announcer:

And so, with the MCG broadcasting the hypnotic song into the soldiers’ helmets, they fall under its spell. As the song spreads, all who hear it begin singing, and it slowly but surely moves out into the greater population, spreading across the entire city like a virus.

Population:

Dollay dollay oh oh

Dollay dollay oh oh

Dollay dollay oh oh

Dollay dollay oh oh

The Reunion

Lloyd:

And so Jacqueline and Thomas step out into a city lain to waste. Everyone in sight is swaying mindlessly to the hypnotic song of the dead.

 

The only sane people they find are Constance and her father John who look happy and serene. Having not seen each other in years, John and Jackie, brother and sister reunite.

John:

We never call on birthdays

Jackie:

The haze and roads forgotten

The lost left, wave behind

John:

I know, i know we were never all that close

We never talked, just pleasantries and lines

Jackie:

We never call on birthdays

You lost her

John:

You lost her

Jackie:

And i’m so sorry

John:

I’m so sorry

The hole goes

Jackie:

So far down

John:

It’s true, it’s true, you had a language i never knew

Jackie:

You were always kind, when it really counts

John:

We never call on birthdays

Jackie:

You’re there at the beginning

John:

Then gone as, as we live our lives

Jackie:

I know, i know, i couldn’t be what you needed most

John:

You were always kind in the darkest of times

Jackie and John:

We never call on birthdays

Thomas:

Constance i am truly glad we found you

Constance:

I’m glad they let you go, they were wrong

Everyone’s obsessed with control and dominance

Thomas:

How have you survived up here so long?

Constance:

We walked and we talked and we

We walked my father and me

Thomas:

You strolled about in this… in this apocalypse?

Constance:

We walked and we talked so long

Thomas:

Why haven’t you succumbed to this song?

Constance:

It’s like a noisy tale with hooks and dreams in which i do not care to be

John:

The city is lost it’s time to retreat

Soon all will sccumb to this plague you’ve unleashed

At least we’re together, now that it’s done

The only thing for us, we all now must run

Jacqueline:

Because we’ve been possessed we are immune

John’s been mutilated, reconstructed so he’s safe but

Constance there’s no reason why for you

There’s something in your eye, something happened this last night

That changed you in some way i cannot tell

But i have doomed them all i have caused this city’s fall

And all that’s left to do is run

Thomas:

Run, run and taste the rain, run from mistakes you’ve made

Run, run away

Constance:

We will not be running

Thomas:

Constance don’t go near him, if you hear you’ll disappear then…

Constance:

Sh. Listen.

Storyville Station

Constance:

The girl felt scared and so unsure

The tales they told, the thousand doors

She saw the wolf in the forest and bed

And thought “it’s better to be a wolf instead”

So she buys a ticket to Storyville Station

Where pages enfold the lost ones taken

And every day just goes by like a dream

Now the girl is a wolf full of fierce and guile

She hunts her prey and runs the wild

At last though, she is caught by man

And now she sees an even better plan

So she buys a ticket to Storyville Station

Where the players are cast before they’ve awaken

And every day just goes by like a dream

And seem is not to be

Here now, here with me

As Man she is mighty and tames the land

‘til soldiers come and above her stand

But above the soldiers a general sits

Who takes his orders straight from a Prince

So she buys a tickets to Storyville Station

Where everyone’s wishing and the play eats the players

And every day just goes by a like a dream

And seem is not to be

Here now won’t you be now here with me

All is not as always it might seem

Dreamers lost in dreams within a dream

Now she’s the Prince staring at the King

But the King he cracks, broken by something

He gives up his gold, Kingdom, power and all

The Prince must know what causes Kings to fall

Well he walked away from the top of the world

All for the love of just one girl…

Storyville Station can never take

The one who’s here now and awake

The pages fall, the girl transcends

The life that’s lived just in your head

The show, the role she was lost within

The opera she thought she starred in

Where every day just goes by like a dream

And seem is not to be

Here now, here with me.

The Finale

Announcer:

And so… I can’t narrate this. Come on, Jackie, you mean to tell me Constance just sings another song and it dispels the first?

 

Jackie:

Yes, how else were we going to…

 

Announcer:

That’s stupid.

 

Jackie:

Well what were we supposed to do?

 

Announcer:

You’re supposed to not change the narrative.

Jackie:

Lloyd, the entire city was going to fall, people were going to

Announcer:

That’s the point. It’s supposed to be an epic tragedy.

 

Jackie:

Well we don’t want an epic tragedy. Jesus, Lloyd, what’s with the bloodthirsty…

 

Announcer:

It’s the beauty of the story. The story would be told for generations

 

Jackie:

For heaven’s sakes, Lloyd, we’re not interested in your epic tragedy. Besides, the most striking tragedies are always the most intimate ones. (pause) Lloyd?

 

Announcer:

Okay. Okay, Jackie, i actually see your point.

 

Jackie:

Oh thank Gd…

 

Announcer:

The intimate ones do work quite well. It’s no Fall of New Albion but…. If Constance dies…

 

Jackie:

NO. Not Constance.

 

Announcer:

It would be beautifully heart wrenching

 

Jackie:

Lloyd!

 

Announcer:

We’ll do it your way.

 

Jackie:

 You can’t do that. You are not the story. You are just the bloody Narrator.

 

Announcer:

Watch and learn, Jackie.

And so, as the government forces slowly regain their senses they find Constance O’Brien, the most hunted thief in the city standing right before them.

Jackie:

John! John, protect Constance! These soldiers, when they snap out fo it they’re going to kill her!

John:

No. They’re not.

 

John:

It’s time you all go, i’ll keep them away

I promise you’ll be safe today

And here as your father it’s my job to

Die if need be for you

We stole a day so sweet

We talked just you and me

It’s more than i had ever dreamed

The Blood Red Dogs:

Lock and load, let it go,

the loathsome side show

is coming on down the town

barker in your hand

it’s a bedlam jam

we’ll be tearing it up all around

fire in the hole

it’s a breezy stroll

we’ll have tea in hell today

when the Blood Red Dogs

come to do a job

and send you on your way

Constance:

I’m giving it up, i’m giving a try

I’ll find a new way to fight the same fight

And i’m giving a chance, i’ll give you a try

I’ll give you tonight…

Jackie:

I always hated birthdays

John:

Why’d you not get to safety?

Jackie:

I’m staying, staying by your side

You’re my blood, i won’t leave you i won’t run

We’re not alone, not here, not you and i

And besides

I never call on birthdays

John:

Jackie!

 

Jackie:

I wish for your forgiveness

I wish the past was different

I wish i would have known…

John:

I wish for stars and sails

Pipe dreams and fairy tales

But atonement time has flown

In the fire

In the fire

In the fire

Bathe in the fire

Run or taste my rage

Run or this is your last day

Run run away

Run and on the day you come

You are done i say

Run run away

In the fire,

In  the fire.

New Albion 6

 

Announcer:

Although John O’Brien died on the Blvd. of Cryers

He took the city forces with him to the other side

The rebels over ran a defenseless Parliament

But then turned on each other so no government now stands

On Cryers Blvd that day, there were some who walked away

After Constance sang they dropped their guns though why no one can say

They left the city yet no one’s quite sure where they went

But some say they hear bells ringing in the mountains to the west

Constance fought and fought until one day they changed the laws

Regarding women in the District where the upper classes flock

Then she and Thomas left. No one’s quite sure where they went

But they were last seen headed to the mountains in the west

New Albion still stands but it’s broken, fractured and

Its eight Districts function independently as best they can

There’s checkpoints in between, they eye each other warily

But the for the time despite all of this tension there is peace

The Voodoopunks, my friends, are resurfacing again

Though who can say if this is good or bad for New Albion

The city must unite, it cannot stand with such divide

But we leace discussion of this point for another time

So again we bid adieu to our players and to you

Same old channel, same old hour be sure to next time tune

Until then we say good day. The future’s always on its way

and thus we end our passion play as it’s played today.

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