Teacher's Folders

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Memory - CATS

Cats is a famous musical composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber and it's based on a book by T.S. Eliot, Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats.

Cats tells the story of a group of cats (the Jellicles Cats) who, once a year, in the night, escape from their homes and meet in the dump of the neightborhood to wait for their leader, the Old Deuteronomy. He chosses one cat each year to start a new life on the Heaviside Layer, it's like a special paradise for cats.
This year, the Old Deuteronomy chosses Grizabella, but while he is saying her name, they realized there is a human spying. Directed by Munkustrap, the cats introduce themselves one to one: Jennyanydots, Rum Rum Tigger, Mungojerrie, Rumpleteazer, Macavity, Bustofer Jones, Gus, Skimble...
At the end, Grizabella appears and sing this song, Memory.

I really like this song because it has great lyrics and it shows what Grizabella is like . A time ago, she left the Jellicles Cats to live a glamorous life and now that she is old she is trying to be back, she only finds contempt and rejection.



LYRICS
Daylight
See the dew on the sunflower
And a rose that is fading
Roses whither away
Like the sunflower
I yearn to turn my face to the dawn
I am waiting for the day . . .

Midnight
Not a sound from the pavement
Has the moon lost her memory?
She is smiling alone
In the lamplight
The withered leaves collect at my feet
And the wind begins to moan

Memory
All alone in the moonlight
I can smile at the old days
I was beautiful then
I remember the time I knew what happiness was
Let the memory live again

Every streetlamp
Seems to beat a fatalistic warning
Someone mutters
And the streetlamp gutters
And soon it will be morning

Daylight
I must wait for the sunrise
I must think of a new life
And I musn't give in
When the dawn comes
Tonight will be a memory too
And a new day will begin

Burnt out ends of smoky days
The stale cold smell of morning
The streetlamp dies, another night is over
Another day is dawning

Touch me
It's so easy to leave me
All alone with the memory
Of my days in the sun
If you touch me
You'll understand what happiness is

Look
A new day has begun


1 comment:

  1. Thanks, Marta, for your post.
    I also think this is a really beautiful song!!

    ReplyDelete