The Band's Visit Album Lyrics

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Overture

(The Band's Visit Original Broadway Band)


[Instrumental]

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Waiting

(The Band's Visit Original Broadway Company)

PAPI:
Waiting. What's new here?
You're waiting, I'm waiting
'Cause that's what we do here
Same as we do every day
For something, I don't know, to happen
No, just something different to happen
Just waiting for something to change
Just a change

...:
Sometimes it feels like we're moving in a circle
Around and around with the same scenery going by
But no one's complaining
We're experts at waiting

ENSEMBLE:
Oh...
Ah...

IZIK:
Time's like a river sometimes
Time's like an ocean
The sofa is my boat
And I'm just drifting right along

IZIK (IRIS):
Time is like syrup (Just waiting for something)
And I'm the bug stuck (To happen for)
In the syrup (Anything to happen)
Just trying to find out  (Waiting to find out)
What I'm doing wrong (What I'm doing wrong)

ENSEMBLE:
Ah...
Ah...

DINA:
You know what I think
There's two kinds of waiting
There's the kind where you're expecting something new
Or even strange
But this kind of waiting, you keep looking off out into the distance
Even though you know the view is never going to change
You wait....

ENSEMBLE:
Waiting, for something
For anything to happen
Just waiting for anything to
Wait...

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Welcome to Nowhere

(Katrina Lenk, John Cariani & Etai Benson)

DINA:
Let me tell you about Petah Tikva
Such a city, everybody loves it!
Lots of fun, lots of art, lots of culture
That Petah Tikva, with a "P"

Where you are, this is not Petah Tikva
Such a city, nobody knows it!
Not a fun, not an art, not a culture
This is Bet Hatikvah, with a "B"

IZIK:
Like in "boring"

PAPI:
Like in "barren"

IZIK:
Like in "bullshit"

PAPI:
Like in "bland"

DINA:
Like in "basically bleak and beige and blah, blah, blah..."
Stick a pin in a map of the desert
Build a road to the middle of the desert
Pour cement on the spot in the desert
That's Bet Hatikvah

ALL:
Welcome to Nowhere!

DINA (spoken):
Behold, where there was once only desert is the town of Bet Hatikvah.
See, apartments! Gaze upon my cafe! While you're here, be sure to go back
And forth between my cafe and the apartments. So much to explore!

PAPI:
Pick a sand hill of your choosing

IZIK:
Take some bricks that no one's using

DINA:
Build some buildings, put some Jews in

ALL:
Then blah, blah, blah...

IZIK:
Bet Hatikvah!

ALL:
Here you are, in renowned Bet Hatikvah!
Go ahead, look around Bet Hatikvah!
Lucky you, you have found Bet Hatikvah!
Welcome to Nowhere!

PAPI (spoken):
With a "B"!

ALL:
Welcome to Nowhere!

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It Is What It Is

(Katrina Lenk)

DINA:
I was romantic
And young and stupid
I met my husband, you know how these things go
You've got your story
You're in your movie
You are the hero
You think you know
You think you know what happens
You think it all will happen
You think it all will go a certain way
You think you know the story
You think I have the ending
But you don't know the story

(spoken)
What about you, General?
There's someone waiting for you in Egypt? A wife?

TEWFIQ (spoken):
Me? no, no I had that one time but--

DINA:
Ahh, but then you see it
You learn your lesson
Grow up a little
You settle in then it is what it is
You've got what you got then blah, blah, blah...

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The Beat of Your Heart

(Andrew Polk, George Abud, John Cariani & Alok Tewari)

AVRUM:
She was in a white dress
With red and purple ribbons in her hair
She was dancing with somebody
But in love and music, all is fair
We were finishing the girl from Ipanema
Going into Summertime
I was in the middle of my solo
When her eyes met mine

Love starts on a downbeat
Love starts when the music starts
Love starts when the tune is sweet
And you lift your feet
To the beat of your heart

Love makes a rhythm
Love dances in a dancer's shoes
It moves when you start to move
And what is the groove?
The beat of your heart!

And we played "Moon River"
And "I Want to Hold Your Hand"
And the girl in the white dress
And the ribbons in her hair
Danced to my band
And I could feel my heart
It started jumping in my chest
And I smiled at her
And she smiled at me
And the music did the rest

Love sparks on the upbeat
Igniting with a minor 9th
Resolving to a major 6th
Something clicks
And everything starts

There goes the kick drum
Spelling out the rhythm of love
Telling you get off your seat
And move your feet
And dance to the beat of your heart

And if you play me Summertime
And if I stop and close my eyes
I'll see an angel swirling, moving
Young and so alive

This music is a time machine
This music is a gift from God
Her face was beautiful
My God, her face was beautiful

So maybe I'm romantic
Maybe I'm a sentimental fool
Maybe music is the food of love
But music and love, who can tell them apart?
Just let me hear the downbeat

IZIK & CAMAL:
Let me hear the downbeat

AVRUM:
And let me hear the bah! bah! bah!

IZIK & CAMAL:
Bah! bah! bah!

AVRUM:
Let me hear it kick for kick and
Whack the snare

AVRUM, IZIK & CAMAL:
And shake your ass
And stir up the air

AVRUM:
And dance with the girl with the ribbons in her hair

AVRUM, IZIK & CAMAL:
Embracing the rhythm of love
That's exactly the same as
The beat of your heart

CAMAL:
The beat of your heart...

IZIK:
The beat of your heart...

IZIK & CAMAL:
The beat of your heart!

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Soraya

(The Band's Visit Original Broadway Band)


[Instrumental]

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Omar Sharif

(Katrina Lenk)

[DINA]
Umm Kulthum and Omar Sharif
Came floating on the jasmine wind
From the west, from the south
Honey in my ears
Spice in my mouth.
Dark and thrilling,
Strange and sweet
Cleopatra and the handsome thief
And they floated in on a jasmine wind
Umm Kulthum and Omar Sharif
And they floated in on a jasmine wind
Umm Kulthum and Omar Sharif

Friday evening, Omar Sharif,
In black and white and blurry through tears.
My mother and I would sit there in a trace
He was cool to the marrow, the pharaoh of romance

Sunday morning,
Umm Kulthum
Her voice would fill our living room.
The ship from Egypt always came
Sailing in on the radio waves

And the jasmine wind, deep perfume
Umm Kulthum
And the living room becomes a garden,
And the TV set becomes a fountain,
And the music flows in the garden
And everything grows

Umm Kulthum and Omar Sharif
Came floating on a lemon leaf
Flying in on a jasmine wind
Umm Kulthum and Omar Sharif
And we dance with them on a jasmine scented wind,
Umm Kulthum and Omar Sharif.

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Haj-Butrus

(The Band's Visit Original Broadway Band)


[Instrumental]

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Papi Hears the Ocean

(Etai Benson)

PAPI:
I don't know, with the girls, I don't know what to do
I don't know where to start
I'm smarter up here than I am down here
And up here, I'm not too smart

They might say one thing or another
They might have smiled at me once or twice
If they have breasts and they're not my mother
Then all I hear is- [he makes an ocean noise]

And the hands get heavy, oh the hands
I don't know what to do with the hands or the feet
Frozen in fear like a deer with the lights
In their eyes in the middle of the street

She might be wanting to get touchy-feely
She might be talking to me really nice
She might as well be speaking Swahili
'Cause all I hear is- [he makes an ocean noise]

And my tongue gets big
And I can't move my knees
And my eyeballs freeze
And all I see's a tunnel
And there's cotton in my head
My legs are full of lead
And my brain goes deader than the Dead Sea
Dead, dead

Dead in the mind and I find that I kind of
Go into an infantile trance
I'm peeing in my - not literally - peeing in my -
But, you know, I may as well be - peeing in my -

Then I lose my wits
And my lights go off
I get all sticky in the pits
And I smell like falafel
And my ears get hot
And I feel real awful
And all I hear is-

Dead, dead, dead!
Belly up, going round
Sinking down, down, down
Like a schmuck

Dead in the head
Dead in the water
Dead in a magical sea
Full of suck!

Go ahead and tell me I should keep on trying
Go ahead and tell me I should break the ice
I'll be standing here, deaf and dying
And all I'll hear is...

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Haled's Song About Love

(Ari'el Stachel & Etai Benson)

HALED:
Not break the ice
You melt the ice
You melt yourself
And soon you're all one puddle

You talk, she talks
It's not about the conversation
The words are like your lips, are reaching out
To kiss the ear

You're here, she's here
Two drops of water
The pull, the pull
Invisible, but really real

Your eyes, her eyes
And soon, you're looking in a mirror
You realize you can't get nearer
You are both right there

You glow, she glows
Two suns, no shadow
Your skin, her skin
And everything's alight

No edge, no edge
No walls, no border
Two streams of water
That become the sea

HALED:
The dance

PAPI:
The dance

HALED:
The dance

PAPI:
The dance

HALED:
You see the wind that moves the trees is
The algebra that moves your knees
Is written in her eyes

HALED:
Her eyes

PAPI:
Her eyes

HALED:
Your eyes

PAPI:
Your eyes

BOTH:
You're only looking in a mirror

HALED:
You realize you can't get nearer
And there's nowhere you don't meet

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The Park

(Katrina Lenk & Tony Shalhoub)

DINA: (spoken)
This is the park. It's not look like a park, you have to imagine.
You see, this, this is the grass.
And there is where the children play.
And this, this is the sea. Do you hear the sea?

TEWFIQ: (spoken)
Yes

DINA: (spoken)
Tell me, Tewfiq, how does it feel to do music? To have the orchestra?
How does it feel to have all the people waiting for you,
and all their eyes for you? You know?

TEWFIQ: (spoken)
Well, it's...um...it...

DINA: (spoken)
Yes, what?

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Itgara'a

(Tony Shalhoub)

[TEWFIQ]
Itgara'a
Itgara'a
Itgara'a
Itgara'a
Min el wihda
Min el farah
Itgara'a
Itgarahoum
Inta el wihda
Inta el farah
Itgarahoum

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Something Different

(Katrina Lenk & Tony Shalhoub)

DINA:
Is this a hymn?
Is this a love song?
Something ancient by a poet
Maybe Hafiz, maybe Rumi?

Is he singing about two hearts searching in the darkness?
Or is he singing about fishing?

The tune seems sad, but are the words sad?
What's he saying?
Is he praying?
And why do the words get to me?

Is he lonely? Maybe reaching out for someone?
Look at me. Maybe I'm the one who's fishing

Every day you stare to the west, to the south
You can see for miles, but things never change
Then honey in your ears, spice in your mouth
Nothing's as surprising as the taste of something strange

And here's this man
Right here beside me
Kind of deep and kind of cute
In his Sergeant Pepper suit

Is this my sheikh?
Is this my Omar Sharif?

Well, I know it's something different

TEWFIQ:
Itgara'a...

[They sing together]

DINA:
Who is this man right here beside me?
Closer by an inch or two, my cheek would touch his ear
What is he thinking? What does he wish for?
Is he singing about wishing?

Something new I've never seen before
Through these walls I build, these gates I protect
Something new I didn't notice I was hoping for
Nothing is as beautiful as something that you don't expect

Look at those hands
Those are not young hands
But they move like they are swimming through the music
Through the music
And I don't know what I feel
And I don't know what I know
All I know is I feel something different

TEWFIQ:
Itgara'a...

DINA:
He makes me feel something different

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Itzik's Lullaby

(John Cariani & George Abud)

ITZIK:
A great big house there is somewhere
That's filled with sun and lovely things
Inside the house, there is a room
A baby sleeps, a daddy sings

Thank God, he is a lucky man
A busy man, a happy man
Thank God the gift was given him
To finish all the things he plans

I'm sorry, son, I don't know why
This gift has not been given me
It makes no difference how I try
I end up drifting on the sea

We fell in love, your mom and I
We made our plans and started life
But now we fight and back away
A loser and a loser's wife

(CAMAL vocalizes)

ITZIK:
I guess I am a patient man
I guess I am a gift to thee
A quiet room, a sleeping child
You need this gift if you're like me

A great big house there is somewhere
That's full of sun and lovely things
Inside the house, there is a room
A baby sleeps, a daddy sings

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Something Different (Reprise)

(Katrina Lenk)

DINA:
Is it a hymn?
Is it a love song?
The music is so beautiful
It melts away so quickly
And you're standing in the silence
Standing in the darkness
Singing about wishes

Every day, you stare to the west, to the south
You can see for miles, but it all stays the same
Then honey in your ears, spice in your mouth...

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Answer Me

(Adam Kantor & The Band's Visit Original Broadway Company)

Here I am
Here I am
And the light is dying

Where are you?
Where are you?
Will you answer me?

All alone
In the quiet
And my ears are thirsty

For your voice
For your voice
Can you answer me?

If I try, maybe I can see your shadow
In the sodium light that masquerade as moon

If I try, I might take off like a sparrow
And I’ll travel around the guiding breeze

Very soon
Very soon
That’s the sound of longing

Are you there?
Are you there?
Will you answer me?

[Dialogue]

In my dreams my beloved lies beside me
When the sun lights the room, I find its only me

Only me (Only you when the sun is gone)
Only me (Only me when the moon is)
With the world around me
With the world - all around me
With the world around me

Only you
When the sun and moon and stars are gone all that’s left is only you
Will you answer me
Answer me


[Thanks to cwcatcare for correcting these lyrics]

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The Concert

(The Band's Visit Original Broadway Band)


[Instrumental]

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Afifi (Bonus Track)

(The Band's Visit Original Broadway Band)


[Instrumental]