Rent Songtext

von Jonathan Larson

How do you document real life
When real life's getting more
Like fiction each day?
Headline -- Bread-lines --

Blow my mind
And now this deadline
"Eviction or pay"
RENT!

How do you write a song
When the cords sound wrong

Though they once sounded right and rare?
When the notes are sour-
Where is the power?
You once had to ignite the air

And we're hungry and frozen

Some life that we've chosen!
How we gonna pay
How we gonna pay

How we gonna pay
Last years rent?

We light candles!
How do you start a fire
When there's nothing to burn

And it feels like something's
Stuck in your flue?
How do you generate heat

When you can't feel your feet?
And they're turning blue

You light up a mean blaze

With posters-
-and screenplays!

How we gonna pay
How we gonna pay

How we gonna pay
Last years rent?
How do you stay on your feet
When on every street
It's trick or treat?
And tonight it's "trick"
"Welcome back to town"
Oh, I should lie down
Everything's brown and- uhoh
I feel sick!
Where is he?
Getting dizzy
How we gonna pay
How we gonna pay
How we gonna pay
Last years rent?
"The music ignites the night with passionate fire"
Maureen -- I'm not a theatre person
"The narration crackles and pops with incendiary wit"
And feel the heat of the future's glow.
How do you leave the past behind
When it keeps finding ways to get to your heart?
It reaches way down deep and tears you inside out
'Till your torn apart
RENT!
How can you connect in an age
Where strangers, landlords, lovers
Your own blood cells betray?
What binds the fabrics together
When the raging shifting winds of change
Keep ripping away?
Draw a line in the sand
And then make a stand
Use your camera to spar!
Use your guitar!
When they act tuff-
You call their bluff
We're not gonna pay
We're not gonna pay
We're not gonna pay
Last years rent!
This years rent!
Next years rent!
Rent! Rent! Rent! Rent! Rent!
We're not gonna pay rent!
'Cause everything is rent