Prologue: into the Woods Songtext

von Stephen Sondheim

Once upon a time...
I wish
In a far off kingdom
More than anything
Lived a fair maiden

More than life

A sad young lad

More than jewels

I wish

And a childless baker
I wish

With his wife

More than anything, more than the moon
I wish

The King is giving a festival

More than life

I wish

I wish to go to the festival

More than riches

And the ball...

I wish my cow would give us some milk

More like than anything

I wish we had a child

Please pal...

I want a child

Squeeze pal...

I wish to go to the festival

I wish you'd give us some milk or even cheese

I wish we might have a child

I wish

You wish to go to the festival?

The poor girl's mother had died

You Cinderella, the festival?

What you wish to go to the festival?
The festival? The king's festival?

And her father had taken for his new wife

The festival

A woman with two daughters of her own

Look at your nails

Look at your dress
People would laugh at you

Nevertheless

She still wants to go to the festival, and dance before the prince

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

All three were beautiful of face, but vile and black of heart

Jack on the other hand had no father, and his mother

I wish...

Well she was not quite beautiful

I wish my son were not a fool

I wish my house was not a mess

I wish the cow was full of milk

I wish the walls were full of gold
I wish a lot of things
'Knock knock'

Why come in little girl
I wish

It's not for me it's for my granny in the woods

A loaf of bread, please

To bring my poor old hungry granny in the woods
Just a loaf of bread, please
Cinderella's stepmother had a surprise for her
I have emptied a pot of lentils into the ashes for you
If you have picked them out again in two hours time
You shall go to the ball with us

And perhaps a sticky bun... Or four...

Birds in the sky

Birds in the eaves and the leaves and the fields and the castles and ponds...
And a few of those pies

Come little birds
Please

Down from the eaves and the leaves over fields out of castles and ponds...
No squeeze pal...
Ahhhhh Ahhhhhh Ahhhhhh Ahhhhhhh Ahhhhhh
Quick little birds, flick through the ashes, pick and peck but swiftly
Sift through the ashes, into the pot
Listen well son
Milky white must be taken to market
But mother no!

He's the best cow
Look at her!

There are bugs on her dugs
There are flies in her eyes

There's a lump on her rump big enough to be a hump!
But...
Son
We've no time to sit and dither
While her withers wither with her
And no one keeps a cow for a friend!

Sometimes I fear you're touched

Into the woods, it's time to go
I hate to leave, I have to though
Into the woods, it's time and so
I must begin my journey
Into the woods and through the trees

To where I am expected mam

Into the woods to grandmother's house

Into the woods to grandmother's house
You're certain of your way?

The way is clear

The light is good
I have no fear, nor no one should
The woods are just trees, the trees are just wood
I sort of hate to ask it, but do you have a basket?
Into the woods and down the dell

The path is straight, I know it well

Into the woods, and who can tell
What's waiting on the journey
Into the woods to bring some bread to granny who is sick in bed
Never can tell what lies ahead
For all that I know, she's already dead

But into the woods
Into the woods
Into the woods to grandmother's house and home before dark.
Fly birds
Back to the sky
Back to the eaves and leaves, and the fields, and the cas-
Hurry up and do my hair, Cinderella
Are you really wearing that?

Here I found a little tear, Cinderella

Can't you hide it with a hat?
You look beautiful
I know
She means me
Put it in a twist
Who will be there?
Mother said be good, father said be nice
That was always their advice
So be nice Cinderella, good Cinderella, nice good good nice

Tighter

What's the good of being good

If everyone is blind, and you're always left behind?
Never mind Cinderella, kind Cinderella

Nice, good, nice, kind, good, nice
Oh!

Not that tight!

Sorry

Clod.
Who might that be?
It's the witch from next door!
The old enchantress told the couple that she had placed a spell on their house
What spell?
In the past, when your mother was with child, she developed an unusual appetite
She took one look at my beautiful garden
And she told your father, that what she wanted more than anything in the world was
Greens, greens, and nothing but greens

Parsley, peppers, cabbages and celery
Asparagus and watercress and fiddle ferns and lettuce
He said 'all right'
But it wasn't quite
Cause I caught him in the autumn in my garden one night

He was robbing me

Raping me

Rooting through my rutabaga, raiding my arugula and ripping up the rampion, my champion
My favourite

I should have laid a spell on him right there

I could have turned him into stone
Or a dog
Or a chair
But I let him have the rampion, I'd lots to spare

In return however, I said fair is fair
You can let me have the baby that your wife will bare

And we'll call it square
I had a brother?

No

But you had a sister

But the witch refused to tell him any more of his sister

No even that her name was name was Rapunzel

I thought I had been more than reasonable
But how was I to know what your father had also hidden in his pocket
What?
Beans
Beans
The special beans

I let him go, I didn't know he'd stolen my beans

I was watching him crawl back over the wall
When bang! Crash! A lightening flask!
Oh well that's another story
Never mind, anyway
At last the big day came
I made my claim

Oh don't take away the baby! They shrieked and screeched

But I did, and I hid her where she'll never be reached

Your father cried and your mother died

When for extra measure, I admit it was a pleasure

I said, sorry, I'm still not mollified

And I laid a little spell on them

You too son

That your family tree would always be a barren one
So there's no more fuss, and there's no more scenes
And my garden thrives, you should see my nectarines
But I'm telling you the same I tell kings and queens
Don't ever never ever mess around with my greens

Especially the beans

Now listen to me jack

Lead milky white to market and fetch the best price you can

Are you listening to me?
Jack, jack, jack
Head in a sack
The house is getting colder
This is not a time for dreaming
Chimney stack, starting to crack
The mice are getting bolder, the floor's gone slack
You're mother's getting older, your father's not back
And you can't just sit here dreaming pretty dreams
To wish and wait, from day to day
Will never keep the wolves away
So into the woods the time is now, we have to live, I don't care how
Into the woods to sell the cow
You must begin the journey
Straight through the woods and don't delay
We have to face the marketplace
Into the the woods to journey's end
Into the woods to sell a friend
Meanwhile the witch, for purposes of her own
Explained how the baker might lift the spell
You wish to have the curse reversed?
I'll need a certain potion first
Go to the wood and bring me back
One, the cow as white as milk
Two, the cape as red as blood
Three, the hair as yellow as corn
Four, the slipper as pure as gold
Bring me these before the chime of midnight in three days time
And you shall have, I guarantee
A child as perfect as child can be
Go to the wood!
Ladies! Our carriage waits!
Now may I go to the festival?
The festival?
Darling those nails, darling those clothes
The lentils are one thing but darling with those
You'd make us the fools of the festival
And mortifying the prince!
The carriage is waiting
We must be gone
Goodnight father
Ah goodnight
I wish
Look what I found in Father's hunting jacket
Six beans, we'll take them with us!
No the spell is on my house
Only I can lift the spell the spell is on my house
No, no the spell is on our house
No, you are not to come
We must lift the spell to-
Now what am I to return with?
You don't remember?
The cow as white as milk
The cape as red as blood
The hair as yellow as corn
The slipper as pure as gold
The cow as white as milk
The cape as red as blood
And so the baker reluctantly set off to meet the enchantresses demands
The hair as yellow as corn
The slipper as pure as gold
As for Cinderella
I still wish to go to the festival
But how am I ever to get to the festival?
I know I'll visit mother's grave
The grave at the hazel tree
And tell her I just want to go to the king's festival
The hair
Into the woods it's time to go
It may be all in vain I know
Into the woods but even so I have to take the journey
Into the woods the path is straight
I know it well, but who can tell?
Into the woods to lift the spell
Into the woods to visit mother
Into the woods to fetch the things
To make the potion
To go to the festival
Into the woods without regret
The choice is made, the task is set
Into the woods, but not forgetting why I'm on the journey
Into the woods to get my wish
I don't care how, the time is now
Into the woods to sell the cow
Into the woods to get the money
Into the woods to lift the spell
To make the potion
To go to the festival
Into the woods to grandmother's house
Into the woods to grandmother's house
The way is clear, the light is good
I have no fear, nor no one should
The woods are just trees
The trees are just wood
No need to be afraid there
There's something in the glade there
Into the woods without delay, but careful not to lose the way
Into the woods, who knows what may be lurking on the journey
Into the woods to get the thing, that makes it worth the journeying
Into the woods to see the King
To sell the cow
To make the potion
To see, to sell, to get, to bring, to make, to lift, to go to the festival
Into the woods
Into the woods
Into the woods then out of the woods...
And home before dark!