In Pacific Overtures, Sondheim explores the clash of coultures through a dramatization of Commodore Perry's 1853 naval expedition to Japan. In the prologue to this song, Sondheim's "Reciter" notes that there is no Japanese documentary record of what transpired when Perry first met with the Shogun's representatives on the beach at Kanagawa. But an old man claims that he had been there, as a boy, watching the event from a tree; and as a warrior says that he had been hidden under the floorboards of the pavilion to protect the samurai. As each presents his version of the events, it becomes clear that neither of them had any idea what was going on at the time. The song provides a humorous but insightful view of the difficulties of giving, and making sense of, oral history.
OLD MAN Pardon me, I was there. RECITER You were where? OLD MAN At the treaty house. RECITER At the treaty house? OLD MAN There was a tree... RECITER Which was where? OLD MAN Very near. RECITER Over here? OLD MAN
Maybe over there. But there were trees then, everywhere.
May I show you?
ITER If you please. OLD MAN
There were trees Then, everywhere.
RECITER But you were there. OLD MAN And I was there! Let me show you.
RECITER If you please. OLD MAN
(tries to climb) I was younger then... (tries again) I was good at climbing trees...
(again) I was younger then...
(again) I saw everything!...
(again) I was hidden at the time...
(again) It was easier to climb...
(again) I was younger then...
(again) I saw everything!... (again)
Where they came and where they went--
I was part of the event.
I was someone in a tree!
(tries once more)
I was younger then!
(Suddenly a Young Boy appears, scurries across the stage and up the tree.)
BOY (to the Old Man) Tell him what I see! OLD MAN
I am in a tree. I am ten.
I am in a tree.
BOY I was younger then. OLD MAN
In between the eaves I can see -- (to the Boy) Tell me what I see.
(to the Reciter) I was only ten.
BOY
I see men and matting. Some are old, some chatting.
OLD MAN If it happened, I was there! BOTH I saw/see everything! OLD MAN I was someone in a tree. BOY Tell him what I see! OLD MAN Some of them hae gold on their coats. BOY
One of them has gold. (to the Reciter) He was younger then.
OLD MAN Someone crawls around, passing notes -- BOY Someone very old -- OLD MAN (to the Reciter) He was only ten. BOY And there's someone in a tree -- OLD MAN -- Or the day is incomplete. BOTH Without someone in a tree, Nothing happened here.
OLD MAN I am hiding in a tree. BOY I'm a fragment of the day. BOTH
If I weren't, who's to say Things would happen here the way
That they happened here?
OLD MAN I was there then. BOY I am here still. It's the fragment, not the day.
OLD MAN It's the pebble, not the stream. BOTH
It's the ripple, not the sea. Not the building but the beam,
Not the garden but the stone,
Not the treaty house,
Someone in a tree.
WARRIOR
(slides panel open underneath the house) Pardon me, I am here --
If you please, I am also here --
OLD MAN They kept drinking cups of tea. BOY They kept sitting on the floor BOTH
They drank many cups of tea. (to each other)
No, we told him that before.
WARRIOR If you please, I am here. RECITER You are where? WARRIOR In the treaty house. RECITER In the treaty house? WARRIOR Or very near. RECITER Can you hear? WARRIOR I'm below. RECITER So I notice. WARRIOR
Underneath the floor, And so I can't see anything.
I can hear them,
But I can't see anything.
RECITER But you can hear? WARRIOR But I can hear. Shall I listen?
RECITER If you please. WARRIOR
I can hear them now... I shall try to shift my knees...
I can hear them now...
I hear everything...
I'm the part that's underneath,
With my sword inside my sheath.
I can hear them now...
One is over me...
If they knock, then I appear.
I'm a part of what I hear.
I'm the fragment underneath.
I can hear them now!
RECITER, OLD MAN,
BOY
Tell us what you hear!
WARRIOR
First I hear a creak and a thump. Now I hear a clink...
Then they talk a bit...
Many times they shout when they speak.
Other times they think.
Or they argue it...
I hear floorboards graaning...
Angry growls... Much droning...
Since I hear them, they are there,
As they argue it.
I'm the listener underneath.
BOY
(peering into the house) Someone reads a list
From a box.
WARRIOR (listening) Someone talks of laws. OLD MAN Then they fan a bit. BOY Someone bangs a fist. WARRIOR Someone knocks. OLD MAN Now there was a pause. ALL Then they argue it. WARRIOR
"But we want..." "No, you can't
And we won't..."
"But we need it
And we want..."
"Will you grant --?"
"If you don't..."
"We concede it..."
OLD MAN WARRIOR BOY And they sat through the night
And they lit
yellow tapers.
I can hear Them.
I was There
Then.
I'm a Fragment of the
Day.
And they Chat.
And they fight
And they sit Signing papers.
If I Weren't, who's to
Say
Things would
Happen here the
Way
That they're
Happening?
If I Weren't, who's to
Say
Things would
Happen here the
Way
That they're
Happening?
I am There
Still.
If I
Weren't, who's to
Say
That they're
Happening?
ALL
It's the fragment, not the day. It's the pebble, not the stream.
It's the ripple, not the sea
That is happening.
Not the building but the beam,
Not the garden but the stone,
Only cups of tea
And history
And someone in a tree.
Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Book by John Weidman. Text from the libretto enclosed with the Original Broadway Cast Recording on RCA Records (1976).
This page last revised 04/08/10 02:58:51 PM.