By Paulo Coelho
I know, probably I should post here something more conventional, religious, etc. But the fantastic poem by T.S. Eliot is my choice to believe that there is always light at the end. I don’t know why, but sometimes I think about Magdalen singing alone, waiting for the return of her Beloved One.
According to Sonja’s blog, the story of Memory begins with the idea for Cats, back in 1977. In that year Andrew Lloyd Webber picked up a copy of T.S Eliot’s book of poems — poems
that his mother had read to him as a child.
Lloyd Webber’s usual way of working was first to create a melody and then add
lyrics. But he was curious if he could work the process the other way around. He
wanted to compose melodies for the words of these Eliot poems that he loved
and turn them into song.
T.S Eliot’s widow, Valerie, gave Trevor Nunn and Cameron Mackintosh (director
and producer for the project) some manuscripts of extra materials her husband
had written. These were poems and fragments that hadn’t been included in the
original book. The main inspiration for Cats came with the discovery of one particular poem fragment called “Grizabella the Glamour Cat”. There were only eight lines, but
that was enough inspiration for the team to create the show’s entire storyline.
Trevor Nunn then produced a lyric, based on T.S Eliot’s poem “Rhapsody on a Windy Night” and the song Memory, sung by Grizabella the Glamour Cat, came to life — just barely in time for opening night.
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 dream of the old days
Life was beautiful then
I remember the time I knew what happiness was
Let the memory live again
Every street lamp seems to beat
A fatalistic warning
Someone mutters and the street lamp sputters
Soon it will be morning
Daylight
I must wait for the sunrise
I must think of a new life and
I mustn’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 court smell of morning
A street lamp dies
Another night is over
Another day is dawning
Touch me,
It is so easy to leave me
All alone with my memory
Of my days in the sun
If you’ll touch me,
You’ll understand what happiness is
Look, a new day has begun
Welcome to Share with Friends - Free Texts for a Free Internet
