Ragtime movie - Coalhouse Demands lyrics
rate me<br>
NEWSBOY #1<br>
Extra! Arsonist destroys Emerald Isle Engine Company!<br>
<br>
NEWSBOY #2<br>
Negro gunman shoots three dead!<br>
<br>
NEWSBOY #3<br>
Extra! Terror stalks New Rochelle! Murderer's demands revealed!<br>
<br>
COALHOUSE<br>
One--that my car be returned to me in its original condition.<br>
Two--that the white excrescence known as Fire Chief Will Conklin,<br>
the one who instigated this crime, be turned over to me for my justice.<br>
Nothing less, nothing more.<br>
<br>
ALL<br>
Somewhere in the city<br>
There's a madman waiting<br>
Standing in the shadows<br>
With a gun in his hands<br>
A man of colour<br>
Who is calmly stating:<br>
Coalhouse demands!<br>
Coalhouse demands!<br>
<br>
<br>
NEW ROCHELLE MEN, WOMEN<br>
He demands!<br>
<br>
HARLEM MEN, WOMEN<br>
He demands!<br>
Coalhouse demands!<br>
<br>
NEW ROCHELLE MEN<br>
Who is he to demand?<br>
<br>
HARLEM MEN, WOMEN<br>
He demands!<br>
<br>
NEW ROCHELLE WOMEN, MEN & NEWSBOYS<br>
He demands!<br>
<br>
NEWSBOYS (shouting)<br>
Killer Negro demands!<br>
<br>
HARLEM MEN, WOMEN<br>
About time a black man demanded!<br>
<br>
ALL<br>
He calls Conklin the white excrescence...<br>
<br>
THE LITTLE BOY<br>
What's excrescence?<br>
<br>
FATHER<br>
Edgar, go to your room!<br>
<br>
(MOTHER is greatly agitated. GRANDFATHER and SARAH'S FRIEND are with her. THE LITTLE BOY does not leave.)<br>
<br>
MOTHER<br>
Three firemen were killed. One of them was Mrs. Gallagher's nephew. <br>
Six more were badly injured when the boiler exploded.<br>
<br>
THE LITTLE BOY<br>
And one of them will be dead by tonight. It was Coalhouse, wasn't it?<br>
<br>
FATHER<br>
I said, go to your room.<br>
<br>
MOTHER<br>
Edgar.<br>
<br>
(MOTHER and THE LITTLE BOY leave together.)<br>
<br>
GRANDFATHER<br>
I told you we hadn't heard the last of that Negro.<br>
<br>
ALL<br>
Coalhouse demands<br>
<br>
HARLEM MEN (COALHOUSES'S MEN), YOUNGER BROTHER<br>
It's an eye for an eye--<br>
Call it justice, friend<br>
<br>
HARLEM WOMEN, SARAH'S FRIEND<br>
People's lives for a car ain't justice<br>
An eye for an eye, that ain't!<br>
<br>
FIREMEN<br>
He wants Willie Conklin.<br>
<br>
CONKLIN<br>
Willie Conklin!<br>
He even misspelled my name.<br>
Wouldn't you know it!<br>
With a "K"!<br>
He can't take a joke, now can he<br>
Sensitive, ain't he?<br>
Does he think only niggers get shit?<br>
We Irish had to get used to it!<br>
<br>
FIREMAN<br>
You goddamned, gutless Mick, look what you got us into!<br>
<br>
(WILLIE is shocked and confused that people are turning their backs on him and are angry.)<br>
<br>
WILLIE<br>
You're gonna protect me, ain't ya?<br>
Hide me, ain't ya?<br>
<br>
FIREMAN<br>
Get out of town, Will, before they kill us all!<br>
<br>
(COALHOUSE'S MEN surround him. They stand in solidarity.)<br>
<br>
COALHOUSE'S MEN<br>
What they did to you,<br>
What they took from you,<br>
We are one with you.<br>
Now the world will know<br>
There are Negroes out there<br>
To make them listen!<br>
We're all Coalhouse! <br>
<br>
(They don matching bowler hats and brandish their guns.)<br>
<br>
<br>
(BOOKER T. WASHINGTON is surrounded by REPORTERS.) <br>
<br>
REPORTER #1<br>
Do you have a statement for us, Mr. Washington?<br>
<br>
REPORTER #2<br>
What do you think of these Negro renegades, Mr. Washington?<br>
<br>
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON<br>
For the sum of my life<br>
I have lived in hope<br>
We might all be Christian brothers<br>
I have worked to persuade<br>
Every white-skinned man<br>
That he need not fear our race <br>
<br>
I deplore Mr. Walker's actions, and the irreparable harm he has done to my people.<br>
And I wish that I might tell him face to face. <br>
<br>
<br>
HARLEM WOMEN (Group 1)<br>
Not one of ours Never heard of him We don't want any trouble Not one of ours <br>
HARLEM WOMEN (Group 2)<br>
Not one of ours Never heard of him Don't want any trouble Not one of ours<br>
<br>
ALL HARLEM WOMEN<br>
Don't know anything<br>
(to each other) And I wouldn't tell those peckerwoods<br>
Even if I did!<br>
<br>
GROUP 1<br>
No one knows what he looks like No one knows where he is No one knows how to Stop him...<br>
GROUP 1<br>
Somewhere in the city There's a madman waiting Standing in the shadows With a gun in his hand <br>
ALL <br>
A man of colour Who is calmly stating Coalhouse demands Somewhere in the city Coalhouse! <br>
CONKLIN, OTHERS <br>
Somewhere in the city Waiting in the dark Stop him!<br>
CONKLIN, GROUP 2<br>
Somewhere in the city Standing in the shadows<br>
COALHOUSE & HIS MEN<br>
We'll play them the music Of something beginning!An era exploding,A century spinning--Listen to that Ragtime!<br>
<br>
(THEY fire their guns. People react.<br>
<br>
MOTHER and YOUNGER BROTHER are sitting around a table. MOTHER has Sarah's baby with her. FATHER stands with a pistol. THE<br>
LITTLE BOY watches.)<br>
<br>
FATHER<br>
We are suffering a tragedy that should not have been ours. What in God's name possessed you? You took that woman in without<br>
sufficient thought. And she brought Coalhouse into our lives. You have victimized us all with your foolish female<br>
sentimentality.<br>
<br>
YOUNGER BROTHER<br>
Are you going out to find him and shoot him?<br>
<br>
FATHER<br>
I'm protecting my home. If Mr. Walker makes the mistake of coming to my door I will deal with him.<br>
<br>
(The baby begins to cry. SARAH'S FRIEND enters.)<br>
<br>
YOUNGER BROTHER<br>
Why should he come here? We did not desecrate his car.<br>
<br>
FATHER<br>
I went to the police. I told them this murdering madman was a guest in my home. I told them we are keeping his bastard<br>
child. I told them everything I knew. They were very grateful.<br>
<br>
YOUNGER BROTHER<br>
Did you tell them he's the Negro maniac whose car they destroyed? The same black man who went to them for justice but whose<br>
every legal complaint the ignored? The same crazed Negro killer who followed the coffin of a woman they murdered? Were they<br>
grateful for the truth?<br>
<br>
FATHER<br>
I hope I misunderstand you. Would you defend this savage? Does he have anyone but himself to blame for Sarah's death?<br>
Anything but his damnable nigger pride? Nothing under heaven can excuse the killing of men and the destruction of property in<br>
this manner.<br>
<br>
YOUNGER BROTHER<br>
I did not hear such a eulogy at Sarah's funeral. I did not hear you say then that death and destruction of property were<br>
inexcusable. <br>
<br>
FATHER<br>
Must I endure this?<br>
<br>
YOUNGER BROTHER<br>
You are a complacent man with no thought of history. You have traveled everywhere and learned nothing. I despise you.<br>
<br>
(HE exits, slamming the door.)<br>
<br>
FATHER<br>
He'll be back.<br>
<br>
MOTHER<br>
I don't think so.<br>
<br>
THE LITTLE BOY<br>
Why is uncle angry? Why is everyone so angry?<br>
<br>
MOTHER<br>
Ask your father.<br>
<br>
THE LITTLE BOY<br>
It's because of Coalhouse, isn't it?<br>
<br>
[Thanks to Yehuda Alexander for lyrics]<br>
<br>
