Ragtime movie - Epilogue / Wheels of a Dream (Reprise) lyrics
rate me<br>
CHORUS<br>
Ooohh!<br>
<br>
(We hear a slow rag begin. THE LITTLE BOY appears next to a small manual projector.) <br>
<br>
THE LITTLE BOY<br>
The era of Ragtime had run out, as if history were no more than a tune on a player piano. But we did not know that then. <br>
<br>
(He turns the projector as a slow parade begins - a ghostly, silhouetted march of time: people of the past, people of the<br>
future.) <br>
<br>
YOUNGER BROTHER<br>
After Coalhouse Walker's death, Younger Brother drove south to Mexico, where he joined the great peasant revolutionary,<br>
Emiliano Zapata.<br>
<br>
(YOUNGER BROTHER rejoins the parade, and now, one by one, others step forth.)<br>
<br>
ALL<br>
La la la la la<br>
<br>
EMMA GOLDMAN<br>
The signs of the coming World War were everywhere. The anarchist Emma Goldman was arrested again, of course, but this time<br>
she would be deported, as well.<br>
<br>
ALL<br>
Ooh ooh...<br>
<br>
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON<br>
Booker T. Washington's Tuskegee Institute became, in time, the capital of black America. When he died, flags were flown at<br>
half-mast. President and Mrs. Wilson attended his funeral.<br>
<br>
ALL<br>
La la la la la.<br>
<br>
GRANDFATHER<br>
Grandfather resided now in a cemetery. At last, peace and quiet!<br>
<br>
EVELYN NESBIT<br>
The passionate and beautiful Evelyn Nesbit would lose her looks and fall into obscurity. Whee!<br>
<br>
HOUDINI<br>
Harry Houdini was hanging upside down high over Times Square when the Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo.<br>
<br>
THE LITTLE BOY<br>
Warn the Duke!<br>
<br>
HOUDINI<br>
A little boy's words suddenly rang clear to the great illusionist. It was the one genuine mystical experience of his life.<br>
But it was too late. The world was already at war.<br>
<br>
FATHER<br>
When the Lusitania was torpedoed by a U-boat off the Southwest coast of Ireland, twelve hundred men, women and children lost<br>
their lives, and among them, Father.<br>
<br>
MOTHER<br>
Mother wore black for a year. At the end of this time, Tateh proposed and she accepted. <br>
<br>
MOTHER<br>
She adored him.<br>
<br>
THE LITTLE BOY<br>
They moved to California.<br>
<br>
THE LITTLE GIRL<br>
They were now a family.<br>
<br>
THE LITTLE BOY<br>
They felt blessed.<br>
<br>
MOTHER<br>
Coalhouse! <br>
<br>
(A very small black child runs into her arms. He is COALHOUSE WALKER III. The children play.) <br>
<br>
TATEH<br>
One afternoon, watching his children play, Tateh had an idea for a movie: a bunch of children, white, black Christian, Jew,<br>
rich, poor--all kinds-- a gang, a crazy gang getting into trouble, getting out of trouble, but together despite their<br>
differences.<br>
He was sure it would make a wonderful movie--a dream of what this country could be.<br>
He would be first in line to see it. <br>
<br>
(TATEH moves to MOTHER.<br>
<br>
(COALHOUSE and SARAH appear upstage, on opposite sides of the stage.)<br>
<br>
COALHOUSE<br>
I see his face.<br>
<br>
SARAH<br>
I hear his heartbeat.<br>
<br>
BOTH<br>
I look in those eyes;<br>
How wise they seem. <br>
<br>
(TATEH picks up little COALHOUSE.)<br>
<br>
MOTHER, TATEH, COALHOUSE, SARAH & ALL (offstage)<br>
Well, when he is old enough<br>
I will show him America.<br>
And he will ride...<br>
Our son will ride...<br>
On the wheels of a dream. <br>
<br>
(COALHOUSE and SARAH watch as the FAMILY walks off into the future.)<br>
<br>
[Thanks to Yehuda Alexander for lyrics]<br>
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