Rent Songtext
von Jonathan Larson

How do you document real life
When real life′s getting more like fiction each day?
Headlines, bread-lines, blow my mind
And now this deadline, "Eviction or pay"
Rent

How do you write a song
When the chords sound wrong?
Though they once sounded right and rare
When the notes are sour
Where is the power you once had to ignite the air?

We're hungry and frozen
Some life that we′ve chosen

How we gonna pay?
How we gonna pay?
How we gonna pay last year's rent?


How do you start a fire
When there's nothing to burn
And it feels like something′s stuck in your flue
How can you generate heat
When you can′t feel your feet
And they're turning blue

You light up a mean blaze
With posters and screenplay

How we gonna pay?
How we gonna pay?
How we gonna pay last year′s rent?

Don't screen, Maureen
It′s me, Joanne
Your substitute production manager
Hey-hey-hey! Did you eat?
Don't change the subject, Maureen
But darling, you haven′t eaten all day
You won't throw up, you won't throw up
The digital delay didn′t blow up, exactly
There may have been one teeny tiny spark
You′re not calling Mark!


How do you stay on your feet
When on every street, it's "trick or treat"
And tonight it′s "trick"
"Welcome back to town," I should lie down
Everything's brown and, agh, I feel sick

Where is he?
Getting dizzy

How we gonna pay?
How we gonna pay?
How we gonna pay last year′s rent?

Allison, baby, you sound sad
I can't believe those two
After everything I′ve done
Ever since our wedding
I'm dirt, they'll see
I can help them all out in the long run

Forces are gathering (the music ignites the night with passionate fire)
Forces are gathering (Maureen, I′m not a theatre person)
Can′t turn away (the narration crackles and pops with incendiary wit)
Forces are gathering (could never be a theatre person)

Forces are gathering (zoom in as they burn them past to the ground)
Forces are gathering (hello?)
Feel the heat of the future's glow (hello?)
Hello? Maureen?
Your equipment won′t work?
Okay, all right, I'll go!

How do you leave the past behind
When it keeps finding ways to get to your heart
It reaches way down deep and tears you inside out
′Til you're torn apart
Rent

How can you connect in an age
Where strangers, landlords, lovers
Your own blood cells betray
What binds the fabric together
When the raging, shifting winds of change
Keep ripping away

Draw a line in the sand
And then make a stand
Use your camera to spar
Use your guitar
When they act tough, you call their bluff

We′re not gonna pay
We're not gonna pay
We're not gonna pay
Last year′s rent
This year′s rent
Next year's rent
Rent, rent, rent, rent, rent
We′re not gonna pay rent

'Cause everything is rent