Lyrics Stravinsky: The Rake's Progress / Act III / Epilogue - "Good People, Just a Moment" - Deborah York, Anne Sofie von Otter, Ian Bostridge

Stravinsky: The Rake's Progress / Act III / Epilogue - "Good People, Just a Moment"

Good people, just a moment
Though our story now is ended
There’s the moral to draw
From what you saw
Since the curtain first ascended
Not every rake is rescued
At the last by Love and Beauty
Not every man
Is given an Anne
To take the place of Duty
Let Baba warn the ladies:
You will find out soon or later
That, good or bad
All men are mad
All they say or do is theater
Beware, young men who fancy
You are Virgil or Julius Caesar
Lest when you wake
You be only a rake
I heartily agree, sir!
Day in, day out, poor Shadow
Must do as he is bidden
Many insist
I do not exist
At times I wish I didn’t
So let us sing as one
At all times in all lands
Beneath the moon and sun
This proverb has proved true
Since Eve went out with Adam
For idle hands
And hearts and minds
The Devil finds
A work to do
A work, dear sir, fair madam
For you and you