Lyrics Old Friends (Part 1) / Like It Was - Stephen Sondheim

Old Friends (Part 1) / Like It Was

MARY
Hey, old friend
What do you say, old friend?
Make it okay, old friend
Give the old friendship a break
Why so grim?
We’re going on forever
You, me, him
Too many lives are at stake
Friends this long
Has to mean something’s strong
So if our old friend’s wrong
Shouldn’t an old friend come through?
It’s us, old friend —
What’s to discuss, old friend?
Here’s to us
Who’s like us?
CHARLEY
Damn few
MARY
Charley
Why can’t it be like it was?
I liked it the way that it was
Charley —
You and me, we were nicer then
We were nice
Kids and cities and trees were nice
Everything…
I don’t know who we are any more
And I’m starting not to care
Look at us, Charley
Nothing’s the way that it was
I want it the way that it was —
Help me stop remembering then
Don’t you remember?
It was good, it was really good
Help me out, Charley
Make it like it was
(spoken)
Come on.
We both know it, it was better, Charley.
The three of us
CHARLEY (spoken)
And you come on — we’re not the three of us any more, Mary
Now we’re one and one and one
MARY
Charley
Nothing’s the way that it was
I want it the way that it was
God knows, things were easier then
Trouble is, Charley
That’s what everyone does:
Blames the way it is
On the way it was —
On the way it never, ever was