Sondheim on Sondheim - Something Just Broke Lyrics

WOMAN 1
I was out
In the yard,
Taking down the bed sheets,
When my neighbor yelled across:

PROPRIETOR
"The president's been shot."

WOMAN 1
I remember where I was,
Just exactly where I was,
In the yard out back--

PROPRIETOR
"The president's been shot."

MAN 1
I was getting me a shoeshine--

WOMAN 1
--Folding sheets--

MAN 1
--When I heard--

WOMAN 2
We were waiting for a carriage--

MAN 1
--Newsboys--

WOMAN 2
Suddenly there's shouting in the street--

WOMAN 1
--Lizzie's sheets...

THE PROPRIETOR
"The president's been shot."

WOMAN 2
I'll remember it forever--

WOMAN 1
And I thought:

WOMAN 2 and MAN 1
--Where I was, what I was doing--

WOMAN 1
Something just broke...

PROPRIETOR
"The president's been shot."

MAN 1
My God--!

MAN 2
I was up near the ridge,
Plowing--

MAN 3
We were working at the plant--

WOMAN 2
I was halfway throguh correcting the exams--

MAN 2
--When my wife

MAN 3
It was Mike--

MAN 2
She comes tearing 'cross the field--

MAN 3
--Mike the forman--

WOMAN 2
In runs billy--

MAN 3
I mean, he was crying--

WOMAN 2
He was crying--

MAN 2
She was crying--

WOMAN 2, MAN 2, MAN 3
I'll remember it forever...

WOMAN 1
And I thought:

PROPRIETOR
"The president's been shot."

WOMAN 1
You know what?
There are presidents who aren't worth a lot.

WOMAN 2, MAN 2, MAN 3
I kept thinking:

WOMAN 1
There's the kind that gets elected, then forgot.

MAN 1 and WOMAN 1
Mr. Garfield--

WOMAN 2
Mr. Lincoln

MAN 1 and WOMAN 1
--He's a hack.

MAN 3 and WOMAN 1
Bill McKinley--

WOMAN 2
--He's a giant.

MAN 1, MAN 3, WOMAN 1
--He's a joke.

WOMAN 1
Still, something just broke...

PROPRIETOR
"The president is rallying."
"The president is sinking."
"The president is dead."

WOMAN 1
Something just broke.

MAN 2
I was down at the Exchange...

WOMAN 1
Something just made a little dent.

WOMAN 2
I'd been shopping...

MAN 1
I'd been sick...

WOMAN 1
Something just broke--

MAN 3
All I know, it was a Friday...

WOMAN 1
Only for a moment.

MAN1, MAN 2, MAN 3, BOY
I remember it exactly...

WOMAN 1
Something got bent.

WOMAN 2
I'm taking the order...

WOMAN 1
Something jsut left a little mark.

BOY
I was getting dressed...

WOMAN 2
...two potato soups...

WOMAN 1
Something just went a little dark.
Something just went.

MAN 2
And I wondered:

WOMAN 2
I was scared--

MAN 2 and WOMAN 2
What would follow...

WOMAN 1
Something to be mended.

MAN 1
Made me wonder who we are...

WOMAN 1
Something we'll have to weather--

MAN 2
It was seeing all those torches...

WOMAN 1
Bringing us all together--

MAN 2
He was me...

MAN 3
He was us...

WOMAN 1
--If only for a moment...

ALL
I'll remember it forever...

WOMAN 1
Nothing has really ended--

MAN 1, MAN 2, MAN 3, BOY
Where I was, what I was doing...

WOMAN 1
Only just be suspended...

MAN 1, MAN 2, MAN 3, BOY
Like a flash...

WOMAN 1
'Cause something just stirred...

VARIOUS
And I thought
And I thought to myself
And I thought
And I thought
I kept thinking

WOMAN 1
Something just woke.

ALL
Something just spoke,
Something I wish I hadn't heard,
Something bewildering occurred.

BOY and MAN 2
Fix it up fast,
Please--

MAN 2 and MAN 3
Till it's just smoke.

WOMAN 1 and WOMAN 2
Till it's only "Something just passed"--
--Nothing that will last.

WOMAN 1, WOMAN 2, MAN 1
Where I was, what i was doing...

MAN 2, MAN 3, BOY
Nothing but the moment...

WOMAN 2
Just an awful moment...

WOMAN 1
But something just--