tpau. We both immediately agreed that it was the best song in Rent, but we didn't have a chance to discuss what it meant - just to know that we disagreed on what one should take away from the song. So I ask you, gentle reader, what does this song mean? Lyrics and my thoughts behind the cut.---
Who do you think you are?
Barging in on me and my guitar
Little girl - Hey
The door is that way
You better go you know
The fire's out anyway
Take your powder - Take your candle
Your sweet whisper
I just can't handle
Well take your hair in the moonlight
Your brown eyes - Goodbye, Goodnight
I should tell you, I should tell you
I should tell you, I should - NO!!
Another time - Another place
Our temperature would climb
There'd be a long embrace
We'd do another dance
It'd be another play
Looking for romance?
Come back another day
Mimi:
The heart may freeze or it can burn
The pain will ease if I can learn
There is no future
There is no past
I live this moment
As my last
There's only us
There's only this
Forget regret
Or life is yours to miss
No other road
No other way
No day but today
Roger:
Excuse me if I'm off track
But if you're so wise
Then tell me - Why do you need
Smack?
Take your needle
Take your fancy prayer
And don't forget
Get the moonlight out of your hair
Long ago - You might've lit up my heart
But the fire's dead - Ain't never ever
Gonna start
Another time - Another place
The words would only rhyme
We'd be in outer space
It'd be another song
We'd sing another way
You wanna prove me wrong?
Come back another day
Another day
Mimi:
There's only yes
Only Tonight
We must let go
To know what's right
No other course
No other way
No day but today
Mimi / Roger:
I can't control / Control your temper
My destiny / She doesn't see
I trust my soul / Who says that there's a soul
Is just - To be / Just let me be
Mimi:
There's only now
There's only here
Give in to love
Or live in fear
No other path
No other way
No day but today
---
Well, the lj-cut has my opinion in a nutshell. Mimi and Roger clearly have the hots for each other but Roger is too busy feeling sorry for himself and judging Mimi to do anything about it. He knows exactly where she is in her life, but is trying too hard to stay mired in his own regrets to save her from the misery he knows she's in. The point of the song - the point of the show - is to maintain focus on the present (and, by extension, the future). To dwell on the past is to waste life entirely. Roger's just too much of a schmuck to listen to good advice when he hears it.
