Shadow Play Lyrics & Chords By Noël Coward

Simon:
It isn't that I want to make you unhappy, but you must admid that we haven't been hitting it off particularrly well during the last year, and surely if were not comfortable together, the wisest thing is to seperate.

Victoria:
I feel so sad about it inside. I wish I could make you understand. Everything was so lovely in the beginning.

Simon:
Things never stay the same. You can't expect what was lovely then to be lovely now

Victoria:
Why not? Why not? Then we were happy.

Simon:
But darling, you must see
Here in the light of this unkind familiar now
Every gesture is clear and cold for us
Even yesterday's growing old for us
Everything's changed some how
If some forgotten lover's vow
Could wake a memory in my heart again
Perhaps the joy that we knew would start again
Can't we reclaim an hour or so?
The past is not so long ago.

Victoria:
Then love was complete for us
Then the days were sweet for us
Life rose to its feet for us
And stepped aside
Before our pride
Ah, then we knew the best of it
Then our hearts stood the test of it
Now, the magic has flown,
We face the unknown
Apart and alone.

Simon:
Hurry, hurry. We're going back.

Victoria:
I'm not sure that I want to, I'm not at all sure. Maybe it won't be as lovely as I thought it was.

Simon:
Don't be a fool, grab it while you can, grab every scrap of happiness while you can. Quickly, quickly, we're going back.

Victoria:
Okay, go on playing. We must have music.

Simon:
Listen to the strain it plays once more for us,
There it is again, the past in store for us

Both:
Wake in memory some forgotten song
To break the rhythm driving us along
And make harmony again, a last encore for us
Play, orchestra play
Play something sweet and light and gay
For we must have music, we must have music
To drive our fears away
While our illusions swiftly fade for us
Let’s have an orchestra score
In the confusions the years have made for us
Serenade for us just once more
Life needn’t be grey
Though it’s changing day by day
Though few old dreams may decay
Play, orchestra play

Life needn’t be grey
Though it’s changing day by day
Though few old dreams may decay
Play, orchestra play

Simon:
Are you engaged for this dance?

Victoria:
I was, but I'll cut it if you'll promise to love me always and never let anything or anybody come between us, ever.

Simon:
Of course, that's understood. I saw you in the ballroom, I wondered who you were.

Victoria:
My name's Victoria, Victoria Marden.

Simon:
Mine's Simon Gayforth.

Victoria:
How do you do?

Simon:
Quite well, thank you.

Victoria:
I suppose you came down from London for the dance?

Simon:
I'm staying with the Bursbys

Victoria:
What do you do?

Simon:
I'm in a bank.

Victoria:
High up in a bank, or just sitting in a little cage, totting up things?

Simon:
Quite high up, really. It's a very good bank.

Victoria:
I'm so glad

Simon:
How lovely you are,

Victoria:
No, no, that came later, you're skipping.

Simon:
I'm so sorry

Victoria:
You're nice and thin, your eyes are funny, you move easily. I'm afraid you're terribly attractive

Simon:
You never said that

Victoria:
No, but I thought it

Simon:
Stick to the script

Victoria:
Small talk, a lot of small talk, with other thoughts quite different going on behinde. This garden's really lovely. Are you good at gardens?

Simon:
Not very, but I'm persevering. I'm all right on the more straightforeward blooms like snapdragon and cornflower and tobacco plant. And I can tell a Dorthy Perkins a mile off.

Victoria:
That hedge over there is called Cupressus Macrocarpa

Simon:
Do you swear it?

Victoria:
It grows terribly quickly, but they do say it goes a little thin underneath in about twenty years

Simon:
How beastly of them to say that. Its slander.

Victoria:
Do you know about valerian smelling of cats?

Simon:
You're showing off again.

Victoria:
It's true

Simon:
I can go one better than that. Lotuses smell of pineapple

Victoria:
Oh, dear. Everything smells of something else. It's dreadfully confusing.

Simon:
Never mind, darling, I love you desperately, I knew it the first second I saw you.

Victoria:
No, no, no, You're skiping again.

Simon:
Was it in the real world
Or was it in a dream?
Or was it just a note in some eternal theme?
Was it accidental?
Or accurately planned?
How could I hesitate
Knowing that my fate
Led me by the hand?

You were there
I saw you and my heart stopped beating
You were there
And in that first enchanted meeting
Life changed its tune
The stars, the moon came near to me
Dreams that I dreamed
Like magic seemed to be clear to me, dear to me
You were there
Your eyes looked into mine and faltered
Everywhere
The colour of the whole world altered
False came true
My universe tumbled in two
The earth became heaven for you were there

Victoria:
You were there
I saw you and my heart stopped beating
You were there
And in that first enchanted meeting
Life changed its tune
The stars, the moon came near to me
Dreams that I dreamed
Like magic seemed to be clear to me, dear to me
You were there
Your eyes looked into mine and faltered
Everywhere
The colour of the whole world altered
False came true
My universe tumbled in two
The earth became heaven for you were there

Both:
You were there
Your eyes looked into mine and faltered
Everywhere
The colour of the whole world altered
False came true
My universe tumbled in two
The earth became heaven for you were there.