U P S I D E     d o w n s t a i r s    a cambridge comedy of manners
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"Fada" ("Wise Enough To Play The Fool")
Music by Cass von Braun. Lyric by Cass von Braun. Arranged and performed by Cass von Braun

S E T T I N G Fada is a gypsy raconteur, an event producer, a Merlin of the heart -- and he is Kate's lover from long ago to whom she has fled when life with her husband became too dull to contemplate. Fada is also beloved of Kate's daughter, Miranda and, to further complicate matters of the heart, he is Mary's soul mate until the end of time. Mary has called him back to her in the song immediately foregoing, "I Ching!" Together "I Ching!" and "Fada (Wise Enough To Play The Fool)" and "Fada," the instrumental dance, form the coda ("the tail") of UPSIDE DOWNSTAIRS. I often use an extended dramatic scene without songs somewhere in a piece, and like to balance this with a conclusion of extended music. Once again, I find this structure suits both the dramatic and musical tone of the piece. Listen without vocals Listen with vocal sketch

L Y R I C If I could love you just exactly as you need me That would make me wise, or Wise enough to play the fool With a swagger of manhood, and jocular prattle You may find a moment when interesting tattle Will get a whole war won, to great approbation While the general´s still pondering the field for the battle If I could save the day for you, in just that way Then you might say I am wise, or Wise enough to play the fool Fada is wise enough to cut the shoot And give to it the ground to root For these are lessons learned in school But do they make him wise Wise enough to play the fool? Cruel as April showering petals from the trees Careless as a breeze Some things come up on their own Fresh, blown, bringing hope against hope Unfed and unnoticed there blooms such a garden Unlikely it is, as a cold winter´s pardon Gloom in the shadow of all which is absent And because of this creation has happened Will Fada discover something new To shatter what is left of you For you, who always find your way to art After passion leaves you picking through the pieces Scattered in the breaking of your heart Fada shows a garden gone to dust for you He must give you the grief you need To sow incantations in your rows of seed And feed with flowing waves of tears, The low notes only your heart hears So the world can go on singing, as it keeps unravelling You keep making it whole again Despite, no because of, the rain Fada must know enough to cut the shoot And give to it the ground to root But these are lessons learned in school They do not prove him wise Wise enough to play the fool . . . Wise enough to play the fool

I have struggled with this crying need for what seems a lifetime. So far I have not made it through a single day without thinking of you.

But now methinks it’s time to smile again, time for us to bide beside one another, another little while again.

Fada must know to cut the shoot and give to it the ground to root, but these are lessons learned in school. They do not prove him wise, wise enough to play the fool . . .

Though wise enough I cannot tell -- even I, a long cool drink from an antique well, will lose you to your bending still, beneath some ancient tree on some faraway hill.