The Love Song Of J. Alfred Prufrock (Soundtrack)

Song The Love Song Of J. Alfred Prufrock (Soundtrack)
Artist Karl Verkade
Album Soundtracks & Stories Ii: Prufrock Landscapes

Lyrics

[00:05.64] Let us go then, you and I,
[00:08.98] When the evening is spread out against the sky
[00:14.27] Like a patient etherized upon a table;
[00:19.64] Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,
[00:23.91] The muttering retreats
[00:25.10] Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels
[00:29.59] And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells:
[00:34.63] Streets that follow like a tedious argument
[00:37.98] Of insidious intent
[00:41.42] To lead you to an overwhelming question ...
[00:46.32] Oh, do not ask, "What is it?"
[00:49.97] Let us go and make our visit.
[00:53.89] In the room the women come and go
[00:55.83] Talking of Michelangelo.
[01:00.52] The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes,
[01:05.75] The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes,
[01:10.68] Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening,
[01:14.70] Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains,
[01:19.54] Let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys,
[01:24.29] Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap,
[01:30.07] And seeing that it was a soft October night,
[01:34.45] Curled once about the house, and fell asleep.
[01:40.78] And indeed there will be time
[01:44.31] For the yellow smoke that slides along the street,
[01:47.90] Rubbing its back upon the window-panes;
[01:50.96] There will be time, there will be time
[01:54.64] To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;
[01:57.98] There will be time to murder and create,
[02:02.59] And time for all the works and days of hands
[02:06.16] That lift and drop a question on your plate;
[02:10.28] Time for you and time for me,
[02:13.72] And time yet for a hundred indecisions,
[02:17.08] And for a hundred visions and revisions,
[02:19.55] Before the taking of a toast and tea.
[02:23.92] In the room the women come and go
[02:26.09] Talking of Michelangelo.
[02:31.09] And indeed there will be time
[02:34.75] To wonder, "Do I dare?" and, "Do I dare?"
[02:40.39] Time to turn back and descend the stair,
[02:43.95] With a bald spot in the middle of my hair—
[02:47.41] (They will say: "How his hair is growing thin!")
[02:51.19] My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin,
[02:56.06] My necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin--
[03:03.49] (They will say: "But how his arms and legs are thin!")
[03:10.05] Do I dare
[03:10.66] Disturb the universe?
[03:15.44] In a minute there is time
[03:17.91] For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.
[03:24.76] For I have known them all already, known them all:
[03:29.90] Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,
[03:34.12] I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;
[03:38.68] I know the voices dying with a dying fall
[03:42.88] Beneath the music from a farther room.
[03:48.74] So how should I presume?
[03:52.60] And I have known the eyes already, known them all—
[03:57.50] The eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase,
[04:00.71] And when I am formulated, sprawling on a pin,
[04:04.29] When I am pinned and wriggling on the wall,
[04:08.04] Then how should I begin
[04:10.44] To spit out all the butt-ends of my days and ways?
[04:13.67] And how should I presume?
[04:16.55] And I have known the arms already, known them all—
[04:20.32] Arms that are braceleted and white and bare
[04:24.21] (But in the lamplight, downed with light brown hair!)
[04:28.89] Is it perfume from a dress
[04:32.10] That makes me so digress?
[04:36.04] Arms that lie along a table, or wrap about a shawl.
[04:41.16] And should I then presume?
[04:44.27] And how should I begin?
[04:49.64] Shall I say, I have gone at dusk through narrow streets
[04:54.09] And watched the smoke that rises from the pipes
[04:57.00] Of lonely men in shirt-sleeves, leaning out of windows? ...
[05:05.07] I should have been a pair of ragged claws
[05:07.00] Scuttling across the floors of silent seas.
[05:13.28] And the afternoon, the evening, sleeps so peacefully!
[05:17.61] Smoothed by long fingers,
[05:21.34] Asleep ... tired ... or it malingers,
[05:28.43] Stretched on the floor, here beside you and me.
[05:33.66] Should I, after tea and cakes and ices,
[05:37.52] Have the strength to force the moment to its crisis?
[05:42.43] But though I have wept and fasted, wept and prayed,
[05:47.48] Though I have seen my head (grown slightly bald) brought in upon a platter,
[05:53.42] I am no prophet—and here’s no great matter;
[05:58.79] I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker,
[06:02.68] And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker,
[06:10.29] And in short, I was afraid.
[06:15.93] And would it have been worth it, after all,
[06:18.98] After the cups, the marmalade, the tea,
[06:21.64] Among the porcelain, among some talk of you and me,
[06:25.43] Would it have been worth while,
[06:27.87] To have bitten off the matter with a smile,
[06:30.58] To have squeezed the universe into a ball
[06:33.00] To roll it toward some overwhelming question,
[06:35.88] To say: "I am Lazarus, come from the dead,
[06:38.42] Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all"—
[06:43.15] If one, settling a pillow by her head,
[06:45.66] Should say: "That is not what I meant at all;
[06:51.17] That is not it, at all."
[06:54.97] And would it have been worth it, after all,
[06:58.24] Would it have been worth while,
[07:00.29] After the sunsets and the dooryards and the sprinkled streets,
[07:03.95] After the novels, after the teacups, after the skirts that trail along the floor—
[07:10.23] And this, and so much more?—
[07:14.50] It is impossible to say just what I mean!
[07:20.06] But as if a magic lantern threw the nerves in patterns on a screen:
[07:25.02] Would it have been worth while
[07:27.33] If one, settling a pillow or throwing off a shawl,
[07:31.68] And turning toward the window, should say:
[07:35.05] "That is not it at all,
[07:38.48] That is not what I meant, at all."
[07:42.99] No I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;
[07:47.68] Am an attendant lord, one that will do
[07:51.47] To swell a progress, start a scene or two,
[07:54.80] Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool,
[08:05.39] Deferential, glad to be of use,
[08:09.17] Politic, cautious, and meticulous;
[08:12.98] Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse;
[08:16.76] At times, indeed, almost ridiculous—
[08:20.92] Almost, at times, the Fool.
[08:27.42] I grow old ... I grow old ...
[08:34.77] I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.
[08:39.41] Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?
[08:46.00] I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.
[08:51.61] I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.
[08:58.65] I do not think that they will sing to me.
[09:04.49] I have seen them riding seaward on the waves
[09:09.09] Combing the white hair of the waves blown back
[09:13.68] When the wind blows the water white and black.
[09:21.16] We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
[09:24.33] By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
[09:30.44] Till human voices wake us, and we drown.

Pinyin

[00:05.64] Let us go then, you and I,
[00:08.98] When the evening is spread out against the sky
[00:14.27] Like a patient etherized upon a table
[00:19.64] Let us go, through certain halfdeserted streets,
[00:23.91] The muttering retreats
[00:25.10] Of restless nights in onenight cheap hotels
[00:29.59] And sawdust restaurants with oystershells:
[00:34.63] Streets that follow like a tedious argument
[00:37.98] Of insidious intent
[00:41.42] To lead you to an overwhelming question ...
[00:46.32] Oh, do not ask, " What is it?"
[00:49.97] Let us go and make our visit.
[00:53.89] In the room the women come and go
[00:55.83] Talking of Michelangelo.
[01:00.52] The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the windowpanes,
[01:05.75] The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the windowpanes,
[01:10.68] Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening,
[01:14.70] Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains,
[01:19.54] Let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys,
[01:24.29] Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap,
[01:30.07] And seeing that it was a soft October night,
[01:34.45] Curled once about the house, and fell asleep.
[01:40.78] And indeed there will be time
[01:44.31] For the yellow smoke that slides along the street,
[01:47.90] Rubbing its back upon the windowpanes
[01:50.96] There will be time, there will be time
[01:54.64] To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet
[01:57.98] There will be time to murder and create,
[02:02.59] And time for all the works and days of hands
[02:06.16] That lift and drop a question on your plate
[02:10.28] Time for you and time for me,
[02:13.72] And time yet for a hundred indecisions,
[02:17.08] And for a hundred visions and revisions,
[02:19.55] Before the taking of a toast and tea.
[02:23.92] In the room the women come and go
[02:26.09] Talking of Michelangelo.
[02:31.09] And indeed there will be time
[02:34.75] To wonder, " Do I dare?" and, " Do I dare?"
[02:40.39] Time to turn back and descend the stair,
[02:43.95] With a bald spot in the middle of my hair
[02:47.41] They will say: " How his hair is growing thin!"
[02:51.19] My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin,
[02:56.06] My necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin
[03:03.49] They will say: " But how his arms and legs are thin!"
[03:10.05] Do I dare
[03:10.66] Disturb the universe?
[03:15.44] In a minute there is time
[03:17.91] For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.
[03:24.76] For I have known them all already, known them all:
[03:29.90] Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,
[03:34.12] I have measured out my life with coffee spoons
[03:38.68] I know the voices dying with a dying fall
[03:42.88] Beneath the music from a farther room.
[03:48.74] So how should I presume?
[03:52.60] And I have known the eyes already, known them all
[03:57.50] The eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase,
[04:00.71] And when I am formulated, sprawling on a pin,
[04:04.29] When I am pinned and wriggling on the wall,
[04:08.04] Then how should I begin
[04:10.44] To spit out all the buttends of my days and ways?
[04:13.67] And how should I presume?
[04:16.55] And I have known the arms already, known them all
[04:20.32] Arms that are braceleted and white and bare
[04:24.21] But in the lamplight, downed with light brown hair!
[04:28.89] Is it perfume from a dress
[04:32.10] That makes me so digress?
[04:36.04] Arms that lie along a table, or wrap about a shawl.
[04:41.16] And should I then presume?
[04:44.27] And how should I begin?
[04:49.64] Shall I say, I have gone at dusk through narrow streets
[04:54.09] And watched the smoke that rises from the pipes
[04:57.00] Of lonely men in shirtsleeves, leaning out of windows? ...
[05:05.07] I should have been a pair of ragged claws
[05:07.00] Scuttling across the floors of silent seas.
[05:13.28] And the afternoon, the evening, sleeps so peacefully!
[05:17.61] Smoothed by long fingers,
[05:21.34] Asleep ... tired ... or it malingers,
[05:28.43] Stretched on the floor, here beside you and me.
[05:33.66] Should I, after tea and cakes and ices,
[05:37.52] Have the strength to force the moment to its crisis?
[05:42.43] But though I have wept and fasted, wept and prayed,
[05:47.48] Though I have seen my head grown slightly bald brought in upon a platter,
[05:53.42] I am no prophet and here' s no great matter
[05:58.79] I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker,
[06:02.68] And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker,
[06:10.29] And in short, I was afraid.
[06:15.93] And would it have been worth it, after all,
[06:18.98] After the cups, the marmalade, the tea,
[06:21.64] Among the porcelain, among some talk of you and me,
[06:25.43] Would it have been worth while,
[06:27.87] To have bitten off the matter with a smile,
[06:30.58] To have squeezed the universe into a ball
[06:33.00] To roll it toward some overwhelming question,
[06:35.88] To say: " I am Lazarus, come from the dead,
[06:38.42] Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all"
[06:43.15] If one, settling a pillow by her head,
[06:45.66] Should say: " That is not what I meant at all
[06:51.17] That is not it, at all."
[06:54.97] And would it have been worth it, after all,
[06:58.24] Would it have been worth while,
[07:00.29] After the sunsets and the dooryards and the sprinkled streets,
[07:03.95] After the novels, after the teacups, after the skirts that trail along the floor
[07:10.23] And this, and so much more?
[07:14.50] It is impossible to say just what I mean!
[07:20.06] But as if a magic lantern threw the nerves in patterns on a screen:
[07:25.02] Would it have been worth while
[07:27.33] If one, settling a pillow or throwing off a shawl,
[07:31.68] And turning toward the window, should say:
[07:35.05] " That is not it at all,
[07:38.48] That is not what I meant, at all."
[07:42.99] No I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be
[07:47.68] Am an attendant lord, one that will do
[07:51.47] To swell a progress, start a scene or two,
[07:54.80] Advise the prince no doubt, an easy tool,
[08:05.39] Deferential, glad to be of use,
[08:09.17] Politic, cautious, and meticulous
[08:12.98] Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse
[08:16.76] At times, indeed, almost ridiculous
[08:20.92] Almost, at times, the Fool.
[08:27.42] I grow old ... I grow old ...
[08:34.77] I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.
[08:39.41] Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?
[08:46.00] I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.
[08:51.61] I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.
[08:58.65] I do not think that they will sing to me.
[09:04.49] I have seen them riding seaward on the waves
[09:09.09] Combing the white hair of the waves blown back
[09:13.68] When the wind blows the water white and black.
[09:21.16] We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
[09:24.33] By seagirls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
[09:30.44] Till human voices wake us, and we drown.