Rent lyrics

[MARK]

How do you document real life

When real life's getting more

Like fiction each day

Headlines--bread-lines

Blow my mind

And now this deadline

"Eviction--or pay"

Rent

[ROGER]

How do you write a song

When the chords sound wrong

Though they once sounded right and rare

When the notes are sour

Where is the power

You once had to ignite the air

[MARK]

And we're hungry and frozen

[ROGER]

Some life that we've chosen

[MARK & ROGER]

How we gonna pay

How we gonna pay

How we gonna pay

Last year's rent

[MARK]

We light candles

[ROGER]

How do you start a fire

When there's nothing to burn

And it feels like something's stuck in

Your flue

[MARK]

How can you generate heat

When you can't feel your feet

[MARK & ROGER]

And they're turning blue!

[MARK]

You light up a mean blaze

[ROGER]

With posters--

MARK

And screenplays

[MARK & ROGER]

How we gonna pay

How we gonna pay

How we gonna pay

Last year's rent

[JOANNE, on phone]

Don't screen, Maureen

It's me--Joanne

Your substitute production manager

Hey hey hey! Did you eat?

Don't change the subject Maureen

But darling--you haven't eaten all day

You won't throw up

You won't throw up

The digital delay

Didn't blow up, exactly

There may have been one teeny tiny spark

You're not calling Mark!

[COLLINS]

How do you stay on your feet

When on every street

It's 'trick or treat'

And tonight its 'trick'

'Welcome back to town'

I should lie down

Everything's brown

And uh-oh

I feel sick

[MARK]

Where is he?

[COLLINS]

Getting dizzy

[MARK & ROGER]

How we gonna pay

How we gonna pay

How we gonna pay

Last year's rent

[BENNY, on phone]

Allison, baby - you sound sad

I don't believe those two

After everything I've done

Ever since our wedding

I'm dirt - they'll see

I can help them all out in the long run

Forces are gathering

Forces are gathering

Can't turn away

Forces are gathering

[COLLINS]

Ughhhh

Ughhhh

Ughhhh - I can't think

Ughhhh

Ughhhh

Ughhhh - I need a drink

[MARK]

"The music ignites the night with

Passionate fire"

[JOANNE]

Maureen, I'm not a theatre person

[ROGER]

"The narration crackles and pops with

Incendiary wit"

[JOANNE]

Could never be a theatre person

[MARK]

Zoom in as they burn the past to the ground

[MARK & ROGER]

And feel the heat of the future's glow

[JOANNE, on phone]

Hello?

[MARK, on phone]

Hello? Maureen?

Your equipment won't work?

Okay, all right, I'll go!

[MARK, 1/2 of COMPANY]

How do you leave the past behind

When it keep finding ways to get to your heart

It reaches way down deep and tears you inside out

'Til you're torn apart

Rent

[ROGER, 1/2 of COMPANY]

How can you connect in an age

Where strangers, landlords, lovers

Your own blood cells betray

[COMPANY]

What binds the fabric together

When the raging, shifting winds of change

Keep ripping away

[BENNY]

Draw a line in the sand

And then make a stand

[ROGER]

Use your camera to spar

[MARK]

Use your guitar

[COMPANY]

When they act tough

You call their bluff

[MARK & ROGER]

We're not gonna pay

[MARK & ROGER & 1/2 THE COMPANY]

We're not gonna pay

[MARK & ROGER & OTHER 1/2]

We're not gonna pay

[COMPANY]

Last year's rent

This year's rent

Next year's rent

Rent rent rent rent rent

We're not gonna pay rent

[MARK & ROGER]

Cause everything is rent

• Artist:Rent (Musical)
• Album:Rent (musical)