Only One lyrics - Elegies: A Song Cycle

Only One lyrics

Only One


If just one student learns the beauty of aesthetics,
Then that`s fine. I need only one.
Or if one student learns the wonders of poetics,
Then he`s mine, And my work here will be done.
And if one student values structure,
Learns that words can be valuable and fun.
Show me twenty students who despise the poems they have to memorize
Alright, I need only one.

And if one student learns that books can be ecstatic, what the heck, I don`t need romance.
If I`ve wasted my life being firm and autocratic, I`m a spec in an orbiting expanse.
What I did was always well intentioned, and what`s done, folks, is ultimately done.
Give me 80 students who deplore the fact that I demanded more.

Screw `em, I need only need
One student who rarely watches television.
One student who understands the value of precision.
Are there limits to my teaching`
Was I always overreaching`
Probably I was, and so what if I was.

I`ve been told that my life is ending very shortly. That`s alright, I do not like scenes.
Since I`m not someone`s wife, and I don`t have any children,
I won`t fight or be hooked up to machines.

But to that special kid who liked me, he who laughed at an inauspicious pun.
Let him fondly ponder who I was.
And represent me well because
There`ll be only one.
There`ll be only one.

There`ll be only one.
Only one.
Da-da-da, da-da-da.
Da-da-da, da-da-da-da-da-da
Da-da-da-da-da-da
Da-da-da, da-da

So I`ll live with the fact that I`m prickly and derisive,
That I will not make amends.
I was born without tact; I was born to be decisive.
And I still do not have very many friends
But I taught what I knew needing teaching.
If they fought me, they learned who held the gun.
So who`s students always did the best on every statewide essay test?
Count them!
I`m the only one.
I`m the only one.

Last Update: June, 10th 2013


Musical: Elegies: A Song Cycle. Song: Only One. Broadway musical soundtrack lyrics. Song lyrics from theatre show/film are property & copyright of their owners, provided for educational purposes