We Dance Lyrics > Once On This Island

WOMAN
Asaka, grow me a garden

MAN
Please Agwe, don't flood my garden

TWO YOUNG WOMEN
Erzulie, who will my love be?

ALL
Papa Ge don't come around me.

WOMAN(spoken)
Ah, such powerful, such temperamental gods
rule our island.

ASAKA
Asaka, Mother of the Earth.

AGWE
Agwe, God of Water.

ERZULIE
Erzulie, beautiful Goddess of Love.

PAPA GE
And Papa Ge, sly Demon of Death.

WOMEN
Asaka, grow me a garden

MEN
Please Agwe, don't flood my garden

WOMEN
Erzulie, who will my love be?

ALL
Papa Ge don't come around me
Please Agwe don't flood my garden
Asaka grow me a garden...

WOMEN
We dance

MEN
We dance

ALL
To the music of the gods
The music of the breezes through
The green plaintain
The murmur of the river and
The roar of rain
And if the Gods decide to
Send a hurricane

WOMEN
We dance...

MEN
We dance

ALL
To their everchanging moods

WOMAN(ASAKA)
We know the gods are happy
When the green things grow

MAN(AGWE)
They're angry when the river
Starts to overflow

ALL
And since we never know
Which way the winds will blow...

ALL
We dance to the earth
We dance to the water
The Gods awake and we take no chance
Our hearts hear the song
Our feet move along
And to the music of the Gods
We dance!

ANDREA(spoken)
On the other side of the island, safe behind
high walls and iron gates, the grands hommes
dance to a different tune.

ALL
La la la la la la la

DANIEL
The drink champagne. Entertain tourists at
their fine hotels. And tell their servants,
"Polish up the Mercedes!"

ALL
La la la la la la la

MAN
Two different worlds
Never meant to meet.

MAN
The peasants labor

WOMAN
The grands hommes... eat!

ANDREA AND DANIEL ALL OTHERS
How fine
Our clothes are! We dance
How fast
We drive! We dance
We dance at parties...

ALL
While we are dancing
Just to stay alive...

WOMEN MEN
We dance We dance

ALL
What else is there to do?

MAN
But plant the seed
And pull the weed
And chop the cane

TWO WOMEN
And bear the child
And bear the load
And bear the pain

THREE WOMEN, TWO MEN
ANd as the rich go racing
To their own refrain

ALL
We dance to the earth
We dance to the water
The Gods awake and we take no chance
Our hearts hear the song
Our feet move along
And to the music of the Gods
We dance to the earth
We dance to the water
The Gods awake and we take
No chance...

PAPA GE ALL OTHERS
Two different
worlds. Ooh la
Never meant
to meet. Ooh la
But if the gods move
our feet...

ALL
We dance! We dance! We dance!

MAN(spoken)
Once on this island, there was a terrible
storm!

MAN
Many huts washed away! Many peasants
drowned by Agwe's angry waters!

WOMAN
But one small girl
caught his attention.

LITTLE TI MOUNE
Aaaahh!

MAN(Agwe)
And she was spared. An orphan, plucked
from the flood by Agwe.

WOMAN(Asaka)
Sheltered in a tree by Asaka.

WOMAN(Erzulie)
And sent on a journey by the gods. A journey
that would test the strength of love...

MAN(Papa Ge)
Against the power of death...

MAN, WOMAN(Erzulie, Papa Ge)
On this island of two different worlds!

ALL
The story of Ti Moune!
Last Update: June, 26th 2013