La Vie Boheme Lyrics

[Benny]
You make fun, yet I'm the one,
Attempting to do some good,
Or do you really want a neighborhood,
Where people p___ on your stoop every night?
Bohemia, Bohemia, a fantasy in your head.
This is calcutta.
Bohemia, is dead.

[Mark]
Dearly beloved, we gather here to say our good byes.
Here she lies.
No one knew her worth, the late, great daughter of mother earth.
On these nights, when we celebrate the birth.
In that little town of bethlhem.
We raise our glass,
You bet your a__ to,
La Vie... Boheme.

[All]
La Vie Boheme.
La Vie Boheme.
La Vie Boheme.
La Vie Boheme.

[Mark] To days of inspiration, playing hooky, makin' somethin' out of nothin'.
The need to express to communicate.
To going against the grain, going insane, going mad.
To loving tension, no pension, to more than one dimension.
To starving for attention, hating convention, hating pretension,
Not to mention, of course, hating dear old mom and dad,
To riding your bike miday past the three-peice suits.
To fruits! To no absolutes.
To absolute. To choice. To the village voice.
To any passing fad.
To being an us for once.
Instead of a them...

[All]
La Vie Boheme.
La Vie Boheme.

[Man]
Ahem...

[Maureen]
Hey mister, she's my sister.

[Waiter]
So that's five miso soup, four seaweed salad, three soy burger dinner,
Two tofu dog platter, and one pasta, with meatless b____.

[Roger]
Ew...

[Collins]
It tastes the same.

[Mimi]
If you close your eyes.

[Waiter]
And thirteen orders of fries, is that it here?

[All]
Wine and beer!

[Angel and Mimi]
To hand-crafted beers made in local breweries.
To yoga, to yogurt, to rice and beans and cheese.
To leather, to d____s, to curry vindaloo.
To wuevos rancheros, and Maya Angelo.

[Maureen and Collins]
Emotion, devotion, to causing a commotion.
Creation, vacation...

[Mark]
Mucho masturbation.

[Maureen and Collins]
Compassion, to fashion, to passion, when it's new.

[Roger]
To Sontag.

[Angel]
To Sondheim.

[All girls]
To anything tabboo.

[Roger and Collins]
Ginsberg, Dylan, Cunningham, and Cage.

[Collins]
Lenny Bruce.

[Roger]
Langston Hues.

[Maureen]
To the stage!
To Buddha!

[Roger]
To Zuda!

[All]
Pablo Neruda, too.

[Mimi and Mark]
When Dorothy and Toto went over the rainbow, to blow off Auntie Em.

[All]
La Vie Boheme!

[Man]
Sisters?

[Maureen and JoAnne]
We're close!

[Angel and Collins]
Brothers!

[All]
Bisexuals, trisexuals, h___sapiens.
Crysonogens, Halluconogens, Men,
PeeWee Herman!
German wine, terpentine, Gertrude Stein, Antonioni,
Barollucci, Kurosawa,
Carmina, Burana,
To apathy, to entropy, to Empathy, Ecstacy,
Vaslov Hoval,
The s__ Pistols,
8BC!
To no shame, never playing the fame game.

[Collins]
To Marijuana.

[All]
To sodomy, it's between God and me,
To S&M!

[Mark]
Waiter, waiter, waiter, waiter.

[Collins]
In honor of the death of bohemia, an impromptu salon will commence immediately following dinner,
Maureen Johnson, just back from her spectacular one-night engagment at the eleventh Street Block,
Will perform native American Tribal chants, backwards, Through her vocorder,
While accompanying herself, on the electric cello, which she ain't never studied.

[Roger]
And Mark Cohen will preview his new documentary about his inability to hold an erection on the high holy days.

[Mark]
And Mimi Marquez, Clad only in bubble wrap,
Will perform her famous lawn-chair, hand-cuffed dance to the sounds of iced-tea, beanster.

And Roger will attempt to write a bitter-sweet avocative song.
That... Doesn't remind us of Musetta's Waltz.

[Collins]
Angel Dumatt-Schunard will model her latest fall fashions from Paris,
While accompanying herself on a ten-gallon plastic pickle tub!

[Angel]
And Collins will recount his exploits and an anarchist,
Including the tale of his successful reprogramming of the MIT,
Retro-Reality equipment, to self-destruct, as it broadcasts the words:

[All]
ACTUAL REALITY, ACT UP, FIGHT AIDS!

MIMI
Excuse me - did I do something wrong?
I get invited - then ignored all night long

ROGER
I've been trying - I'm not lying
No one's perfect. I've got baggage

MIMI
Life's too short, babe, time is flying
I'm looking for baggage that goes with mine

ROGER
I should tell you

MIMI
I got baggage too

ROGER
I should tell you

ROGER & MIMI
Baggage

ALL
Wine and beer!

MIMI
AZT break

ROGER
You?

MIMI
Me. You?

ROGER
Mimi

Part B:

[All]
TODAY!

[Mimi]
No way to make a living,
Masochism, and pain, perfection,
Muscle spasm, chiropractors,
Short careers, eating disorders!

[All]
Film!

[Mark]
Adventure, tedium, no family, boring locations,
Dark rooms, perfect faces, ego, money, hollywood, and sleeze!

[All]
Music!

[Angel]
Food of love, emotion,
Mathematics,
Isolation,
Rythym, power, feeling, harmony, and heavy competition!

[All]
ANARCHY!

[Maureen and Collins]
Revolution, Justice, Screaming for solutions,
Forcing changed, risking danger,
Making noise, and makign pleas!

[All]
To f__gots, lezzies, d___s, cross-dressers, too!

[Maureen]
To me!

[Markl]
To me!

[Boy]
To me!

[All]
To you, and you, and you, you, and you!
To people living with, living with, living with,
Not dying from disease!

Let He Among Us Without Sin
Be The First To Condemn

La Vie Boheme
La Vie Boheme
La Vie Boheme

[Mark]
Is anyone out of the mainstream?
Is anyone in the mainstream?
Anyone alive- with a s__ drive.
Tear down the wall, aren't we all?
The oppostie of war isn't peace.
It's creation.

[All]
WHOO!
LA VIE BOHEME...

VIVA LA VIE BOHEME