I Can’t Not Love
(Frida Kahlo)
Frida identifies with the Weeping Woman of central
American folklore, a water goddess, and a fertility icon.
There is a potential dark side in the role.
Like the beat, beat, beat of the rain
As it falls on the jungle floor
Love batters our hearts with joy and with pain
And we still cry out for more.
I can weep, I can cry, till the rivers run dry,
But I can’t not love!
Like the weeping woman of indian lore,
My love has found no bounds.
I gaze on my love through heat of the night
And the tears begin to pour.
I can weep, I can cry, till the rivers run dry,
But I can’t not love!
I saw he was with her.
He thinks I’m a dunce.
I love him and I hate him.
I do both at once.
He turns to pursue ev’ry new girl in town
And my tears come pouring down.
I can weep, I can wail, tear my hair, even flail,
But I can’t not love
Sorry
(Diego Rivera)
Diego is a compulsive philanderer.
I have been in love with women
Ever since I was a boy.
I always turned towards women
All the charm I could deploy.
I never yet was spurned
And this is what i’ve learned:
A fascinating woman is a constant source of joy.
Why do I hurt the one I love?
What in the world was I thinking of?
And how do I say I’m sorry?
How can I say I’m sorry?
How can I say I’m sorry?
How can I say I’m sorry?
There have been some folks around me
Who think that I’m a cad
For on-the-side romances,
Other loves that I have had.
The trouble’s not resolved.
It’s gotten more involved.
For a man to have a mistress
Can drive a young wife mad.
Why do I hurt the one I love?
What in the world was I thinking of?
And how do I say I’m sorry
How can I say I’m sorry?
How can I say I’m sorry?
How can I say I’m sorry
I never meant to hurt you.
May your patience not desert you.
But I really must alert you
That it just might happen again.
And how can I say I’m sorry,
When it just might happen again
A Little Bit of Art
(Art Institute Patrons in Detroit)
Edsel Ford was instrumental is procuring Diego
Rivera’s work for the Detroit Art Institute.
While job loss plagues the lower classes,
We’re just fine. Let’s clink our glasses
And bring a little art into our lives.
A famous muralist has come to our city.
Smile for the photograph,
We want to look pretty
And we’ll bring a little art into our lives
You can find me dabbling in what I want.
Just don’t try calling me a dilettante.
When it brings a little art into our lives.
Oh, I love art done the mexican way,
But now I’m smitten with russian ballet.
It brings a little art into our lives.
Let poets write their precious stanzas.
We like movie extravaganzas.
They bring a little art into our lives.
We appreciate art that’s first rate.
This museum is truly great.
It brings a little art into our lives.
We appreciate art that’s first rate.
This museum is truly great.
It brings a little art into our lives.
I Paint The Dream
(Diego Rivera)
Rivera had a positive vision for agriculture and industry
which he expressed in his murals.
Oh, the colors on my palette are the colors of the planet,
And I love each shade and ev’ry in between,
But I never paint mere skin, I paint the hope within.
I paint a world that you have never seen.
I’ve been to Rome imperial,
Seen portraiture ethereal,
And pigments that would make an angel sigh.
That era now has ended with its patronage so splendid.
Now it’s not the rich and famous take my eye.
There’s a better world a brewing.
It will take a bit of doing;
We all want a world more just that’s firm and sound.
Until that world comes round.
I paint the dream, I paint the dream.
I’m A Guy Who’s Got to Have It All
(Diego Rivera)
Although he’s genuinely sorry, Diego doesn’t change
his life easily and has overstepped all the boundaries
when he seduces Frida’s sister.
Oh, why should Frida care at all,
If artists’ models bare it all?
It’s really just a sideline of my work;
Oh, I’m a guy who’s got to have it all.
I find it quite a curio
Folks think an artist’s studio
A place where temptations lurk,
Oh, I’m a guy who’s got to have it all.
And if a certain model has a pretty skin,
Where’s the man won’t understand
The quand’ry that I’m in?
Oh, I’m a guy who’s got to have it all.
In all that I experience
In service to my art
No matter where I wander
I have Frida in my heart.
Now I’m a guy who used to have it all.
Yes, I’m a guy who used to have it all.
An Independent Woman
(Frida Kahlo)
I’m an independent woman.
There’s no telling what I’ll do.
I probably could take the lead
And teach a thing or two.
My friends will stand behind me.
I don’t need a man to mind me.
Life’s grand so long as you are free.
So strike up the band.
I’m taking a stand.
For I’m my own woman now.
I’m an independent woman
And I know just what I’ll do.
I don’t need more clues to tell me
That this romance is through,
My art career’s before me,
And life will never bore me.
Life’s grand so long as you are free.
So strike up the band.
I’m taking a stand.
For I’m my own woman now.
For I’m my own woman now.
Trio for Los Tres: My Way
(Rivera/Orozco/Siquieros)
I’m absolutely right on this
And you my friends are wrong,
But let’s all do it my way
And I’m sure we’ll get along.
No!
I’m absolutely right on this
And you my friends are wrong.
So let’s not make an issue
And I’m sure we’ll get along.
No!
I’m absolutely right on this
And you my friends are wrong.
Let’s stomp the opposition
And I’m sure we’ll get along.
Betrayed Verse I
(Frida Kahlo)
Frida finds she has something in common with the
Russian revolutionary and refugee, Leon Trotsky.
She has lost a child, he has lost two, and both
have had disappointments in career and life.
Here I stand by love betrayed.
Shall I grow old alone and staid?
Why wait? Why stay? Why care?
Why love a man whose heart’s not there?
If you care for the life of me,
Show me a remedy,
For I’ve got a broken heart.
I’ve got a broken heart.
I must be strong.
Love can’t be wrong.
If you care for the life of me,
Show me a remedy.
For I’ve got a broken heart.
I’ve got a broken heart.
Betrayed verse II
(Leon Trotsky)
Here I stand my dream betrayed,
Cast out by a world I made.
Why plan? Why fight? Why care?
Why build a world I cannot share?
If you care for the life of me,
Show me the remedy
For I’ve got a broken heart.
I’ve got a broken heart.
I must be strong.
Dreams can’t be wrong.
If you care for the life of me ,
Show me the remedy
For I’ve got a broken heart
I’ve got a broken heart.
History
Trotsky woos Frida with communist terminology,
in which the word history has a special glamour.
The phrase “a paradise on earth” comes from Trotsky’s writings.
I never met someone like you,
Someone who makes the world seem fresh and new,
For when you’re close to me
We two make history.
Our laws will govern sea to sea,
Set factories humming merrily.
Each working man, each working man
Shall know his worth in our new paradise,
Our paradise on earth.
I never met someone like you,
You make the world seem fresh and new,
For when you’re close to me
We two make history.
Over There
Although several of the characters in Frida, My Love are
communist, the stance of the play is closer to that of Orozco
who believed that Marxism was not a wise choice for Mexico.
This song is a love-it-or-leave-it challenge.
Life’s not cheerier,
Truth is blearier,
Rights’re inferior
Over there.
Over there’s another universe
Where the news reports get better
As reality gets worse!
And now, my dear señor,
Observe the open door.
It’s time you found what feet are for.
The cure for your dolor
And what you’re seeking for
Is going to be over there.
You’re free, you know,
Free to go
Over there.
If you’re so unhappy, sir,
Then you need to go
Over there.
