Oh, My Captain

STARBUCK

OH, MY CAPTAIN, OH, MY CAPTAIN NOBLE SOUL.

OH MY CAPTAIN YOU HAVE PLAYED A NOBLE ROLE.

NOW MY CAPTAIN DROPS A TEAR DEEP IN THE BLUE.

THE OCEANS HAD NO ANSWER FOR THAT HUMAN DUE.

AHAB

STARBUCK, LAD, LET ME SEE YOUR EYE,

BETTER GAZED UPON THAN A GOD.

I SEE MY WIFE AND CHILD, INSIDE YOUR MAGIC GLASS

BENEATH THE WEIGHT OF PARADISE.

CHORUS

AWAY LET US AWAY.

STARBUCK

CHANGE COURSE, WE SHOULD NOT STAY.

ALL EXCEPT AHAB

AWAY, CHANGE COURSE, WE SHOULD NOT STAY.

AWAY, CHANGE COURSE, LET US.

ISHMAEL

NOW AHAB THREW THE HARPOON THAT STRUCK ON MOBY’S SOUL.

SOPRANOS AND ALTOS

MOBY’S SOUL

ISHMAEL

WOUNDED AND ALONE.

SOPRANOS AND ALTOS

WOUNDED AND ALONE.

CHORUS

REVENGE HIS ONLY GOAL.

STARBUCK

AWAY, LET US AWAY.

CHANGE COURSE, WE SHOULD NOT STAY.

ISHMAEL

BUT AHAB WOULD NOT CHANGE COURSE

NOR WAS HIS MIND AFLOAT

RISKING HEAD TO HEAD WITH MOBY AND HIS BOAT.

AHAB

“YE ARE NOT OTHER MEN, MY ARMS AND LEGS BE THEM.”

OH STARBUCK, I AM OLD, SHAKE HANDS WITH ME, BE BOLD.

CHORUS

SHAKE HANDS, OH STARBUCK, I AM OLD.

SHAKE HANDS, OH STARBUCK LAD.

BE BOLD!

ISHMAEL NARRATES

We chased him for what would be the first day, and he breached, his flukes came up, and overturned a mate’s boat. The second day dawned with the Pequod still with the beast, and when we lowered three boats, only two would come back. Moby sounded, leaving all the boats searching. Ahab, looking over his gunwale, saw the pale shadow growing in size from the depths. Moby surfaced right beneath his boat, grabbing it with his jaws! Madman Ahab clutched the lower jaw, but Moby crushed the boat with his maw, sending all its crew flying before he submerged again. We collected all the floating men, all but Fedallah, Ahab’s prophet, lost. 

On the third day, Moby was there again. The remaining boats lowered, Ahab’s and Starbuck’s, but the first mate’s was soon toppled and staved in by Moby’s brow. Ahab yelled for them to quickly repair the mate’s boat on the Pequod’s deck, and the three harpooneers to mount the masts to be on lookout. Perhaps it was the hammerings for the repairs that brought what happened next. I had heard from Stubb, the tales of bull whales being maddened by the poundings on a whaler’s deck, so sensitive their hearing.

Begin vamp- m.84-85, only pno. bass, drums 

It was the stab of Ahab’s malevolent harpoon that spurred Moby’s malevolence in return. Blindly careening, Moby retreated a distance, and then began to rush the boat, fulfilling Ahab’s dark destiny. 

Continues from pickups to letter E – Ishmael singing, stop after beat 2 in m. 109.

ISHMAEL

AND ON CAME MOBY DICK TO SMITE THEM WITH HIS HEAD.

DOWN WOULD GO THE SHIP WITH ALL THE MEN IN DREAD.

CHORUS

WITH HIS HEAD. ALL IN DREAD.

AHAB

THE SHIP SHE WILL NOT LAST.

DOWN ENDLESS STAIRS TOO FAST.

“NOW MY TOPMOST GREATNESS LIES IN TOPMOST GRIEF.”

MOBY

MY LIFE,

MY OCEAN

ALL MY DEEPNESS STAYS INSIDE

AHAB

AH!  AH.————