Body Ode
For Soprano, Tenor, Bass & Glass Eater
Music by Gerald Busby
Words by Craig Lucas

From a Gerald Busby concert live at Weill Recital Hall, New York City

The nose is a nice place to be
When someone is mowing the grass.
The eyes are a nice place to be
When someone is wiggling their ass.

The fingers: Velvet.
The eardrums: Waves.
Tastebuds: Sherry.
The penis: Slaves.

The body is a nice place to be.
Alive is better than not.
The body is a nice place to see
What's not.

The toes are a nice place to be
When someone is tickling your feet.
Inside is a great place to be
When outside is sleet.

(glass eater bites into light bulb, crunches light bulb, eats light bulb, swallows light bulb, picks his teeth)

The mouth is a good place to be
When cheese and crackers are passed.
The heart is a grand place to be
When springtime arrives at last.

(glass eater hammers steel spike into his nose)

There is no joy without shame.
There is no right without wrong.
There is no good without blame.
There is no dark without light.

(glass eater starts to inflate red rubber hot water bottle)

No up without down, no cold without hot
No smile without frown, no will without "not."
There is no peace without strife, no "no" without "yes."
There is no death without life.

(red rubber hot water bottle explodes)

Just emptiness. Pure emptiness. Great emptiness.

Gerald Busby is best known for his film score for Robert Altman's 3 Women, and the dance score for Paul Taylor's Runes. He's written more than two hundred concert works, and his music has been performed and recorded on the EMI, EROICA, NONESUCH, and INNOVA labels. With playwright Craig Lucas, he wrote the opera Orpheus in Love. Gerald Busby lives and composes at the Chelsea Hotel in New York City.

Craig Lucas' plays include Missing Persons, Blue Window, Reckless, Prelude to a Kiss, God's Heart, The Dying Gaul, Stranger, Small Tragedy and The Singing Forest. Screenplays include Longtime Companion, The Secret Lives of Dentists, Prelude to a Kiss, Reckless and The Dying Gaul, which he also directed. Lucas wrote the book for The Light in the Piazza, music and lyrics by Adam Guettel.