Victoria Clark
Topsy Turvy
[Crowd:]
Come one, come all!
Leave your looms and milking stools
Coop the hens and pen the mules
Come one, come all!
Close the churches and the schools
It's the day for breaking rules
Come and join the feast of...
[Clopin:]
Fools!
Once a year we throw a party here in town
Once a year we turn all Paris upside down
Ev'ry man's a king and ev'ry king's a clown
Once again it's Topsy Turvy Day
It's the day the devil in us gets released
It's the day we mock the prig and shock the priest
Ev'rything is topsy turvy at the Feast of Fools!
[Crowd:]
Topsy turvy!
[Clopin:]
Ev'rything is upsy daysy!
[Crowd:]
Topsy turvy!
[Clopin:]
Ev'ryone is acting crazy
Dross is gold and weeds are a bouquet
That's the way on Topsy Turvy Day
[All:]
Topsy Turvy!
[Clopin and Crowd:]
Beat the drums and blow the trumpets
[All:]
Topsy Turvy!
[Clopin and Crowd:]
Join the bums and thieves and strumpets
Streaming in from Chartres to Calais
[Clopin:]
Scurvy knaves are extra scurvy
On the sixth of "Januervy"
[Clopin and Crowd:]
All because it's Topy Turvy Day!
[Clopin:]
Come one, come all!
Hurry, hurry, here's your chance
See the myst'ry and romance
Come one, come all
See the finest girl in France
Make an entrance to entrance
Dance, la Esmeralda
Dance!
Here it is, the moment you've been waiting for
Here it is, you know exactly what's in store
Now's the time we laugh until our sides get sore
Now's the time we crown the King of Fools!
So make a face that's horrible and frightening
Make a face as gruesome as a gargoyle's wing
For the face that's ugliest will be the King of Fools!
Why?
[Crowd:]
Topsy turvy!
[Clopin:]
Ugly folk, forget your shyness
[Crowd:]
Topsy turvy!
[Clopin:]
You could soon be called Your Highness!
[Crowd:]
Put your foulest features on display
Be the king of Topsy Turvy Day!
[Clopin:]
Ev'rybody!
[Crowd:]
Once a year we throw a party here in town
[Clopin:]
Hail to the king!
[Crowd:]
Once a year we turn all Paris upside down
[Clopin:]
Oh, what a king!
[Crowd:]
Once a year, the ugliest will wear a crown
[Clopin:]
Girls, give a kiss
[Clopin and Crowd:]
Once a year on Topsy Turvy Day
[Clopin:]
We've never had a king like this
[Clopin and Crowd:]
And it's the day we do the things that we deplore
On the other three hundred and sixty-four
Once a year we love to drop in
Where the beer is never stoppin'
For the chance to pop some popinjay
And pick a king who'll put the "top" in
Topsy Turvy Day!
Mad and crazy, upsy-daisy, Topsy Turvy Day!