Original Broadway Cast of Ragtime: The Musical
He Wanted to Say
[YOUNGER BROTHER, spoken]
I... I... I want to... I know that if...

[EMMA GOLDMAN]
He wanted to say
I am here because I have to be
He wanted to say
I am here for what is right
Every day I wake up knowing
What you've lost and what is owing
I would shed this skin if I could
To stand with you and fight

He wanted to say

[YOUNGER BROTHER]
I am not who I appear to be

[EMMA GOLDMAN]
He wanted to say

[YOUNGER BROTHER]
Do not blame me for my past

[EMMA GOLDMAN & YOUNGER BROTHER]
We have different lives and faces
But our hearts have common places
This was deep inside me
And you helped me find it at last
[EMMA GOLDMAN]
Two men meeting
For a moment in the darkness

[COALHOUSE]
One turning from—

[YOUNGER BROTHER]
One waking to—

[EMMA GOLDMAN, YOUNGER BROTHER & COALHOUSE]
—America
Two men finding
For a moment in the darkness

[YOUNGER BROTHER & COALHOUSE]
They're the same

[EMMA GOLDMAN]
They're the same

[COALHOUSE'S MEN]
He wanted to say

[COALHOUSE]
How I envy you your innocence
[EMMA GOLDMAN & COALHOUSE'S MEN]
He wanted to say

[YOUNGER BROTHER]
By your side I could be brave
If there's such a thing as justice
Let me help you find your justice
This I do for you and for Sarah
Who lies in her grave

[EMMA GOLDMAN & COALHOUSE'S MEN]
But all he said was

[YOUNGER BROTHER, spoken]
I know how to blow things up. 

[EMMA GOLDMAN & COALHOUSE'S MEN]
Two men meeting
For a moment
In the darkness
For a moment
In the darkness