John Kander
My Own Music
[JESSE, spoken]
I'm gonna walk onto that band-stand with my Selmer B-Flat bell-trumpet, just like Louis Armstrong! And when people hear me blow, they're gonna start dancin'! Ha-ha! I'm gonna show all those people who said "I was a nobody in that chaise" or "nobody in the army" or "nobody in the kitchen", that I am somebody!

[JESSE, sung]
I hear my own, music
I sing the worst to my own song
And if someone don't like it
Or somebody thinks that's wrong
Well, do-do-do-do-do, do-do-do-do-do

I draw my own pictures
I see the world through my own eyes
And if someone don't buy it
Or just wants to criticize
Well, do-do-do-do-do, do-do-do-do-do

Nobody knows what's going on in my soul
Or what's going on inside my brain
Nobody knows just where I've been or where I'm going
So just listen to me now and I'll try to explain

I play my own, solo
My fingers know where the song goes
And when the music's swinin'
And all the world starts singin'
And something that was only inside of me grows
Well, do-do-do-do-do, do-do-do-do-do
[JESSE, spoken]
Well, what about you kid?

[MATEO, spoken]
My name is Mateo Diaz. You see "lemon meringue pie", but I see "tarta de merengue de limón". Jazz on top, Cuban on the bottom, Hey! ..Same music diff'rent accents!

[MATEO, JESSE & BOTH, sung]
Nobody knows what's going on in my soul
Or what's going on inside my brain
Nobody knows just where I've been or where I'm going
So just listen to me now and I'll try (And I'll try)
To explain!
(Do-do-do-do-do, do-do-do-do-do)
(Do-do-do-do-do, do-do-do-do, do!)
Hey!

[MATEO & JESSE]
I burn my own bridges!
I tell my own stories!
I pull my own punches!
I bring my own flavours!

[WOMEN]
I dance my own tango!

[MADAME VELTRI]
I bite the big apple!
[COMPANY]
I know just how my own song goes!

[COMPANY & JESSE]
I let the music swing (Yeah!)
And all the world starts singin' (Singin'!)
And all the spotlight shine on this path that I chose

[JESSE & MATEO]
Well, do-do-do-do-do

[WOMEN]
Do-do-do-do-do

[JESSE & MATEO]
Do-do-do-do-do

[COMPANY]
Do-do-do-do-do
Why should I dance with someone else's song?

[JESSE & MATEO]
When I can make my own music my whole life, life!

[WOMEN]
(Do-do-do-do-do, do-do-do-do-do)
(All night long!)