[C.C., spoken]
Effie? Curtis was supposed to--

[EFFIE, spoken]
Love me! Curtis was supposed to love me!

[CURTIS, spoken]
There you are, Effie. I've been looking all over

[EFFIE]
I turn my back and find myself out on the line
You could've warned me but that would've been too kind

[CURTIS]
I've been warning you for months to clean up your act
You've been late, you've been mean
Giving all kinds of bullshit flack

[EFFIE]
That's a lie! That's a lie!
It's just I haven't been feeling that well

[CURTIS]
Effie, please, stop excusing yourself
You've been late, you've been mean
And getting fatter all the time
[EFFIE]
Now you lying, you lying
I've never been so thin
You lying, you lying
'Cause you knocking off that piece who thinks she's better than everybody
She ain't better than anybody
She ain't nothing but common

[DEENA]
Now who you calling common, you self-indulgent
Self-absorbed non-professional?

[EFFIE]
You! I'm calling you!
I'm calling you the common piece he's knocking off

[DEENA]
Now you listen to me, Miss Blame-It-on-the-World
See, I've put up with you for much too long
I have put up with your bitching
I've put up with your nagging
And all your screaming too!

[LORELL]
Oh, now, when are you two gonna stop all this fighting?
[EFFIE, spoken]
Stay out of this, Lorell, this is between Deena and me!

[LORELL]
Yeah, well, it's between me too
I'm as much a part of this group as anybody else
And I'm tired
Effie, I'm tired!
Of all the problems you're making us

[EFFIE]
I always knew you two were together

[LORELL, spoken]
What?!

[EFFIE]
I always knew you two were ganging up on me!

[DEENA]
She had nothing to do with this change
It was you! It was you always thinking of you
Always thinking of you!

[CURTIS]
I knew you were trouble from the start
[EFFIE, spoken]
Trouble?

[CURTIS]
You were real bad trouble from the start

[EFFIE, spoken]
Curtis, I'm your woman

[CURTIS]
But you're getting out now
I'm not building this group to have you tear it apart
Go 'head and rant and scream and shout!
Don't worry, baby, I'll buy you out

[EFFIE, spoken]
There's no money dirty enough to buy me out! You remember that, Curtis!

[C.C.]
Lay off, Effie!
Just take the money and run

[EFFIE, spoken]
You in this with them, C.C.?

[C.C.]
Cool it, Effie
This time you know what you've done

[EFFIE, spoken]
So they bought your black ass too, huh?

[C.C.]
I said cool it, Effie!
This time you've gone too far!

[EFFIE, spoken]
Oh, I can go further, I can go further

[MICHELLE]
I don't wanna stay around this
I'm just breaking into this business
This is between all of you
This is none of my affair

[EFFIE]
Yeah, well, it's between you too now, li'l sister
This snow job is as much your sin
Look at me! Look at me!
How much did you put out to get in?

[MICHELLE]
Now you watch your mouth
Watch your mouth, Ms. Effie White!
'Cause I don't take that talk from no second-rate diva
Who can't sustain!

[EFFIE]
I'm not feeling well
I got pain

[ALL except EFFIE]
Effie, we all got pain

[EFFIE]
Oh, for seven years, I sung with you
I was your sister

[ALL except EFFIE]
You were our trouble

[EFFIE]
And now you're telling me it's all over?

[ALL except EFFIE]
And now we're telling you it's all over

[EFFIE]
And now I'm telling you I ain't going

[ALL except EFFIE]
It's all over

[EFFIE]
I ain't going

[ALL except EFFIE]
It's all over