Put On Your Costume

I spent this evening listening to excerpts from the first recording in history to have sold one million copies.

It came out in 1907. That year, Rudyard Kipling won the Nobel Prize. The first taxicabs began operating in London and NYC. It was two years before construction would begin on the Titanic.The Cubs actually won a World Series. The automatic washer and dryer were first introduced. My great-grandmother was three years old, and she didn't die until I was in college.

I was supposed to have spent this evening writing a fundraising piece for a certain non-profit, but somehow...I got distracted. Now I just need to force myself to put on my writing hat.


Vesti La Guibba, translated lyrics:

Act! While in delirium,
I no longer know what I say,
or what I do!
And yet it's necessary... make an effort!
Bah! Are you not a man?
You are a clown!

Put on your costume,
powder your face.
The people pay to be here, and they want to laugh.
And if Harlequin shall steal your Columbina,
laugh, clown, so the crowd will cheer!
Turn your distress and tears into jest,
your pain and sobbing into a funny face – Ah!

Laugh, clown,
at your broken love!
Laugh at the grief that poisons your heart!