Selections From Paul McCartney's Liverpool Oratorio lyrics

Movement I - War

BOY SOLO
Non nobis solum
Sed toti mundo nati,
Toti mundo nati.

BOYS' CHOIR
Non nobis solum
Sed toti mundo nati.

CHORUS
(Ah), Ah

SHANTY
The air raid siren slices through
A night in 1942.
A couple sheltering in the gloom
Know all too well this waiting room
For often they have in the past
Been huddled close against the blast
Of doodle bugs and bombs galore,

Movement II - School

BOYS
We're here in school today to get a perfect education,
Yes, we're going up.
We're keen to learn the rules and laws that civilization taught us
Yes, we're growing up.
Not for ourselves, B
but for the whole world were we born.
And we were born in Liverpool.
Our teachers say that ignorance will always drag us down,
It's like a nagging cough.

Movement III - Crypt

SHANTY
And so it was that I had grown
Into a youth uncertain, thrown
Amongst the lions and the lambs.
To pass the time we watched the children dance.
I used to come here when this place was a crypt.
Now the music plays.
Oh don't you sometimes wish they'd stick to the script
As the local preacher says.

Rain from heaven will blessings bring,

Movement IV - Father

CHORUS (mourners)
Father, Father.
Father, Father.
CHIEF MOURNER
O Father, you have given
Time to your children.
You will look after
Those in your care.

WOMEN'S CHORUS (mourners)
We beg you
Look after us.
Father, Father.

CHIEF MOURNER
Father.

WOMEN'S CHORUS
Into the future,
In ever-growing circles,

CHIEF MOURNER
You will be there,

Movement V - Wedding

SHANTY
I know I should be glad of this
For to be thankful is
To know.
I hope
That you will still be here,
The time is drawing near
For us to know.

MARY DEE (no longer as a ghost)
I'll always be here
As long as you've got time for me.
Whether it's joy or sadness,
It doesn't matter
As long as you have time for me,
We will be together.

SHANTY

Movement VI - Work

(Mary Dee's Office)
WOMEN'S CHORUS (office staff)
Working women at the top,
Will it ever stop?
Papers piling up and up.
Days go by like Monday, Tuesday:
Work until we drop!
All the time looking great,
Running late,
In a state, losing weight,
Running late again
And again.

MARY DEE
Let me have the letter that you typed up yesterday.

Movement VII - Crises

(Mary Dee and Shanty's home)
MARY DEE (alone in bedroom)
The world you're coming into,
Is no easy place to enter.
Every day is haunted
By the echoes of the past.
Funny thoughts and wild; wild dreams
Will find their way into your mind.

The clouds that hang above us,
May be full of rain and thunder.
But in time they slide away
To find the sun still there.

Movement VIII - Peace

SHANTY
And so it was that you were born
Into this world one winter morning,
With a childish innocence you smiled at me
And I was born again.
BOY SOLO
Non nobis solum
Sed toti mundo

BOYS' CHOIR
Nati,
Mundo nati.

BOY SOLO
Toti mundo nati.

MEN'S CHORUS
God is good
And He will be our savior,
All we need
Is in His power to give us.