From the recording Hu-Man: A Choral Autobiography
Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens
Music by Stephen Flaherty
Soloist: Jeremy Ritz-Totten
from the musical "My Favorite Year"
Choral Arrangement by Vince Peterson
Lyrics
Uncle Morty used to send me to the movies
"Here's a nickel kid, cheer up and go."
And though I was only seven,
I discovered heaven
at the R.K.O.
Blue Lights,
Pink Lights,
Stars in the ceiling,
An organ as big as a buick,
And a screen as tall as the Great Wall of China,
Red Rugs, Gold Stairs,
Porcelain Angels,
And everything bigger, and better, and larger than life!
*See at first, I was strictly a western man,
But then, one Saturday afternoon, I saw "Defender of the Crown," Warner Brothers 1941 Technicolor, starring Alan Swan.*
Daring, Loyal, Kind, but Courageous
A hero as big as a Buick,
With a cape a sword and a bevy of maidens,
He was movies, Me? I was seven.
And gee, he was bigger, and better, and larger than life!
See life wasn't capes or flashing swords or parapets,
Life wasn't Alan Swan or Robin Hood,
Life was your father going out for cigarettes,
And deciding he was going out for good.
"Here's a nickel kid, cheer up and go," Swann is playing at the R.K.O.
Daring, Loyal, Kind, but Courageous,
A hero as big as I needed,
In the Technicolor embrace of a maiden,
Swan my hero, and possible father?
He stood, and he fought, and he never ran,
Oh no,
He was bigger,
And better,
And larger than life,
And he lived for me
At the R.K.O.