"Chant" lyrics - ANAIS MITCHELL

[WORKERS]
Low, keep your head, keep your head low
Oh, you gotta keep your head low
If you wanna keep your head
Oh, you gotta keep your head low
Keep your head, keep your head low
Oh, you gotta keep your head low
If you wanna keep your head
Oh, you gotta keep your head

[PERSEPHONE]
In the coldest time of year
Why is it so hot down here?
Hotter than a crucible
It ain't right and it ain't natural

[HADES]
Lover, you were gone so long
Lover, I was lonesome
So I built a foundry
In the ground beneath your feet
Here, I fashioned things of steel
Oil drums and automobiles
Then I kept that furnace fed
With the fossils of the dead
Lover, when you feel that fire
Think of it as my desire
Think of it as my desire for you!

[ORPHEUS(WORKERS)]
La la la la
La la la la la
La la, la la
La la la la la la la la la la la
La la la la la la
La la
La la la la la la
La la la la la la
La la la la la la

[WORKERS & (ORPHEUS)]
Low, keep your head, keep your head low (La la la la la la la...)
Oh, you gotta keep your head low
If you wanna keep your head (La la la la la la la...)
Oh, you gotta keep your head low (La la la la la la la...)
Keep your head, keep your head low
Oh, you gotta keep your head low (La la la la la la la...)
If you wanna keep your head

[EURYIDICE & (HERMES), spoken (during previous stanza)]
Is it finished?
(Not yet.)
Is he always like this?

[EURYDICE and (FATES)]
Looking high and looking low
For the food and firewood I know
We need to find and I am
Keeping one eye on the sky and
Tryin' to trust that the song he's working on is gonna
(Oooooh)
Shelter us (Oooooh)
From the wind, the wind, the wind (Oooooh)

[PERSEPHONE]
In the darkest time of year
Why is it so bright down here?
Brighter than a carnival
It ain't right and it ain't natural

[HADES]
Lover, you were gone so long
Lover, I was lonesome
So I laid a power grid
In the ground on which you stood
And wasn't it electrifying
When I made the neon shine!
Silver screen, cathode ray
Brighter than the light of day
Lover, when you see that glare
Think of it as my despair
Think of it as my despair for you!

[ORPHEUS]
They can't find the tune

[HERMES, spoken]
Orpheus!

[ORPHEUS]
They can't feel the rhythm

[HERMES, spoken]
Orpheus!

[ORPHEUS]
King Hades is deafened by a river of stone

[HERMES, spoken]
Poor boy working on a song

[ORPHEUS]
And Lady Persephone's blinded by a river of wine
Livin' in an oblivion

[HERMES, spoken]
He did not see the storm coming on

[ORPHEUS and (FATES)]
His black gold flows (Oooooh)
In the world down below (Oooooh)
And her dark clouds roll in the one up above

[HERMES, spoken]
Look up!

[COMPANY]
Keep your head low

[ORPHEUS]
And that is the reason we're on this road
And the seasons are wrong
And the wind is so strong
That's why times are so hard
It's because of the gods
The gods have forgotten the song of their love

Singing la la la la la la...

[COMPANY and (ORPHEUS)]
Low, keep your head, keep your head low
Oh, you gotta keep your head low
If you wanna keep your head (La la la la la la la...)
Oh, you gotta keep your head low
Keep your head, keep your head low (La la la la la la la...)
Oh, you gotta keep your head low
If you wanna keep your head (La la la la la la)

[EURYDICE]
Lookin' low and lookin' high

[FATE]
There is no food left to find

[FATE]
It's hard enough to feed yourself

[FATE]
Let alone somebody else

[EURYDICE]
I'm trying to believe
That the song he's working on
Is gonna harbor me from

[EURYDICE and FATES]
The wind, the wind, the wind

[HERMES, spoken]
Eurydice was a hungry young girl

[EURYDICE, spoken]
Give that back!

[HERMES, spoken]
She was no stranger to the wind

[EURYDICE, spoken]
It's everything we have!

[HERMES, spoken]
But she had not seen nothing

[EURYDICE]
Orpheus!

[HERMES, spoken]
Like the mighty storm she got caught in

[EURYDICE]

[Spoken:]
Orpheus!

[Sung:]
Shelter us!

[HERMES, spoken]
Only took a minute

[EURYDICE]
Harbor me!

[HERMES, spoken]
But the wrath of the gods was in it

[PERSEPHONE]
Every year, it's getting worse
Hadestown, hell on Earth!
Did you think I'd be impressed
With this neon necropolis?
Lover, what have you become?
Coal cars and oil drums
Warehouse walls and factory floors
I don't know you anymore
And in the meantime up above
The harvest dies and people starve
Oceans rise and overflow
It ain't right and it ain't natural

[HADES]
Lover, everything I do
I do it for the love of you
If you don't even want my love
I'll give it to someone who does
Someone grateful for her fate
Someone who appreciates
The comforts of a gilded cage
And doesn't try to fly away
The moment Mother Nature calls
Someone who could love these walls
That hold her close and keep her safe
And think of them as my embrace

[ORPHEUS and (COMPANY)]
Singing la la la la la la la... (Low, keep your head, keep your head low)

[EURYDICE]
Shelter us

[HADES]
Think of them as my embrace

[ORPHEUS and (COMPANY)]
La la la la la la la... (Low, keep your head, keep your head)

[EURYDICE]
Harbor me

[HADES]
Think of them as my embrace
Of you