Текст песни The Yeomen of the Guard, Act I: "'Tis an odd freak" - Bryn Terfel feat. Jean Rigby, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields & Sir Neville Marriner

'Tis an odd freak for a dying man and his confessor
To be closeted alone with a strange singing girl
I would fain have espied them, but they stopped up the keyhole
My keyhole
Wilfred, and alone
Now, to get the keys from him
Wilfred?
Has no reprieve arrived?
None
I know that he who is about to die is more
To thee than I, who am alive and well
Why, that we're out of reason, dear Wilfred
Do they not say that a live ass is better than a dead lion?
Oh, they say that, do they?
It's unpardonably rude of them, but I believe they put it in that way
Mm
Not that it applies to thee- ...
Who art clever beyond all telling
Oh, truly, I have seen great resolution
Give way under my persuasive methods
In the nice regulation of a thumbscrew, in the hundredth part of a
Single revolution, lieth all the difference
Between stony reticence and a torrent of impulsive
And bosoming that the pen can scarcely follow
Thou art a most lighthearted and delightful companion, Master Wilfred
Mm
Thine anecdotes of the torture chamber are the prettiest hearing
I'm a pleasant fellow, and I choose...
I believe I am the merriest dog that barks
Ah, we might be passing happy together
Perhaps
I do not know
Oh, for thou wouldst make a most tender and loving wife
Aye, to one whom I really loved
Now, say that it is I
Oh
Nay, suppose it for the nonce
Say that we are wed
Suppose it, only
Say that thou art my very bride, and I thy cheery, joyous
Bright, frolicsome husband, and that the day's work being
Done, and the prisoners stored away for the night, thou and
I are alone together, with a long, long evening before us
It is a pretty picture, but I scarcely know
It cometh so unexpectedly
And yet, were I thy bride...
Aye, wert thou my bride