Stravinsky: The Rake's Progress / Act III / Epilogue - "Good People, Just a Moment" - Deborah York, Anne Sofie von Otter, Ian Bostridge

Good people, just a moment

Though our story now is ended

There’s the moral to draw

From what you saw

Since the curtain first ascended

Not every rake is rescued

At the last by Love and Beauty

Not every man

Is given an Anne

To take the place of Duty

Let Baba warn the ladies:

You will find out soon or later

That, good or bad

All men are mad

All they say or do is theater

Beware, young men who fancy

You are Virgil or Julius Caesar

Lest when you wake

You be only a rake

I heartily agree, sir!

Day in, day out, poor Shadow

Must do as he is bidden

Many insist

I do not exist

At times I wish I didn’t

So let us sing as one

At all times in all lands

Beneath the moon and sun

This proverb has proved true

Since Eve went out with Adam

For idle hands

And hearts and minds

The Devil finds

A work to do

A work, dear sir, fair madam

For you and you