(Lyrics to the songs Cupid & Death I and Cupid & Death II by Tony Wakeford)
The first song is composed of passages from the masque
Cupid and Death, by James Shirley. Wikipedia's summary of the play sheds some light to the lyrics: "In the tale and in Shirley's retelling, Death and Cupid accidentally
exchange their arrows and cause chaos as a result. Cupid shoots
potential lovers and inadvertently kills them. Death shoots at elderly
people whose time of passing has come, and strikes them ardent instead"
Some words and sentences in Wakeford's lyrics are a bit different from the original text of the play (I used
this site as the text source).
The second song's lyrics are original, as far as I know. I couldn't find the lyrics to that on the web, only some pieces of the song used in forum signatures from years ago. So decided to transcribe it and put it on the web; there might be a few errors in that one.
Cupid & Death I
Though little be the God
of Love,
Yet his arrows mighty are,
And his victories above
What the valiant reach by war;
Nor are his limits with the sky;
O’er the milky way he’ll fly,
And sometimes wound a Deity.
Apollo once the Python slew,
But a keener arrow flew
From Daphne’s eye, and made a wound,
For which the God no balsam found.
A smile of Venus that did
more
On Mars, than armies could before;
Thus love can fiery
spirits tame,
And when he pleases, cold Rocks inflame.
Victorious men on Earth,
no more
Proclaim how wide your empires are;
And though you bind in every shore,
And your triumphs reach as far
As night or day,
Yet you proud monarchs
must obey,
And mingle with forgotten ashes, when
Death calls ye to the crowd of common men.
Devouring famine, plague,
and war,
Each able to undo mankind,
Death’s servile emissaries are;
Nor to these alone confined.
He has at will
More quaint and subtle ways to kill;
A smile, or kiss, he will use the Art,
Shall have the cunning skill to break a heart.
Stay, Cupid, where are you
flying?
Pity the pale lovers dying;
They that honoured thee before,
Will honour thee no more
At thy altar pay their
vows.
O let the weeping virgins
strow,
Instead of rose and myrtle boughs,
Sad yew and funeral cypress now.
Unkind Cupid, leave thy
killing,
These are all thy mother’s doves;
Oh do not wound such
noble loves,
And make them bleed that should be billing.
What will it, Death,
advance thy name
Upon cold rocks to waste a flame,
Or by mistake it seems to throw
Bright torches into pits of snow?
Thy rage is lost,
And thy old killing frost.
With thy arrows thou mayest try
To make the young or aged bleed,
But indeed
Not compel one heart to die.
O Love! O Death! be it
your fate,
Before you both repent too late,
To meet and try
Upon yourselves your sad artillery.
(x2)
So Death may make Love
kind again,
Or cruel Death by Love be slain.
(x4)
Cupid and Death II
Let Cupid love, let Cupid sing
For at the end Death always wins
Let Cupid love, let Cupid sing
For at the end Death always wins
Not all will love, but all will die
Not all will love, but all will die
Not all will love, but all will die
Not all will love, but all will die
If Cupid and Death should compete
Who would break hearts the least?
From summer sun to winter moon
Our time passed us so soon
The closing heart and the opening door
After love and death, who next will call?
Cupid and Death
Cupid and Death
Hell returns to my head
When symbols wake that should stay dead
When thy love is gone, with banners raised
Only your love has hoped to save
But hell returns to my head
When symbols wake that should stay dead
When thy love is gone, with banners raised
Only love has hoped to save
Cupid and Death
Cupid and Death