The Songs

As those who have seen Vinegar Tom know, the show features songs performed by characters in contemporary dress. These songs are meant to depict contemporary women's attitudes towards the events happening in the play, and are quite powerful both musically and lyrically!

Caryl Churchill wrote the songs into the play, with the intention of giving "real," modern women a voice onstage as the fictional, 17th-century scenes unfold. Helen Glavin wrote the music for the original, 1976 production of Vinegar Tom. For our own production, director Peter Larlham enlisted the talented Thomas Hodges to compose the music. Thomas performs with the singers in the show, both vocally and on keyboard (his biography can be found on the "Designers and Production Team" bio page).

As anyone involved in the show can attest, the songs add a strong emotional element to each performance. The songs are also very catchy: several production team members and non-singing actors have confessed to singing along with the show's music, both in and out of the theatre (while driving, in the shower, everywhere)!

The lyrics to the songs as they appear printed in the script are listed below. All are written by Caryl Churchill, published in Churchill Plays: One. Methuen: 1985.

Nobody Sings
I woke up in the morning,
Blood was on the sheet,
I looked at all the women,
When I passed them in the street.
Nobody sings about it
But it happens all the time.

I met an old old woman
Who made my blood run cold.
You don't stop wanting sex, she said,
Just because you're old.
Oh nobody sings about it,
but it happens all the time.

I could be glad of the change of life,
But it makes me feel so strange.
If your life is being wanted
Do you want your life to change?

Oh nobody sings about it,
but it happens all the time.

Do you want your skin to wrinkle
And your cunt get sore and dry?
And they say it's just your hormones
If you cry and cry and cry.
Oh nobody sings about it,
but it happens all the time.

Nobody ever saw me,
She whispered in a rage.
They were blinded by my beauty, now
They're blinded by my age.

Oh nobody sings about it,
but it happens all the time.

Oh Doctor
Oh, doctor, tell
me, make me well.
What's wrong with me
the way I am?
I know I'm sad.
I may be sick.
I may be bad.
Please cure me quick,
oh doctor.

Where are you taking my skin?
Where are you putting my bones?
I shut my eyes and I opened wide,
But why is my heart on the other side?
Why are you putting my brain in my cunt?
You're putting me back all back to front.

Stop looking up me with your metal eye.
Stop cutting me apart before I die.
Stop, put me back.
Stop, put me back.
Put back my body.

Who are you giving my womb?
Who are you showing my breath?
Tell me what you whisper to nurse,
Whatever I've got, you're making it worse.
I'm wide awake, but I still can't shout.
Why can't I see what you're taking out?

Stop looking up me with your metal eye.
Stop cutting me apart before I die.
Stop, put me back.
Stop, put me back.
Put back my body.

Oh, doctor, tell
me, make me well.
What's wrong with me
the way I am?
I know I'm sad.
I may be sick.
I may be bad.
Please cure me quick,
oh doctor,
What's wrong with me the way I am?
What's wrong with me?
I want to see myself.
I want to see inside myself.
Give me back my head.
I'll put my heart in straight.
Let me out of bed now.
I can't wait
To see myself.
Give me back my body.
I can see myself.
Give me back my body.
I can see myself.

Something to Burn
What can we do, there's nothing to do,
about sickness and hunger and dying.
What can we do, there's nothing to do,
nothing but cursing and crying.
Find something to burn.
Let it go up in smoke.
Burn your troubles away.

Sometimes it's witches, or what will you choose?
Sometimes it's lunatics, shut them away.
It's blacks and it's women and often it's Jews.
We'd all be quite happy if they'd go away.

Find something to burn.
Let it go up in smoke.
Burn your troubles away.

If Everybody Worked as Hard as Me
If everybody worked as hard as me,
if our children's shirts are white,
if their language is polite,
if nobody stays out late at night,
Oh, happy family.
Oh, the country's what it is because
the family's what it is because
the wife is what she is
to her man.
Oh I do all I can.
Yes, I do all I can.
I try to do what's right,
so I'll never be alone and afraid in the night.
And nobody comes knocking at my door in the night.
The horrors that are done will not be done to me.

Nobody loves a scold,
nobody loves a slut,
nobody loves you when you're old,
unless you're someone's gran.
Nobody loves you
unless you keep your mouth shut.
Nobody loves you
if you don't support your man.
Oh you can,
oh you can
have a happy family.

If everybody worked as hard as me,
sometimes you'll be bored,
you'll often be ignored,
but in your heart you'll know you are adored.
Oh, happy family.
Your dreams will come true.
You'll make your country strong.

Oh, the country's what it is because
the family's what it is because
the wife is what she is
to her man.
Oh please do all you can.
Yes, please do all you can
Oh, please don't do what's wrong,
so you'll never be alone and afraid in the night.
So nobody comes knocking at your door in the night.
So the horrors that are done will not be done to you.

Yes you can.
Yes you can.

Oh, the country's what it is because
the family's what it is because
the wife is what she is
to her man.

If You Float
If you float you're a witch.
If you scream you're a witch
If you sink, then you're dead anyway.
If you cure you're a witch
Or impure you're a witch
Whatever you do, you must pay.
Fingers are pointed, a knock at the door,
You may be a mother, a child or a whore.
If you complain you're a witch
Or you're lame you're a witch
Any marks or deviations count for more.
Got big tits you're a witch
Fall to bits you're a witch
He likes them young, concupiscent and poor.
Finers are pointed, a knock at the door,
They're coming to get you, do you know what for?
So don't drop a stitch
My poor little bitch
If you're making a spell
Do it well
Deny it you're bad
Admit it you're mad
Say nothing at all
They'll damn you to hell.

Lament for the Witches
Where have the witches gone?
Who are the witches now?
Here we are.

All the good witches' spells
blast the doctors' sleeping pills.
The witches hanging in the sky
haunt the courts where lawyers lie.
Here we are.

They were gentle witches
with healing spells
They were desperate witches
with no way out but the other side of hell.

A witch's crying in the night
switches out your children's light.
All your houses safe and warm
are struck at by the witches' storm.
Here we are.

Where have the witches gone?
Who are the witches now?
Here we are.

They were gentle witches
with healing spells.
They were desperate witches
with no way out but the other side of hell.

Look in the mirror tonight.
Would they have hanged you then?
Ask how they're stopping you now.

Where have the witches gone?
Who are the witches now?
Ask how they're stopping you now.
Here we are.

Evil Women
Evil women
Is that what you want?
Is that what you want to see?
On the movie screen
Of your own wet dream
Evil women.

If you like sex sinful, what you want is us.
You can be sucked off by a succubus.
We had this man, and afterwards he died.

Does she do what she's told or does she nag?
Are you cornered in the kitchen by a bitching hag?
Satan's lady, Satan's pride.
Satan's baby, Satan's bride,
A devil woman's not easily satisfied.

Do you ever get afraid
You don't do it right?
Does your lady demand it
Three times a night?
If we don't say you're big
Do you start to shrink?
We earn our own money
And buy our own drink.

Did you learn you were dirty boys, did you learn
Women were wicked to make you burn?

Satan's lady, Satan's pride,
Satan's baby, Satan's bride,
Witches were wicked and had to burn.

Evil women
Is that what you want?
Is that what you want to see?
In your movie dream
Do they scream and scream?
Evil women
Evil women
Women.