The Spirit of Allah
a musical about Ruhollah Khomeini and the Iranian Revolution
Posted by Jew from Jersey
15 July 2003
Scene2. “In old Iran”
clergy, monarchy, peasants, townspeople, students[The stage is as before. Almost the entire cast, except the Americans and Iraqis, are on stage, sorted into their various groups. Each group does a song and dance number in and around their traditional milieu. All join together for the chorus.]
- Chorus: In old Iran, in old Iran, we have a way to get things done
- Toil through day and starve at night, the king protects us with his might
- The mullahs pray to save our souls and so to them our money goes
- Life is brutish, short, and cruel, but everybody knows the rules
- And if your life is cold and dry, maybe things will get better when you die
- There is no Persian word for fun, in old Iran that’s how it’s done.
- Courtiers: Who rules what there is to rule anymore
- And makes us look scary to the countries next door?
- He’s a little bit young and a little bit pale
- And he looks like he’s got a permanent ingrown toenail
- But he is the monarch, appointed by divine power
- Or maybe it was Britain and Eisenhower
- Chorus: In old Iran, etc.
- Mullahs: Who marries you, buries you, prays for your souls?
- Who teaches you to obey your roles?
- We need your money and your land
- So our dear institution won’t collapse like sand
[Music switches briefly to “Fiddler on the roof”.]
- Chorus: The mullahs, the mullahs! Tradition, the mullahs!
- Chorus: In old Iran, etc.
- Peasants: Who ploughs and plants and harvests the fields
- And barely ever eats a square meal?
- Townsfolk: Who buys and sells and trades and loans
- And lives in second-rate homes?
- Students: Who goes to France seeking higher education
- And comes back steeped in Marxist indoctrination?
- Chorus: In old Iran, etc.
- In gay... old... Irrrrrrraaaaaaaaannnnnn!
[All bow. Curtain falls.]