Stephen Schwartz
Rest and Recreation
[PHOEBUS]
Four years at the front
Give a man a zest
For a little rest
And recreation
For the chance to hunt
For the spiciest
In the way of rest
And recreation

Give me your girls of pleasure
Your grapes of Merlot
Show me your wares and measure
One large sample
Sample them at my leisure;
This three-day furlough
Should be ample!

I have born the brunt
Of a soldier's test
Now I've made my way
Where I get to play
At rest and recrea-

Four years at the front
Four years at the front
[SOLDIER'S VOICES]
Cannon fodder lying in the field below the castle
Is this the third week or the fourth week of the siege?
The air filled with a stench of bodies in a trench
Whoever pays the most I call 'My Liege'

Summoned here to Paris now
I'm far away from battle
From clotting blood and rotting wounds
Of dead and dying men

[PHOEBUS, SOLDIER'S VOICES]
And whatever I do
I'll make sure this is true

[PHOEBUS]
I will never go back again!

Darling, to be blunt
You are with the best
That's why I've been blessed
With this promotion
I've been working hard;
Now I'm gonna be
Captain of the Guard
Ain't that a notion?
Like other true knights
I've got ambition
But for a few nights
Fun is my mission!
So what do you say?
Care to share a day
Of rest and recreation?

[FROLLO, spoken]
Captain, welcome to the Cathedral Guard

[PHOEBUS, spoken]
I'm grateful for the opportunity to serve you, my Lord

[FROLLO, spoken]
Your early arrival is most auspicious. The pestilence of these gypsies grows more dangerous every day

(sung)
Captain, you and I
Have a task we share
Stopping them and their
Proliferation

[FROLLO, PHOEBUS]
Paris looks to us To us
To rid her streets of crime To rid her streets
This is war and thus Of crime
[BOTH]
There is no time for
Rest and recreation!