Original Broadway Cast of Next To Normal
Why Stay?/A Promise
[DIANA]
Why stay?
Why stay?
So steadfast and stolid
And stoic and solid
For day after every day
Why stay?
Why stay?
Why not simply give in and get on with living?
'Cause everyone knows you tried
But somehow something died
On the way
So tell me why you stay

[DIANA & NATALIE]
Why stay?
Why stay?
Enduring and coping and hurting and hoping
For day after fucking day
Why stay?
Why stay?
Why not simply end it?
We'd all comprehend it
And most of the world would say
"He's better off that way
To be free
And maybe so is she"
[DAN]
A promise a boy says forever
A boy says

[DAN & HENRY]
Whatever may come we'll come through
And who can know how when all I know now to be true
Is this promise that I make to you

[DAN]
A question, a boy wonders whether

[HENRY & DAN]
A boy wonders should I stay The two stay together the way that they stay
For year after year, for love or from fear Oh...
Either way Either way

[DAN]
That's the promise that I made that day

[HENRY]
Here's what I say

[DAN & HENRY]
To the girl who was burning so brightly
Like the light from Orion above
[DAN]
And still I will search for her nightly
If you see her, please send her my love
And the boy was a boy for all seasons

[HENRY]
The boy is long lost

[DAN]
That boy is long lost to me now

[HENRY]
So lost

[DAN & HENRY]
And the man has forgotten his reasons Forgotten his reasons
But the man still remembers his vow Now...

[DAN]
A promise, a man says forever
A man says I'll never regret or let you
The promise I made to stay and I stayed true
Knowing one day we'd remember that joy
You'd remember that girl, I'd remember that boy
'Til we do, the promise I made I'll make it brand new
The promise that I made to you