True

for soprano, choir [SATB], flute & piano [2002]

script: Peter Wesley-Smith
music: Martin Wesley-Smith

commissioned by the Canberra Gay & Lesbian Qwire

list of songs | libretto | first performance details | bottom

songs

True Love
White Picket Fences
We Thought We'd Lost You, Johnny
Feeling the Spirit
Homophobia
Gone
True to Myself
Love Sustains Us All

libretto

SONG:

sop & choir:

True Love

Love, we call it love, when first it calls your name
Unexpected, misdirected love, unperfected
But next time it comes easier, you learn the game
It's fun, you've won, contented love, invented
Until there comes a time you hear yourself exclaim
This is wonderful, this is magic, this is true love!

To the last we will hold fast
To true love
What a wonderful thing we sing of: love
True love

True Love | White Picket Fences | We Thought We'd Lost You, Johnny
Feeling the Spirit | Homophobia | Gone | True to Myself | Love Sustains Us All

SONG:
choir:
White Picket Fences
We're going back to the good old days
Mister Menzies dines in Yarralumla
And everywhere you can see lovely
White picket fences
Garden gnomes on guard
Red English roses
Holden in the yard
White beaming faces
With Brylcream in the hair
Roast lamb on Sundays
Wood smoke in the air
Our pearly white pearly white fences keep abos away
Fair heterosexuals to Providence pray
No darkies, dagoes, no reffos today
No pansy pinko poofter nancy boys or dykes (what are they?)
(Not in our) White, white Australia
Lawns are neatly mown
God's in his heaven
Betty's on the throne
(We're proud of our) White picket fences
Upholding social norms
(The bourgeoisie decree) You mustn't stick your head up
Everyone conforms
A land of creamy white pavlovas and red sunburnt necks
People don't even talk about less give oral sex
No garlic, wasabe, no sushi bar
And no girls who go to bed with raging dykes (is that what they are?)
How do they do it? (we dunno)
(So here's to) Fair dinkum fairness
Fair of face and hair
Blonde, bronzed Aussies
Advance Australia fair---ies
White collar workers
With white goods, pies and flies
White wash and whitewash
White lies, white lies, white lies ...

True Love | White Picket Fences | We Thought We'd Lost You, Johnny
Feeling the Spirit | Homophobia | Gone | True to Myself | Love Sustains Us All

SONG:
sop:
We Thought We'd Lost You, Johnny
We thought we'd lost you, Johnny
The day you went away
And moved in with another lad
A boy we knew was gay
A house with just one bedroom
A room with just one bed
Oh Johnny, we asked in our anguish
Why not a girlfriend instead?
We thought we'd lost you, Johnny
We thought you'd gone too far
We'd hoped our son was a man's man
And that's just what you are
We couldn't understand it
Good God! Why us? we'd pray
Oh Johnny, we asked in our anguish
What will the neighbours say?

choir: What will the neighbours say?
What will the neighbours say?
What will the neighbours
What will the neighbours
What will the neighbours say?

sop: We thought we'd lost you, Johnny
We thought we'd lost a son
But now we fondly realise
We've gained another one!
You slowly won us over
We understand your fate
Oh Johnny, we love you - but Jesus
We hope your sister's straight!

choir: We hope your sister's straight!
We hope your sister's straight!
We hope your sister
We hope your sister
We hope your sister's straight, mate!

sop (recit): Johnny is true to himself, his soul, his nature
Holding on firm, being free

True Love | White Picket Fences | We Thought We'd Lost You, Johnny
Feeling the Spirit | Homophobia | Gone | True to Myself | Love Sustains Us All

SONG:
sop (recit):
Feeling the Spirit
Imagine, if you will, the humiliation and the horror
Of being regarded like a citizen of Sodom and Gomorroh
Of being called an invert, a prevert, a transvert, extrovert, obvert, revert, subvert, and a walking talking advert
But ladies and gentlemen, I am incontrovertibly a convert
A convert to the Lord

choir: Hallelujah! God loves us all

sop (recit): They accuse me of suffering from a pathological condition
From which there appears to be no hope of anything like remission

choir: Thank God! Thank God! Thank God!

sop (recit): Being as it is a God-given orientation, and one of the few diseases which brings pleasure and relief
It is my firmly-held belief
That God made me exactly as I am, in every way
You might question her quality control procedures
But if God had intended me to be unhappy she would never have made me so gay

choir: Hallelujah! God loves us all!

sop: Do you think I don't have feelings, yes I have feelings
Feeling the spirit, deep in the heart
Praising the Saviour, playing our part
One voice, one chorus, all in accord
Kneeling in prayerfulness, loving the lord
We have feelings
Feeling the spirit, deep in the soul
Making us wholesome, making us whole
God loves all creatures, she gives us the call
Straights, gays and lesbians, God loves us all

choir: God loves us all, God loves us all
Read in the bible, God gave us breath
Free will and evil, life-force and death
Hell down below us, Heaven above
Tragedy, saintliness, loathing and love
Read in the bible, come to the lord
God's faithful servants earn their reward
Bishops assure us we're on our own
Utterly sinless they cast the first stone
Are they homophobic?
Well well well
space We face discrimination
Truth to tell
space We're still harassed and harried
Nonpareil
space We can't take communion
Bishop Pell
space Nor can we get married
All pell-mell
space IVF is denied us
Gives us hell
space Archbishops have decried us
So farewell
space The Church has crucified us
Bishop Pell
Where's that spirit? deep in your soul
Making you wholesome, making you whole
God loves all creatures, gives us the call
Straights, gays and lesbians, God loves us all
God loves us all

True Love | White Picket Fences | We Thought We'd Lost You, Johnny
Feeling the Spirit | Homophobia | Gone | True to Myself | Love Sustains Us All

SONG:
sop (recit):
Homophobia
Given that we're only a small proportion of the population
It's no wonder we've been persecuted by the authorities
And by society, just like other minorities
Though not any longer those represented by that arch Bishop Pell
Imagine being not just lesbian but a blackfella as well
We seem to get on alright with the heterosexual community
Even those who patronisingly are "conservatively tolerant" towards us
Straights are okay but I wouldn't let my daughter marry one
(Seriously, should she be afflicted with a heterosexual orientation
She must be true to herself)
But some non-gays appear to be still frightened of us
And therefore of themselves

choir: Homophobia
When all is said and done
Homophobia
Is really rather fun
You do not have to bear a grudge
To defame a woofy judge
You just never shrink
From raising a stink
In Senate - wink wink
Nudge nudge
Homophobia
You never dare relax
Homophobia
Don't vex us with the facts
For flamin' poofs are never done
From seducing everyone
A bleeding disgrace
They're right in your face
The straights have no place
To run
Heterophilia

soloist: Okay: feel ya feel ya feel ya, feely ME
Ev'ryone says what a lesbian heaven
You would have to be psycho
To sleep with a dyke - oh, oh no

choir: We attest we're so blest
And suggest we're the best
Of us all

soloist: I love my little darlin'
I give her a wonderful time
She feeds me, she needs me
But she has yet to discover
Her lover is possibly gay
Don't understand it, never planned it
I'm smitten, I'm bitten by love
I hope I'll soon get over it
And then all can see
A woman needs a man like me
A woman needs a man like me

choir: Like a hole in the head
Homophobia
We once knew where we stood
Homophobia
You know it feels so good!
Hey! I know where some woofters dwell
You can smell their wussy smell
We'll bash 'em up true
Some lesbians too
And then we'll get you
As well

sop: They're young, they're old
They're shy, they're bold
They're warm, they're cold
They're dim and astute
They're just like you
And me and you
And Janet too
Who's tootling the flute
True must be the love that dared not speak its name
Disreputed, involuted love, persecuted
It triumphed over ridicule, ill-will and shame
Repressed, unblessed, molested love, detested
A sense, a need, a touch that now can dare proclaim
This is nat'ral, this is freedom, this is true love

choir: People with homophobia
Are sick and in despair
Homophobia
Let's show them that we care
It's difficult, but hey!
Let's embrace a straight a day
Just give 'em a kiss
Like this
And suddenly they will feel so gay!

True Love | White Picket Fences | We Thought We'd Lost You, Johnny
Feeling the Spirit | Homophobia | Gone | True to Myself | Love Sustains Us All

SONG:
sop (recit):
Gone
One thing, as we've just heard, about being gay
Is that it's clearly a hazardous occupation
I'm not just talking about poofter bashings, police indifference
Discrimination by employers, or some such other tribulation
But HIV/AIDS in particular
We've lost so many friends and lovers

choir: Gone, so many friends and lovers, dead and gone
Agonizing, stigmatizing, gone: scandalizing
The sorrow and the bitterness go on and on
We grieve the dead but look ahead believing
We'll win, we'll overcome, we've crossed our Rubicon
With conviction, and courage, and with true love

True Love | White Picket Fences | We Thought We'd Lost You, Johnny
Feeling the Spirit | Homophobia | Gone | True to Myself | Love Sustains Us All

SONG:
sop & choir:
True to Myself
True to myself, my soul, my nature
Holding on firm, being free
True to myself, the self I was born with
Keeping my faith in me
Don't make me pretend to be who I'm not
Don't force me to live a lie
I'm standing up, reaching out, op'ning my heart
And looking the world in the eye
True to myself, to nobody else
Happy to just let it be
Confident, hopeful, beholden to no one
True to myself, just me
True to myself, my world, my people
True to my lovers and friends
True to my feelings of love and compassion
True to what love commends
No, no one can say my life is a sin
No, no one can dare condemn
I'm standing up, reaching out, baring my soul
And I'm just as worthy as them
True to myself, my creed, my karma
Honest to goodness, I'm free
True to my conscience, my duty, my freedom
True to myself, just me
True to ourselves, our love, our loved ones
True to each other in need
True to our goals, our hopes and convictions
True to the life we lead
We know what it's like being scorned and abused
Intolerance still survives
We're standing up, reaching out, answering back
And having the time of our lives
True to ourselves, our partners, our children
True to the end of our days
As victims and citizens, victors and lovers
True to ourselves all ways
No lies, no lies
True to ourselves always

True Love | White Picket Fences | We Thought We'd Lost You, Johnny
Feeling the Spirit | Homophobia | Gone | True to Myself | Love Sustains Us All

SONG:
sop & choir:
Love Sustains Us All
Finally we find
Our own sweet kind
Of love, true love
Love sustains us all, it holds us to the end
Celebrated, venerated love, consummated
To triumph over prejudice, ill-will transcend
Connect, protect, perfected love, respected
And we, who've known such pain, forever love defend
This is good love, this is our love, this is true love
True love
At last not lust
But love we trust
In love, true love, true love

True Love | White Picket Fences | We Thought We'd Lost You, Johnny
Feeling the Spirit | Homophobia | Gone | True to Myself | Love Sustains Us All

top | libretto | list of songs | first performance details | Martin Wesley-Smith | Peter Wesley-Smith | bottom

© Peter Wesley-Smith 2002
score available from The Australian Music Centre
e-mail librettist
e-mail composer

True was first performed on October 26 2002 in the Llewellyn Hall, Canberra, by soprano Deborah Cheetham and the Canberra Gay & Lesbian Qwire. That performance is available on CD. To order, email the Qwire, or leave a message on their voicemail [+61 (0)2 9294 4234], or send AUD15 per CD, plus AUD4 p'n'p (AUD6.50 for two or more CDs), to Canberra Gay & Lesbian Qwire, PO Box 3095, Canberra City, ACT 2601 Australia.
You may be interested in Peter Wesley-Smith's libretto for the choir'n'orchestra work Black Ribbon. If so, click here.

Boojum! | Quito | Who Killed Cock Robin? | Mrs Hargreaves Remembers | list of mw-s works | mw-s discography

script:	Peter Wesley-Smith
music:	Martin Wesley-Smith

SONG: sop:	We Thought We'd Lost You, Johnny We thought we'd lost you, Johnny The day you went away And moved in with another lad A boy we knew was gay A house with just one bedroom A room with just one bed Oh Johnny, we asked in our anguish Why not a girlfriend instead? We thought we'd lost you, Johnny We thought you'd gone too far We'd hoped our son was a man's man And that's just what you are We couldn't understand it Good God! Why us? we'd pray Oh Johnny, we asked in our anguish What will the neighbours say?
choir:	What will the neighbours say? What will the neighbours say? What will the neighbours What will the neighbours What will the neighbours say?
sop:	We thought we'd lost you, Johnny We thought we'd lost a son But now we fondly realise We've gained another one! You slowly won us over We understand your fate Oh Johnny, we love you - but Jesus We hope your sister's straight!
choir:	We hope your sister's straight! We hope your sister's straight! We hope your sister We hope your sister We hope your sister's straight, mate!
sop (recit):	Johnny is true to himself, his soul, his nature Holding on firm, being free

SONG: sop (recit):	Feeling the Spirit Imagine, if you will, the humiliation and the horror Of being regarded like a citizen of Sodom and Gomorroh Of being called an invert, a prevert, a transvert, extrovert, obvert, revert, subvert, and a walking talking advert But ladies and gentlemen, I am incontrovertibly a convert A convert to the Lord
choir:	Hallelujah! God loves us all
sop (recit):	They accuse me of suffering from a pathological condition From which there appears to be no hope of anything like remission
choir:	Thank God! Thank God! Thank God!
sop (recit):	Being as it is a God-given orientation, and one of the few diseases which brings pleasure and relief It is my firmly-held belief That God made me exactly as I am, in every way You might question her quality control procedures But if God had intended me to be unhappy she would never have made me so gay
choir:	Hallelujah! God loves us all!
sop:	Do you think I don't have feelings, yes I have feelings Feeling the spirit, deep in the heart Praising the Saviour, playing our part One voice, one chorus, all in accord Kneeling in prayerfulness, loving the lord We have feelings Feeling the spirit, deep in the soul Making us wholesome, making us whole God loves all creatures, she gives us the call Straights, gays and lesbians, God loves us all
choir:	God loves us all, God loves us all Read in the bible, God gave us breath Free will and evil, life-force and death Hell down below us, Heaven above Tragedy, saintliness, loathing and love Read in the bible, come to the lord God's faithful servants earn their reward Bishops assure us we're on our own Utterly sinless they cast the first stone Are they homophobic? Well well well space We face discrimination Truth to tell space We're still harassed and harried Nonpareil space We can't take communion Bishop Pell space Nor can we get married All pell-mell space IVF is denied us Gives us hell space Archbishops have decried us So farewell space The Church has crucified us Bishop Pell Where's that spirit? deep in your soul Making you wholesome, making you whole God loves all creatures, gives us the call Straights, gays and lesbians, God loves us all God loves us all

SONG: sop (recit):	Homophobia Given that we're only a small proportion of the population It's no wonder we've been persecuted by the authorities And by society, just like other minorities Though not any longer those represented by that arch Bishop Pell Imagine being not just lesbian but a blackfella as well We seem to get on alright with the heterosexual community Even those who patronisingly are "conservatively tolerant" towards us Straights are okay but I wouldn't let my daughter marry one (Seriously, should she be afflicted with a heterosexual orientation She must be true to herself) But some non-gays appear to be still frightened of us And therefore of themselves
choir:	Homophobia When all is said and done Homophobia Is really rather fun You do not have to bear a grudge To defame a woofy judge You just never shrink From raising a stink In Senate - wink wink Nudge nudge Homophobia You never dare relax Homophobia Don't vex us with the facts For flamin' poofs are never done From seducing everyone A bleeding disgrace They're right in your face The straights have no place To run Heterophilia
soloist:	Okay: feel ya feel ya feel ya, feely ME Ev'ryone says what a lesbian heaven You would have to be psycho To sleep with a dyke - oh, oh no
choir:	We attest we're so blest And suggest we're the best Of us all
soloist:	I love my little darlin' I give her a wonderful time She feeds me, she needs me But she has yet to discover Her lover is possibly gay Don't understand it, never planned it I'm smitten, I'm bitten by love I hope I'll soon get over it And then all can see A woman needs a man like me A woman needs a man like me
choir:	Like a hole in the head Homophobia We once knew where we stood Homophobia You know it feels so good! Hey! I know where some woofters dwell You can smell their wussy smell We'll bash 'em up true Some lesbians too And then we'll get you As well
sop:	They're young, they're old They're shy, they're bold They're warm, they're cold They're dim and astute They're just like you And me and you And Janet too Who's tootling the flute True must be the love that dared not speak its name Disreputed, involuted love, persecuted It triumphed over ridicule, ill-will and shame Repressed, unblessed, molested love, detested A sense, a need, a touch that now can dare proclaim This is nat'ral, this is freedom, this is true love
choir:	People with homophobia Are sick and in despair Homophobia Let's show them that we care It's difficult, but hey! Let's embrace a straight a day Just give 'em a kiss Like this And suddenly they will feel so gay!

SONG: sop (recit):	Gone One thing, as we've just heard, about being gay Is that it's clearly a hazardous occupation I'm not just talking about poofter bashings, police indifference Discrimination by employers, or some such other tribulation But HIV/AIDS in particular We've lost so many friends and lovers
choir:	Gone, so many friends and lovers, dead and gone Agonizing, stigmatizing, gone: scandalizing The sorrow and the bitterness go on and on We grieve the dead but look ahead believing We'll win, we'll overcome, we've crossed our Rubicon With conviction, and courage, and with true love