[Intro: Rock-opera male lead, operatic belted rock-opera vocal] Ladies and gentlemen, the final show House lights down, and here we go [Verse 1: Rock-opera male lead, grand theatrical vocal] Forty-one years in a booth up a narrow flight of stairs Splicin' every broken print and sweepin' popcorn off the chairs Every Friday, every matinee, the same old lamp aglow I could thread a reel in darkness, I could run it in the snow Now the Rialto closes Sunday and the bank has sold the lot So we're showin' the old picture that we opened with, the best we got Every seat is full for once and I'm wearin' Sunday best Lookin' down from the window at the faces of the rest [Chorus: Rock-opera male lead, full force, huge theatrical guitars] Roll the last reel, I know how it ends Every line, every kiss, every face again Turn the house lights down one more time, my friends Roll the last reel, I know how it ends [Verse 2: Rock-opera male lead, grand theatrical vocal] Reel five's on the platter, last ten minutes of the show Then I hear the sound I've dreaded forty years, the flutter, then the blow Film snaps at the sprocket and it melts before my eyes Screen goes white, the house goes quiet, then a groan begins to rise Splicer's in the drawer, but it would take me half an hour And they'd leave, and that would be the last thing in this house, sour So I take my coat off of the hook and I leave the booth behind First time in forty years on a show night I go down the line [Chorus: Rock-opera male lead, full force, huge theatrical guitars] Roll the last reel, I know how it ends Every line, every kiss, every face again Turn the house lights down one more time, my friends Roll the last reel, I know how it ends [Bridge: Rock-opera male lead, countermelody, a second melody against the lead] I walk out on the stage in front of all that empty white And I play the captain on the platform in the station light I play the girl who will not stay, I play the whistle of the train Every line I heard ten thousand times comes out of me the same [Verse 3: Rock-opera male lead, operatic belted rock-opera vocal, triumphant] When I reached the final line, the one the whole town knows by heart Seven hundred people said it with me and they never missed a part Then the house lights came up slow on an old man in a tie Seven hundred people standin' and not one of 'em was dry They tore down the Rialto, but they framed the broken reel And it hangs inside the lobby of the lofts, still burned, still real [Final Chorus: Rock-opera male lead, countermelody woven in, full force] Roll the last reel, I know how it ends Every line, every kiss, every face again Turn the house lights down one more time, my friends Roll the last reel, I know how it ends [End]
