Music and Lyrics by Jason Robert Brown
01) Still Hurting
02) Shiksa Goddess
03) Moving Too Fast
04) A Part of That
05) The Schmuel Song
06) A Summer in Ohio
08) When You Come Home to Me / Climbing Uphill
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The Last Five Years is a show about a relationship, about a marriage. It's told from two angles. From the man's point of view, it starts at the first meeting and ends in the present, when the marriage breaks up. From the woman's point of view, it starts in the present and works back in time to the first meeting. Only at the wedding, in the center of the one-act evening, do the stories intersect. The audience has to do some thinking to track the two stories, but the clues are all there.
-Richard Maltby, Jr.
excerpted from the CD liner notes
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01) Still Hurting [ MIDI ]
DURATION: 4:19
FILE SIZE: 13.4 KB
CATHY
Jamie is over and Jamie is gone.
Jamie's decided it's time to move on.
Jamie's got new dreams he's building upon,
And I'm still hurting.Jamie arrived at the end of the line.
Jamie's convinced that the problems are mine.
Jamie is probably feeling just fine,
And I'm still hurting.What about lies, Jamie?
What about things
That you swore to be true?
What about you, Jamie?
What about you?Jamie is sure something wonderful died.
Jamie decides it's his right to decide.
Jamie's got secrets he doesn't confide,
And I'm still hurting.Go and hide and run away!
Run away, run and find something better!
Go and ride the sun away!
Run away, like it's simple,
Like it's right...Give me a day, Jamie!
Bring back the lies,
Hang them back on the wall!
Maybe I'd see
How you could be
So certain that we
Had no chance at all.Jamie is over and where can I turn?
Covered with scars I did nothing to earn?
Maybe there's somewhere a lesson to learn,
But that wouldn't change the fact,
That wouldn't speed the time,
Once the foundation's cracked
And I'm
Still hurting.
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02) Shiksa Goddess [ MIDI ]
DURATION: 3:57
FILE SIZE: 18.1 KB
JAMIE
I'm breaking my mother's heart.
The longer I stand looking at you,
The more I hear it splinter and crack
From ninety miles away.I'm breaking my mother's heart.
The J. C. C. of Spring Valley is shaking
And crumbling to the ground,
And my grandfather's rolling,
Rolling in his grave.If you had a tattoo, that wouldn't matter.
If you had a shaved head, that would be cool.
If you came from Spain or Japan
Or the back of a van--
Just as long as you're not from Hebrew school--I'd say "Now, I'm getting somewhere!
I'm fin'lly breaking through!"
I'd say "Hey! Hey! Shiksa goddess!
I've been waiting for someone like you."I've been waiting through Danica Schwartz
And Erica Weiss and the Handelman twins.
I've been waiting through Heather Greenblatt,
Annie Mincus, Karen Pincus and Lisa Katz.And Stacy Rosen, Ellen Kaplan,
Julie Silber and Janie Stein.
I've had Shabas dinners on Friday nights
With ev'ry Shapiro in Washington Heights,But the minute I first met you
I could barely catch my breath.
I've been standing for days with the phone in my hand,
Like an idiot scared to death.I've been wandering through the desert!
I've been beaten, I've been hit!
My people have suffered for thousands of years
And I don't give a shit!If you had a pierced tongue, that wouldn't matter.
If you once were in jail or you once were a man,
If your mother and your brother had "relations" with each other
And your father was connected to the Gotti clan,I'd say, "Well, nobody's perfect!"
It's tragic but it's true.
I'd say "Hey! Hey! Shiksa goddess!
I've been waiting for someone like..."You, breaking the circle,
You, taking the light.
You, you are the story I should write--
I have to write!If you drove an R. V., that wouldn't matter!
If you like to drink blood, I think it's cute.
If you've got a powerful connection to your firearm collection, I say,
Draw a bead and shoot!I'm your Hebrew slave, at your service!
Just tell me what to do!
I say,
Hey hey hey hey!
I've been waiting for someone,
I've been praying for someone,
I think that I could be in love with someone
Like you!
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03) Moving Too Fast [ MIDI ]
DURATION: 4:11
FILE SIZE: 35.2 KB
JAMIE
Did I hear an alarm start ringing?
Did I see sirens go flying past?
Though I don't know what tomorrow's bringing,
I've got a singular impression things are moving too fast.I'm gliding smooth as a figure skater.
I'm riding hot as a rocket blast.
I just expected it ten years later.
I've got a singular impression things are moving too fast.And you say: "Oh, no,
Step on the brakes,
Do whatever it takes,
But stop this train!
Slow, slow!
The light's turning red!"
But I say: No! No!
Whatever I do,
I barrel on through,
And I don't complain.
No matter what I try,
I'm flyin' full speed ahead!I'm never worried to walk the wire.
I won't do anything just "half-assed,"
But with the stakes getting somewhat higher,
I've got a singular impression that things are moving too fast.I found a woman I love,
And I found an agent who loves me.
Things might get bumpy, butSome people analyze ev'ry detail,
Some people stall when they can't see the trail,
Some people freeze out of fear that they'll fail,
But I keep rollin' on.Some people can't find success with their art,
Some people never feel love in their heart,
Some people can't tell the two things apart,
But I keep rollin' on.Oh, oh maybe I can't follow through,
But oh, oh what else am I s'pposed to do?I dreamed of writing like the high and mighty,
Now I'm the subject of a bidding war!
I met my personal Aphrodite--
I'm doin' things I never dreamed of before!We start to take the next step together.
Found an apartment on Seventy-Third!
The Atlantic Monthly's printing my first chapter--
Two thousand bucks without re-writing one word!I left Columbia and I don't regret it,
I wrote a book and Sonny Mehta read it!
My heart's been stolen!
My ego's swollen!
I just keep rollin' along!Oh, yeah! And I think,
"Well, well, what else is in store?
Got all this and more
Before twenty-four!"
It's hard not to be sure
I'm spinning out of control!
Out of control!I'm feeling panicked and rushed and hurried!
I'm feeling outmaneuvered and outclassed,
But I'm so happy I can't get worried
About this singular impression--
I've got a singular impression things are moving too fast!
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04) A Part of That [ MIDI ]
DURATION: 4:03
FILE SIZE: 20.5 KB
CATHY
One day it's just like
"Leave It to Beaver."
One day it's just a
Typical life,
And then he's off on
A trip to Jamieland:
Staring catatonic out the window,
Barely even breathing all the while...And then he'll smile,
His eyes light up, and then deep within the ground,
Without a sound,
A moment comes to life,And I'm a part of that.
I'm a part of that.
I'm a part of that.Next day it's just like
It never happened--
We're making dinners,
We're making plans.
Then he gets on the
Mule train to Jamieland:
Handful after handful of Doritos,
Circling the apartment, logging miles...And then he smiles,
His eyes light up, and how can I complain?
Yes, he's insane,
But look what he can do,And I'm a part of that.
I'm a part of that.
I'm a part of that...And it's true, I tend to follow in his stride,
Instead of side by side,
I take his cue.
True, but there's no question, there's no doubt--
I said I'd stick it out
And follow through,
And when I do--Then he smiles,
And where else can I go?
I didn't know
The rules do not apply.
And then he smiles,
And nothing else makes sense
While he invents
The world that's passing by,And I'm a part of that.
I'm a part of that.
I'm a part of that,
Aren't I?
I'm a part of that.
I'm a part of that.
I'm a part of that..
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05) The Schmuel Song [ MIDI ]
DURATION: 7:27
FILE SIZE: 40.0 KB
JAMIE
Schmuel would work 'til half-past ten at his tailor shop in Klimovich,
Get up at dawn and start again with the hems and pins and twist.
Forty-one years had come and gone at his tailor shop in Klimovich.
Watching the winters soldier on, there was one thing Schmuel missed."If I only had time," old Schmuel said,
"I would build the dress that's in my head,
A dress to fire
The mad desire
Of girls from here to Minsk,
But I have no more hours left to sew."
Then the clock upon the wall began to glow...And the clock said:
"Na na na na, na na na,
Oh Schmuel, you'll get to be happy!
Na na na na, na na na,
I give you unlimited time!
Na na na na, na na na,
So Schmuel, go sew and be happy!"
But Schmuel said,
"No, no, it's not my lot--
I've gotta make do with the time I've got."Schmuel was done at half-past ten and he said, "Good night, old Klimovich,"
Put on his coat to go, but then the clock cried, "Wait! Not yet
Even though you're not wise or rich, you're the finest man in Klimovich!
Listen up, Schmuel--
Make one stitch and you'll get!"Schmuel said, "Clock, it's much too late.
I'm at peace with my life, I accept my fate..."
But the clock said, "Schmuel!
One stitch and you will
Unlock the dreams you've lost!"
So Schmuel, with reluctance, took his thread.
And he pulled on a bolt of velvet and he said:
"I should take out my teeth and go to bed,
I'm sitting here with talking clocks instead!"And the clock said, "Na na na na, na na na,
Oh Schmuel, you'll get to be happy!
Na na na na, na na na,
I give you unlimited time!
Na na na na, na na na,
Just do it and you can be happy!"So Schmuel put the thread through the needle's eye
And the moon stared down from a starless sky,
And he pushed the thread through the velvet black
And he looked, and the clock was turning... back!So he grabbed his shears and he cut some lace
As the hands moved left on the old clock's face!
So his fingers flew and the fabric swirled--
It was nine-fifteen all around the world!Ev'ry cut and stitch was a perfect fit,
As if God Himself were controlling it!
And Schmuel cried, through a rush of tears,
"Take me back! Take me back all forty-one years!"And on it went, down that silent street,
'Til Schmuel's dress was at last complete,
And he stretched his arms, and he closed his eyes.
And the morning sun finally started to rise.And the dress he made on that endless night
Was a dress that would make any soul take flight!
Not a swatch, not a skein had gone to waste--
Ev'ry ribbon and button ideally placed,
And sewn into the seams
Were forty-one seasons of dreams.
Dream that you could feel
Coming real.And that very dress, so the papers swore,
Was the dress a girl in Odessa wore
On the day she promised forevermore
To love a young man named Schmuel
Who only one day before
Had knocked at her kitchen door.Plenty have hoped and dreamed and prayed, but they can't get out of Klimovich.
If Schmuel had been a cute Goyishe maid, he'd've looked a lot like you.
Maybe it's just that you're afraid to go out on to a limb-ovich.
Maybe you're heart's completely swayed, but your head can't follow through.But shouldn't I want the world to see
The brilliant girl who inspires me?
Don't you think that now's a good time to be
The ambitious freak you are?
Say goodbye to wiping ashtrays at the bar!
Say hello to Cathy Hiatt, big-time star!'Cause I say: Na na na na na na na na
Cathy you get to be happy!
Na na na na na na na
I give you unlimited time!
Na na na na na na na
Stop temping and be happy!Here's a headshot guy and a new Backstage,
Where you're right for something on ev'ry page--
Take a breath,
Take a step,
Take a chance...Take your time.
Have I mentioned today
How lucky I am
To be in love with you?
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06) A Summer in Ohio [ MIDI ]
DURATION: 4:06
FILE SIZE: 30.1 KB
CATHY
I could have a mansion on a hill.
I could lease a villa in Seville,
But it wouldn't be so nice
As a summer in Ohio
With a gay midget named Karl
Playing Tevye and Porgy.I could wander Paris after dark,
Take a carriage through Central Park,
But it wouldn't be as nice
As a summer in Ohio,
Where I'm sharing a room
With a "former" stripper and her snake:
Wayne.I could have a satchel full of dollar bills,
Cures for all the nation's ills,
Pills to make a lion purr;
I could be in line to be the British Queen,
Look like I was seventeen,
Still I'm certain I'd prefer
To be going slowly batty
Forty miles east of Cincinnati.I could shove an ice pick in my eye,
I could eat some fish from last July,
But it wouldn't be as awful
As a summer in Ohio
Without cable, hot water, Vietnamese food,
Or you.I saw your book at a Borders in Kentucky
Under a sign that said "New and Recommended."
I stole a look at your picture on the inside sleeve,
And then I couldn't leave.Richard, who was with me, got uncharacterisc'ly quiet,
Then he said, "All things considered, I guess you don't have to buy it."
So I smiled like Mona Lisa and
I lay my Visa down!He wants me, he wants me,
But he ain't gonna get me!
I've found my guiding light--
I tell the stars each night:
Look at me! Look at him!
Son of a bitch, I guess I'm doing something right!
I fin'lly got something right!No, it's not Nirvana, but it's on the way.
I play "Anita" at the matinee,
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
I can state in my next bio:
I'm never gonna go back to Ohio!I could chew on tin foil for a spell,
I could get a root canal in Hell,
But it wouldn't be as swell
As this summer's gonna be!
'Cause the torture is just exquisite
While I'm waiting for you to visit,
So hurry up, schmuck, get unstuck, and get on the scene! Love,
The Midget, the stripper, Wayne the Snake
And Missus Jamie Wellerstein--
That's me!
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07) The Next Ten Minutes [ MIDI ]
DURATION: 5:16
FILE SIZE: 18.6 KB
JAMIE
Will you share your life with me
For the next ten minutes?
For the next ten minutes:
We can handle that.
We could watch the waves,
We could watch the sky,
Or just sit and wait
As the time ticks by,
And if we make it 'til then,
Can I ask you again
For another ten?And if you in turn agree
To the next ten minutes,
And the next ten minutes,
'til the morning comes,
Then just holding you
Might compel me to
Ask you for more.
There are so many lives I want to share with you;
I will never be complete until I do.CATHY
I am not always on time.
Please don't expect that from me.
I will be late,
But if you can just wait,
I will make it eventually.
Not like it's in my control,
Not like I'm proud of the fact,
But anything other than being exactly on time
I can do.I don't know why people run.
I don't know why things fall through.
I don't know how anybody survives in this life
Without someone like you.
I could protect and preserve,
I could say no and goodbye,
But why, Jamie, why?
I want to be your wife.
I want to bear your child.
I want to die
Knowing I had a long, full life in your arms.
That I can do,CATHY (JAMIE)
Forever with you. (Will you share your life with me)
Forever. (For the next ten lifetimes?)
Forever, Jamie, (For a million summers.)TOGETHER
'Til the world explodes, 'til there's no one left
Who has ever known us apart!JAMIE
There are so many dreams I need to see with you.CATHY
There are so many years I need to be with you.JAMIE
I will never be complete...CATHY
I will never be alive...JAMIE
I will never change the world
Until I do.CATHY
I do.JAMIE
I do.CATHY
I do.TOGETHER
I do...
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08) When You Come Home to Me / Climbing Uphill [ MIDI ]
DURATION: 4:16
FILE SIZE: 26.1 KB
CATHY
When you come home to me,
I'll wear a sweeter smile,
And hope, that for a while,
You'll stay.
When you come home to me,
Your hand will touch my face
And banish any trace of gray.Soon, a love will rise anew
Even greater than the joy
I've felt
Just missing you,
And once again, I'll be
So proud to call you mine
When fin'lly you come home toThank you. Thank you so much.
I'm climbin' uphill, Daddy.
Climbin' uphill.
I'm up ev'ry morning at six
And standing in line
With two hundred girls
Who are younger and thinner than me
Who have already been to the gym.I'm waiting five hours in line,
And watching the girls
Just coming and going
In dresses that look just like this,
'Til my number is finally called.When I walk in the room,
There's a table of men
Always men, usually gay--
Who've been sitting, like I have,
And list'ning all day
To two hundred girls
Belting as high as they can!I am a good person.
I am an attractive person!
I am a talented person!
Grant me Grace!When you come... home...
I should have told them I was sick last week.
They're gonna think this is the way I sing.
Why is that pianist playing so loud?
Should I sing louder?
I'll sing louder.
Maybe I should stop and start over.
I'm gonna stop and start over.
Why is the director staring at his crotch?
Why is that manager staring at my resumé?
Don't stare at my resumé.
I made up half of my resumé.
Look at me.
Stop looking at that, look at me!
No, not at my shoes.
Don't look at my shoes.
I hate these fucking shoes.
Why did I pick these shoes?
Why did I pick this song?
Why did I pick this career?Why does this pianist hate me?
If I don't get the callback, I can go to Crate and Barrel with Mom to buy a couch
Not that I want to spend a day with Mom, but Jamie needs space to write, since I'm obviously such a horrible, annoying distraction to him.
What's he gonna be like when we have kids?
And once again...
Why am I working so hard?
These are the people who cast Linda Blair in a musical.
Jesus Christ, I suck, I suck, I suck!
When you fin'lly come home toOkay, thank you.
I will not be the girl stuck at home in the 'burbs
With a baby, the dog and a garden of herbs.
I will not be the girl in the sensible shoes
Pushing burgers and beer nuts and missing the clues.
I will not be the girl who gets asked how it feels
To be trotting along at the genius's heels!
I will not be the girl who requires a man to get by.
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09) If I Didn't Believe in You [ MIDI ]
DURATION: 5:04
FILE SIZE: 16.2 KB
JAMIE
There are people
And they are publishing my book,
And there's a party
That they are throwing.
And while you've made it very clear that you're not going,
I will be going,
And that's done.But what's it really about?
Is it really about a party, Cathy
Can we please for a minute stop blaming and say what you feel?
Is it just that you're disappointed
To be touring again for the summer?
Did you think this would all be much easier than it's turned out to be?
Well, then talk to me, Cathy
Talk to me.If I didn't believe in you,
We'd never have gotten this far.
If I didn't believe in you
And all of the ten thousand women you are.
If I didn't think you could do
Anything you ever wanted to,
If I wasn't certain you'd come through somehow,
The fact of the matter is, Cathy
I wouldn't be standing here now.If I didn't believe in you,
We wouldn't be having this fight.
If I didn't believe in you,
I'd walk out the door and say, "Cathy you're right."
But I never could let that go
Knowing the things about you I know
Things, when I met you four years ago, I knew.
It never took much convincing to make me believe in you.Don't we get to be happy, Cathy
At some point down the line,
Don't we get to relax
Without new tsuris to push me yet further from you?
If I'm cheering on your side, Cathy,
Why can't you support mine?
Why do I have to feel I committed some felony
Doing what I always swore I would do?I don't want you to hurt,
I don't want you to sink,
But you know what I think?
I think you'll be fine!
Just hang on and you'll see!
But don't make me wait 'til you do
To be happy with you
Will you listen to me?No one can give you courage.
No one can thicken your skin.
I will not fail so you can be comf'table, Cathy
I will not lose because you can't win.If I didn't believe in you,
Then here's where the travelogue ends.
If I didn't believe in you,
I couldn't have stood before all of our friends
And said, "This is the life I choose.
This is the thing I can't bear to lose.
Trip us or trap us, but we refuse to fall."
That's what I thought we agreed on, Cathy
If I didn't believe in you,
I wouldn't have loved you at all
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10) I Can Do Better Than That [ MIDI ]
DURATION: 5:15
FILE SIZE: 28.1 KB
CATHY
My best friend had a little situation at the end of her senior year,
And like a shot, she and Mitchell got married that summer.
Carolann gettin' bigger ev'ry minute, thinkin', "What am I doin' here?"
While Mitchell's out ev'ry night bein' a heavy metal drummer.They got a cute little house on a cute little street
With a crucifix on the door.
Mitchell got a job at a record store in the mall.
Just the typical facts of a typical life in a town on the Eastern shore.
I thought about what I wanted,
It wasn't like that at all...
Made Carolann a cute baby sweater, thinkin'
"I can do better than that."In a year or so, I moved to the city, thinkin', "What have I got to lose?"
Got a room, a cat, and got twenty pounds thinner.
Met a guy in a class I was taking who, you might say, looked like Tom Cruise.
He wouldn't leave me alone 'less I went with him to dinner.And I guess he was cute, and I guess he was sweet, and I guess he was good in bed:
I gave up my life for the better part of a year.
So I'm starting to think that this maybe might work, and the second it entered my head,
He needed to take some time off,
Focus on his "career."
He blew me off with a heartfelt letter, I thought,
"I can do better than that."You don't have to get a haircut,
You don't have to change your shoes,
You don't have to like Duran Duran, just love me.
You don't have to put the seat down,
You don't have to watch the news,
You don't have to learn to tango,
You don't have to eat prosciutto,
You don't have to change a thing,
Just stay with me!I want you and you and nothing but you,
Miles and piles of you
Finally I'll have something worthwhile to think of each morning:
You and you and nothing but you!
No substitution will do,
Nothing but fresh, undiluted and pure,
Top of the line,
And totally mine!I don't need any lifetime commitments,
I don't need to get hitched tonight,
I don't want you to throw up all your walls and defenses.
I don't mean to put on any pressure, but I know when a thing is right,
And I spend ev'ry day reconfiguring my sense.When we get to my house, take a look at that town,
Take a look at how far I've gone.
I will never go back, never look back anymore.
And it feels like my life led right to your side and will keep me there from now on.Think about what you wanted,
Think about what could be,
Think about how I love you
and say you'll move in with me.Think of what's great about me and you,
Think of all the bullshit we've been through,
Think of what's past, because we can do
Better! We can do better!
We can do better than that!We can do better than that!
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11) Nobody Needs to Know [ MIDI ]
DURATION: 6:58
FILE SIZE: 24.8 KB
JAMIE
Hey, kid-- good morning--
You look like an angel.
I don't remember when we fell asleep.
We should get up, kid--
Cathy is waiting...Look at us, lying here,
Dreaming, pretending.
I made a promise and I took a vow.
I wrote a story,
And we changed the ending--
Cathy just look at me now!Hold on, facts are facts--
Just relax, lay low
All right, the panic recedes:
Nobody needs to know.
Hm...Put on my armor,
I'm off to Ohio,
Back into battle 'til I don't know when,
Swearing to her that
I never was with you,
And praying I'll hold you again.Hold on, clip these wings--
Things get out of hand.
All right, it's over, it's done.
No one will understand.
No one will understand.We build a tree house,
I keep it from shaking,
Little more glue ev'ry time that it breaks.
Perfectly balanced,
And then I start making
Conscious, delib'rate mistakes.All that I ask for
Is one little corner--
One private room at the back of my heart.
I tell her I found one,
She sends out battalions
To claim it and blow it apart.I grip and she grips,
And faster we're sliding.
Sliding and spilling, and what can I do?
Come back to bed, kid--
Take me inside you--
I promise I won't lie to you.Hold on, don't cry just yet--
I won't let you go.
All right: the panic recedes;
All right: ev'ryone bleeds;
All right: I get what I need,
nobody needs to know.
Nobody needs to know.And since I have to be in love with someone,
Since I need to be in love with someone,
Maybe I could be in love with someone
Like
You...
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12) Goodbye Until Tomorrow [ MIDI ]
DURATION: 3:19
FILE SIZE: 18.1 KB
CATHY
Don't kiss me goodbye again.
Leave this night clean and quiet.
You want the last word,
You want me to laugh,
But leave it for now.All you can say,
All you can feel
Was wrapped up inside that one perfect kiss.
Leave it at that:
I'll watch you turn the corner and go...And goodbye until tomorrow.
Goodbye until the next time you call,
And I will be waiting.
I will be waiting.Goodbye until tomorrow.
Goodbye 'til I recall how to breathe,
And I have been waiting,
I have been waiting for you.I stand on a precipice.
I struggle to keep my balance.
I open myself,
I open myself
One stitch at a time.Finally yes!
Finally now!
Finally something takes me away.
Finally free!
Finally he can cut through these strings,
And open my wings!So goodbye until tomorrow!
Goodbye until my feet touch the floor,
And I will be waiting,
I will be waiting!
Goodbye until tomorrow!
Goodbye until the rest of my life
And I have been waiting,
I have been waiting for you!
I have been waiting,
I have been waiting for you!
I will keep waiting!
I will keep waiting...
For you!
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