[Lyric] Who Is He?/Never Put It in Writing/I Talk You Talk (Original Broadway Cast of "Grind")

(Backstage.)

[GUS]
I find myself a broken-down drunk
Now he's workin' outa of my trunk
He's makin' it his
So okay, so he is
Well, we're workin' it out
We're workin' together

(At the coffee table, SATIN turns to watch GUS and DOYLE, cup in hand. They continue, oblivious to her.)

[DOYLE]
All we have to do is change it a touch and get a new ending - and I still introduce you as the world's greatest juggler, but each time you drop a ball, you say something like-

[GUS]
"Oops! Missed!"

(DOYLE nods enthusiastically, taking a pad and pencil from his pocket, jotting it down.)

[GUS]
And then I drop another ball: "Oops! Missed!"
[DOYLE]
(Still writing)
-and I say, "Uh, folks, I'm sure the Grеat Syndini regrets this more than you do!"

[SATIN]
Who is hе?
Or maybe the thing is, who was he?
And does he have people
Waitin' for him
Or a person he'll never forget?

Who was she?
The girl from before
'Cause there was one
Some nice kinda girl
With green eyes like him
She was easy to talk to, I bet

She prob'ly always knew
All those ways of his
Or maybe she watched him, too
Wonderin' who he is

[GUS]
What are you doin'?
[DOYLE]
Just keepin' track-

[GUS]
Of what?

[DOYLE]
Of what we're workin' out

[GUS]
Boy, what you don't know about burlesque could fill a book. Only nobody in burlesque could write it!

You gotta be open to change
Open and free to rearrange what you've got
Never put it in writing
Or you're put on the spot

Say that you say
Something you stole
You'll be okay if it was heard and not read
Never put it writing
And it never got said

We can make repairs
Change it all about
While it's hot, and not in quotes
When the man upstairs
Laid this whole bit out
I'll tell ya what -
He never worked from notes!

So put down the pen
Put down the pad
Don't put down when and where
And 'speshly not why
Never put it in writing
And it's never a lie

What's wrong or right
Changes overnight
So don't put it in writing
'Cause nothin's that black and white!

Y'understand what I'm sayin'?

[DOYLE]
Well, I think so-

You talk, then I talk
And never let it be said it's read from a page
Why, it's temporarily permanent
Loosely speaking

[GUS]
Right on the nose-

[DOYLE]
You talk, then I talk
Nothing ever works well that's yellowed with age
You can't lock the spur of the moment in a cage

[GUS]
Couldn'ta said it better myself!

[DOYLE]
Your move, my move
Two people talking it through
You give a cue
I take a cue
And if every day the cue is new, well
That's how we do what we do!

(Now GUS and DOYLE simultaneously, during which DOYLE and SATIN help GUS put on his costume, DOYLE also putting on his own:)

[GUS]
You gotta be open to change
Open and free to rearrange what you've got
Never put it in writing
Or you're put on the spot

Say that you say
Something you stole
You'll be okay if it was heard and not read
Never put it writing
And it never got said

[DOYLE]
You talk, then I talk
Never let it be said it's read from a page
It's temporarily permanent
Loosely speaking

You talk, then I talk
Nothing ever works well that's yellowed with age
You can't lock the spur of the moment in a cage

(And now SATIN starts singing, also simultaneously:)

[SATIN]
She probably always knew
All those ways of his
Or maybe she watched him, too
Wonderin' who he is

Who was she?
The one that he gave all his words to?
And does he still keep her somewhere inside?
Does he plan
How he'll find her again

Throw her that smile
Make things all right
Start up where they used to be?

Who was she?
Who is he?

[GUS]
We can make repairs
Change it all about
While it's hot
And not in quotes

When the man upstairs
Laid this whole bit out
I'll tell ya what
He never worked from notes!

So put down the pen
Put down the pad
Don't put down when and where
And 'speshly not why
Never put it in writing
And it's never a lie

What's good today
Might get tossed away
'Cause what's wrong or right
Changes overnight
So don't put it in writing
Nothin's that black and white

[DOYLE]
Keep on your toes, and
Think on your feet, and
With luck, you won't get stuck
With nothin' to say

Don't try for grandeur
Just understand, your
Best work's done unplanned
In tandem, so -

You talk, then I talk
You do something
Then I do something in turn
Your move, my move
Two people talking it through

You give a cue
I take a cue
You give a cue, I take a cue
And if every day the cue is new, well
That's how we do
What we do!

(They end in a big finish. DOYLE's arm firmly holding SATIN in the threesome. She tenses, acutely aware of his "touch".)