The Dream

Help! Help! (Tevye!)
(Tevye! Tevye, wake up!) Help, help!
What's the matter with you?
Why are you howling like that?

Where is she? Where is she?
(Where is who? What are you talking about?)
Fruma-Sarah
The butcher's first wife
She was standing there a minute ago!

What's the matter with you, Tevye?
Fruma-Sarah's been dead for years!
You must have been dreaming
Tell me what you dreamed
And I'll tell you what it meant!

All right
Only, don't be frightened
In the beginning I dreamt
That we were having a celebration of some kind
Everybody we knew was there
Musicians, too
Suddenly, in comes your grandmother Tzeitel
May she rest in peace
Naturally, I went up to greet her
And she said

A blessing on your head (mazel tov, mazel tov)
To see your daughter wed (mazel tov, mazel tov)
And such a son-in-law
Like no one ever saw
The tailor Motel Kamzoil
(Motel?!)

A worthy boy is he (mazel tov, mazel tov)
A pious family (mazel tov, mazel tov)
They named him after my
Dear Uncle Mordecai
The tailor Motel Kamzoil

A tailor?
She must have heard wrong
She meant a butcher!

You must have heard wrong, Grandma!
There's no tailor
You mean a butcher, Grandma
By the name of Lazar Wolf (No!)

I mean a tailor, Tevye
My great grandchild
My little Tzeitel, who you named for me
Motel's bride was meant to be

For such a match I prayed (mazel tov, mazel tov)
In heaven it was made (mazel tov, mazel tov)
A fine upstanding boy
A comfort and a joy
The tailor Motel Kamzoil

But we announced it already!
We made a bargain with the butcher!

But we announced it, Grandma!
To our neighbors
We made a bargain, Grandma
With the butcher Lazar Wolf (no, no!)

So you announced it, Tevye
That's your headache
But as for Lazar Wolf, I say to you
Tevye, that's your headache, too

A blessing on your house, mazel tov, mazel tov
Imagine such a spouse, mazel tov, mazel tov
And such a son-in-law
Like no one ever saw
The tailor Motel Kamzoil
(He's a butcher!)
The tailor Motel Kamzoil (It's Lazar Wolf!)
(The tailor Motel Kamzoil)
Sha! Sha!

Look, who is this? Who is this?
Who comes here?
Who?
What woman is this?
By righteous anger shaken
Could it be? (Sure)
(Yes it could) Why not?
Who could be mistaken?

It's the butcher's wife
Come from beyond the grave
It's the butcher's dear, darling departed wife
Fruma-Sarah, Fruma-Sarah
Fruma-Sarah, Fruma-Sarah, Fruma-Sarah
Fruma-Sarah, Fruma-Sarah, Fruma-Sarah (Tevye!)
(Tevye!)

What is this about your daughter
Marrying my husband? (Yes, your husband)
Would you do this to your friend and neighbor
Fruma-Sarah? (Fruma-Sarah?)
Have you no considerations for a woman's feelings?
(Woman's feelings)
Handing over my belongings
To a total stranger (total stranger)

How can you allow it? How?
How can you let your daughter take my place?
Live in my house?
Carry my keys
And wear my clothes, pearls, how?

How can you allow your daughter to take her place? (Pearls)
House (pearls)
Keys (pearls)
Clothes (pearls)
How?

Such a learned man as Tevye wouldn't let it happen (let it happen)
Tell me that it isn't true
And then I wouldn't worry (wouldn't worry)
Say you didn't give your blessing to your daughter's marriage (daughter's marriage)
Let me tell you what will follow such a fatal wedding (fatal wedding)

If Tzeitel marries Lazar Wolf
I pity them both
She'll live with him three weeks
And when three weeks are up
I'll come to her by night
I'll take her by the throat
And this I'll give you, Tzeitel
That I'll give you, Tzeitel
This I'll give you, Tzeitel (no, no, no!)
Here's my wedding present
If she marries Lazar Wolf!

It's an evil spirit!
Let it fall into the river
Let it sink into the earth
Such a dark and horrible dream
And to think!
It was brought on by that butcher!

If my grandmother Tzeitel, may she rest in peace
Took the trouble to come all the way from the other world
To tell us about the tailor
Then all we can say is
That it's all for the best
And couldn't possibly be any better
Amen

A blessing on my head, mazel tov, mazel tov
My grandma Tzeitel said, mazel tov, mazel tov
We'll have a son-in-law
Like no one ever saw
The tailor Motel Kamzoil

We haven't got the man (mazel tov, mazel tov)
We had when we began (mazel tov, mazel tov)
But since your grandma came
She'll marry - what's his name?
(The tailor Motel Kamzoil)

The tailor Motel Kamzoil
The tailor Motel Kamzoil
The tailor Motel Kamzoil