The Dutchman

I want to tell you a little story

To remind you

That we weren’t in a bubble

None of us

You hear stories about the theater

And it’s as if we existed outside of place and time

Like what was going on around us

Didn’t matter

Because we were in a nice little town

In the North

In New England

Where nothing bad ever happens

Except lousy weather

Hell, I think even we forgot sometimes

That we weren’t immune

To the shit happening

Outside the doors

Of the Orpheus

So you’re probably not going to hear a lot of stories

About Vietnam

And Nixon

And disco

Or whatever

We just didn’t pay attention to much more

Than what exit we were supposed to use to get offstage

And how many lines we were going to have

In the next show

That’s why when that girl…

She was working at the theater

Little nineteen-year-old thing

Rich girl, wanted to be an actress

Beau wanted nothing to do with her

But her Daddy cut the theater a check

And the new Board piped up

And even Beau had to agree

So in she came

In she came…

They had her assistant stage manage

The Dutchman

And right away

She had her eye on me

Now, I wasn’t stupid

Beau warned me about that girl

Because Beau and I were tight

I mean, he was my brother

And I don’t say that like it’s nothing

Because I had brothers

But Beau was like family to me

People say this and that about him

But all I gotta say is

He had my back

But I said—‘Beau, don’t worry.  I’m not going near that girl.’

Yeah, well

Sometimes you need to know what you’re dealing with

An elephant will leave you alone

As long as you don’t go bothering it

But a tiger’ll come after you

Just ‘cause it feels like it

And that girl was a tiger

One night, we’re out getting drunk

The group of us

And I see that girl there

Even though she was underage

I figure I’ll mind my own business

But I guess I had one too many

Because the next thing you know

I’m getting in a cab

And that tiger’s right there with me

Took me to some motel

Right outside of town

Must have paid for it

With the cash in my wallet

I remember stumbling into the room

And her pushing me on the bed

Like I was just a sack of something

She was going to unload

The next thing I know

She’s in the corner crying

Holding a blanket around herself

Mad because in my current state

I’m sure I wasn’t much good to her

She got all mad

Saying I’d made a fool out of her

And then she took off

And I went back to sleep for another few hours

The next day, I walk into the theater

And her Daddy’s sitting in Beau’s office

With his daughter crying

And even from downstairs

I could hear him yelling—

‘I want that nigger fired!’

Can you believe I was the same age you see me as now

And I’d gone my whole life

Never hearing that word?

Like I said—it’s a bubble

Now her Daddy must have known

I didn’t do anything wrong

Because otherwise he would have gone to the police

But even so—

I knew he could probably get me fired

If a white guy with money

Wants a black guy fired

Usually the reason isn’t all that important

But Big Daddy didn’t know who he was dealing with

Because he left Beau’s office

Looking pretty upset

I guess Beau told him

That he stands by the actors in his company

And that the only mistake he’s made recently

Is letting that spoiled little bitch of his

Into his theater

Legend has it he tore up the guy’s check too

But that seems unlikely

Now, if this story happened today

Or in a different place

Or whatever

In a bubble

I guess then that would be the ending

But like I said, sometimes things come along

And pop your bubble

This was 1971

Do you understand what I’m saying?

Two weeks after the little conversation in Beau’s office

I was walking to my car one night

And two guys jumped me

One had a knife

Bang

I’m out

Just like that

I’m done

Beau swore up and down

That girl and her Daddy

Had something to do with it

But there was nothing anybody could do

Those were the times

That was the reality

You spend so much time

Making believe

Pretending

Thinking the worst things that’ll happen to you

Will only happen onstage

And then the lights’ll go down

And come up

And everything will be fine

Not so, my friends, not so

Anyway, that’s my story

That’s all I have to say