[MARK] How do you document real life When real life is getting more Like fiction each day Headlines - bread-lines Blow my mind And now this deadline "Eviction - or pay" Rent!
[ROGER] How do you write a song When the chords sound wrong Though they once sounded right and rare When the notes are sour Where is the power You once had to ignite the air
[MARK] And we're hungry and frozen
[ROGER] Some life that we've chosen
[TOGETHER] How we gonna pay How we gonna pay How we gonna pay Last year's rent
[MARK] We light candles
[ROGER] How do you start a fire When there's nothing to burn And it feels like something's stuck in your flue
[MARK] How can you generate heat When you can't feel your feet
[BOTH] And they're turning blue!
[MARK] You light up a mean blaze
[ROGER grabs one of his own posters.]
[ROGER]
With posters --
[MARK grabs old manuscripts.]
[MARK]
And screenplays
[ROGER AND MARK]
How we gonna pay How we gonna pay How we gonna pay Last year's rent
[COLLINS] How do you stay on your feet When on every street It's 'trick or treat' (And tonight it's 'trick') 'Welcome back to town' Oh, I should lie down Everything's brown And uh - oh I feel sick
[MARK] [At the window] Where is he?
[COLLINS]
Getting dizzy [He collapses.]
[MARK AND ROGER]
How we gonna pay How we gonna pay How we gonna pay Last year's rent
[MARK and ROGER stoke the fire. Crosscut to BENNY's Range Rover.]
[MARK (reading from a script page)] "The music ignites the night with passionate fire"
[ROGER] "The narration crackles and pops with incendiary wit"
[MARK] Zoom in as they burn the past to the ground
[MARK AND ROGER] And feel the heat of the future's glow
[MARK AND HALF OF COMPANY] How do you leave the past behind When it keeps finding ways to get to your heart It reaches way down deep and tears you inside out Till you're torn apart Rent!
[ROGER AND OTHER HALF OF COMPANY] How can you connect in an age Where strangers, landlords, lovers Your own blood cells betray
[ALL] What binds the fabric together When the raging, shifting winds of change Keep ripping away
[BENNY] Draw a line in the sand And then make a stand
[ROGER] Use your camera to spar
[MARK] Use your guitar
[ALL] When they act tough - you call their bluff
[MARK AND ROGER] We're not gonna pay
[MARK AND ROGER WITH HALF OF COMPANY] We're not gonna pay
[MARK AND ROGER WITH OTHER HALF OF COMPANY] We're not gonna pay
[ALL] Last year's rent This year's rent Next year's rent Rent rent rent rent rent We're not gonna pay rent