It's a Hoax! (Reprise)/Carry On

**It's a Hoax! (Reprise)/Carry On** is the seventeenth song from The Great Moon Hoax sung by Matt Dahan as Narrator, Mariah Rose Faith Casillas as Rose Stratford and Curt Mega as Benjamin Park and John Herschel. It is the seventeenth track on the soundtrack album and was written by Matt Dahan.

## Lyrics

**Narrator:**

Sir John Herschel left his telescope

At the Cape of Good Hope

When people came pestering for just a peek

At pyramids on the moon

And the creatures

Roaming round the lunar plains

John said that was insane

Someone brought a copy of the Sun

Great Astronomical Discoveries, part one
John was on a ship

The very next day

Half a world away

Just so he could say

**John:**

It’s a hoax

One big hoax

A fairy tale attributed to me

But it’s a lie

Fake news

This will destroy my credibility

I will not let your

Penny paper press

Turn my labor

Into a fallacious mess

It’s a hoax

One big hoax

And frankly, I'm astonished by your gall

But you will cease

This sham will end

One word from me, and I'll expose you all

**Rose, spoken:**

You're John Herschel

**John, spoken:**

That's right, Miss...

**Rose, spoken:**

Stratford, Rose Stratford. It is such an honor

**John, spoken:**

Yes, now, if you could be so kind as to tell me-

**Rose, spoken:**

I've read every single thing you've ever written a hundred times

**John, spoken:**

Miss Stratford, please, who wrote these stories?

**Rose, spoken:**

Your portrait in the Edinburgh Journal of Science makes you look older

**John, spoken:**

... What?

**Rose, spoken:**

I don’t like it. I can’t believe I just said that

**John, spoken:**

Well, Miss Stratford

**(spoken)**

I don’t like my name being linked to a fantasy

I break my back to be taken seriously

Do you comprehend how hard

It is to bridge the divide

Between scholars and skeptics

Even with science on your side?

Here's the thing

If it was bad

If this silly article was nothing but a rag

I wouldn't even stop to care

I'd throw it in the bin

Astrophysics has a certain way

Of thickening your skin

In short, if this was slop

My worries would be gone

The world would see blatant fiction

Laugh, then carry on

But it was good

It was exact

It was clearly done by someone with the facts

It was framed in technicalities

With little bits of truth

This author knew their history

A scientific sleuth

Maybe in another life

We would have got along

But this slander will not stand

I won't laugh, then carry on

I should be in another hemisphere

Alone with the Milky Way

Free to explore all her majesty

Away from the world

But close to my heart

**Rose and John:**

To a place with no laws of gravity

**Rose, spoken:**

Oh, John. **(catching herself)** Tell me, have you completed your star catalogue?

**John, spoken:**

I believe so...

**Rose and John, spoken:**

The first complete map of the earth’s skies

**Rose:**

Will that include the nebulae

You analyzed last year?

**John:**

I suppose

**Rose:**

Or shed light on the double stars

That paint our hemisphere?

**John:**

Miss Stratford, you are up to date

With all my latest tropes

**Rose:**

If only I had your twenty-two foot

Refractor telescope

The things that I would do...

**John, spoken:**

**(laughing)** You are really something

**Rose:**

Have I said too much?

John, I apologize

If my words are trite

But you've inspired my brother and I

There's a little bit of you

In everything we write

**John, spoken:**

Rose, that is very- Wait, did you say everything you write?

**Rose, spoken:**

... Oh shit

**John:**

It was you

**Rose, spoken:**

Wait...

**John:**

You and your brother

**Rose, spoken:**

I can explain

**John:**

You have brains and skill and access, no

It couldn't be another

So stop the press, I really hate

To spoil all the fun

But I am not a character

For you or anyone

I've worked too hard to be a king

I will not play the pawn

You've had your laugh, ha ha

This cannot carry on

**Rose:** **(counterpoint)**

John Herschel

It’s been fourteen days

How did what we published

Reach eight thousand miles away

It wasn't meant to go this far

Believe me, when I say

John Herschel...

**John:** **(counterpoint)**

It’s a hoax

One big hoax

And frankly, I'm astonished by your gall

But you will cease

This sham will end

Till expose you all

I'll expose you all

**Rose, spoken:**

Forgive me!

**John, spoken:**

Hey! **(thump)**

**Narrator:**

Rose Stratford knocked John Herschel out

With a printing press plate

Anxiety was setting in

She knew this wasn't great

**Benjamin:**

Here it comes

Hot off the presses

Great Astroh my God, Rose, what have you done?

**Rose, spoken:**

Benjamin, help me!

**Benjamin, spoken:**

Who is that?

**Rose, spoken:**

Our featured story!

## External Links

* It's a Hoax (Reprise)/Carry On on iTunes
* It's a Hoax! (Reprise)/Carry On on Spotify