Noel's Lament

**"Noel's Lament"** is the fifth song featured in *Ride the Cyclone*, as Noel's song.

## Lyrics

**Noel [*speaking*]:**

In my life, I was Noel Gruber who worked at Taco Bell in Uranium City, Saskatchewan. But in my dreams, I played a different role. I was Monique Gibeau, in post. . . war. . . France. . .

A hooker with a heart of black charcoal

I write poems to burn by firelight

Drink champagne and guzzle gin

Good girls call me "the town bicycle"

Don't knock it 'til you've tried my life of sin

Oh, Claude, my pimp knows, never mess with me

Last prick who did that faded quick to black

Oh, I have no idea where to find him, officers

But if you do, please mention that I'd like to have returned the pretty knife

That I stuck

Ten

Times

In

His

Back!

For I sing songs until the break of dawn

I embrace a new man every night

My life's one never-ending carnival

**Noel/Choir:**

A whirl of boozy-floozy flashing light!

**Noel:**

I want to be

That fucked up girl

[*Instrumental*]

**Noel:**

He said, "I think I am in love with you."

I've heard that lie a million times before

Oh, tonight I give in to the fantasy

Take love when you can, when you're a whore

For I sing songs until the break of dawn

I embrace a new man every night

My life's one never-ending carnival

A whirl of boozy-floozy flashing light

I want to be that fucked up girl

So now I sell my love for opium

In some rat-infested Chinese dive

At night I burn myself with cigarettes

Just to somehow prove I'm still alive

Eight months later, I catch typhoid flu

Kicked out, I see the ugly light of day

Dying in an ally, a priest kneels down to me--

**Ricky [as a priest, French accent]:**

*My child, do you have any final words to the Lord you'd like to say?*

**Noel [as Monique, French accent]:**

*Oui. Tell Him that, like Him, I choose to* burn out*, rather than fade away!*

**Noel:**

For I sing songs until the break of dawn

I embrace a new man every night

My life's one never-ending carnival

A whirl of boozy-floozy flashing light

For I sing songs until the break of dawn

I embrace a new man every night

My life's one never-ending carnival

A whirl of boozy-floozy flashing light

I want to be that fucked up girl

I wanna be that fucked up. . .

[*Ad-libbing & riffling*]

Girl. . .

**Ocean/Constance:**

Broken heart, a flask of gin

Tattooed with a safety pin

Teeth all stained with nicotine

Running nylons, shattered dreams

Super crusty, holy terror

Wild eyes and black mascara

Broken heart, a flask of gin

Tattooed with a safety pin

Teeth all stained with nicotine

Running nylons, shattered dreams

Super crusty, holy terror

Wild eyes and black mascara

**Noel:**

If I could have just one dream. . .

**Ocean/Constance:**

If he could have just one dream. . .

**Noel:**

I'd be that fucked up girl!

**Mishca/Ricky:**

Hey!

## Trivia

* This song was originally called "Fucked Up Girl".
* This was one of the very first *Ride the Cyclone* songs.
* This song had a lyric about Monique having a child and selling her for money but was cut after 2015.
* A clean version of Noel's Lament is on the cast album.
* In 2008-2013 productions, this song went first instead of "Play to Win"/"What The World Needs".
* In 2008 productions, the speed and pacing of the song were different, with people even stating that they had over 5 versions of the song at one point.
* "Noel's Lament" is actually not a lament, but a ballad. Contrary to this, "The Ballad of Jane Doe" is not a ballad, but a lament.