What's the Use? — Candide Cast Lyrics

What's the Use? Song Lyrics

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OLD LADY
I have always been wily and clever,
at deceiving and swindling and such,
and I feel just as clever as ever,
but I seem to be losing my touch.
Oh, I'm losing my touch!
Yes, I'm clever, but where does it get me?
My employer gets all of my take.
All I get is my daily spaghetti,
while he gorges on truffles and cake!
What's the use?
What's the use?
There's no profit in cheating,
it's all so defeating!
And wrong, oh so wrong,
that I just have to pass it along.

PRINCE RAGOTSKI
That old hag is no use in this jip-joint,
not a sou have a made on her yet.
And the one thing that pays in this clip-joint,
is my fraudulent game of roulette!
It's my game of roulette.
But I have to pay so much protection,
to the chief of police and his men.
That each day when he makes his collection,
I'm a poor man all over again!

OLD LADY & PRINCE RAGOTSKI
What's the use?
What's the use?
A dishonest endeavor and being so clever!
It's wrong, oh so wrong,
if you just have to pass it along!

CHIEF OF POLICE
It's a very fine thing to be prefect,
taking down all the gamblers in town.
My position has only one defect:
that there's someone who's shaking me down!
Who is shaking me down.
For this fellow unhappily knows me,
and he's onto the game that I play.
And he threatens to shed and expose me,
if I do not incessantly pay!

OLD LADY, RAGOTSKI & CHIEF
What's the use?
What's the use?
All this sneaky conniving and slimy contriving!
It's wrong, oh so wrong,
if you just have to pass it along!

BLACKMAILER
I could live very well by extortion,
but I simply can't keep what I earn.
For I haven't a sense of proportion,
and roulette is my only concern!
It's my only concern.
I've a system that's fiendishly clever,
which I learned from a croupier friend.
And I should go on winning forever!
But I do seem to lose in the end.

ALL
What's the use?
What's the use?

OLD LADY
All this cheating and plotting,
you end up with nothing!

ALL
It's wrong, oh so wrong,
if you just have to pass it along!

CHORUS
Pass it along, pass it along,
pass it along, pass it along,
pass it along, pass it along,
pass it, oh pass it, oh pass it along!

ALL
What's the use?
What's the use?
Oh, there's no use in cheating,
it's all so defeating!
And wrong, oh so wrong,
if you just have to pass it along!

[Thanks to Ryan for lyrics]