Caroline, or Change

I can't get the lyrics out of my head from a song called "Lot's Wife" from the musical Caroline, or Change.

The musical is set in 1963 in Lake Charles, Louisiana, during the Civil Rights movement, around the time of the assasination of JFK.

Caroline Thibodeaux is a black maid for a Southern Jewish family, the Gellmans. The Gellmans' young son, Noah, is enamored of Caroline, a woman resistant to the sweep of change she sees around her. Their friendship has intensified since his mother's death. Noah's new stepmother Rose, unable to give Caroline a raise, enlists Caroline's help in a plan to teach Noah a lesson about leaving change in his pants pocket (since Caroline does the family's laundry as part of her duties). Rose tells Noah and Caroline that Caroline should keep the money Noah leaves in his pockets. Caroline loathes taking money from a child – but her own children desperately need food, clothing and shoes.

The punishment goes awry when a $20 bill goes missing, and Caroline's relationship with Noah suffers a painful breakdown, causing a rift between her family and the Gellmans. With the death of JFK and the inspirational speeches of Martin Luther King, the tide of change begins to affect Caroline's life, and she must come to terms with racial turmoil and the end of segregation.

Sixteen feet below seas level
Caught tween the devil and the muddy brown sea...
That money...
That money...
That money reach in and spin me about,
my hate rise up, rip my inside out.

My madness rise up in a fury so wild and I let myself go.
Spoke my hate to a child.
Pennies done that.
Pennies done that.

Pocket change...
Pocket change change me,
pocket change change me,
can't afford loose change,
can't afford change,
changin's a danger for a woman like me,
trapped tween the Devil and the muddy brown sea.

I got to get back to the way that I been
God! Drag me back to that basement again.

Don't know what I said to that little boy...
Always they's been people who hold they head high gettin through.
I cain't, Aint never been no good,
findin joy the way you should,
hopin water turn to wine - hope's fine
hope's fine
hope's fine -til it turn to mud.

And some folks goes to school at nights,
some folks march for civil rights.
I don't.
I ain't got the heart, I can't hardly read.

Some folks do all kinds of things and
black folks someday live like kings
and someday sunshine shine all day
oh sure it true
it be that way
but not for me

This also true:
ya'll can't do what I can do
ya'll strong but you ain't strong like me:
I'm gonna slam that iron down on my heart
gonna slam that iron down on my throat
gonna slam that iron down on my sex
gonna slam it
slam it
slam it
down until I drown the fire out till there ain't no air left anywhere.

What else
what else
what else
What else God
What else God give me an arm for?
SLAM go the iron
SLAM go the iron
FLAT!
FLAT!
FLAT!
FLAT!
Now how 'bout that then?
That what Caroline can do!
That how she re-arrange herself,
that how she change!

Murder me God down in that basement,
murder my dreams so I stop wantin,
murder my hope of him returnin,
strangle the pride that make me crazy!
Make me forget so I stop grievin.
Scour my skin till I stop feelin.

Take Caroline away cause I cain't be her,
take her away I cain't afford her.
Tear out my heart
Strangle my soul
Turn me to salt
A pillar of salt
a broken stone and then...Caroline.
Caroline.
From the evil she done, Lord,
set her free
set her free
set me free.

Don't let my sorrow
Make evil of me.

I really want to see this show someday.

beck