CHESS - Das Musical - The Story Of Chess

THE STORY OF CHESS (Concept Album)

Musik	Benny Andersson/Björn Ulvaeus
Text	Tim Rice
Arrangement	Anders Eljas
Gesangspart	Chor
wissenswertes

Chor
Each game of chess means there's one less Variation left to be played Each day got through means one or two Less mistakes remain to be made

Not much is known Of early days of chess beyond a fairly vague report That fifteen hundred years ago two princes fought, Though brothers, for a Hindu throne

Their mother cried For no one really likes their offspring fighting to the death She begged them stop the slaughter with her every breath But sure enough one brother died

Sad beyond belief She told her winning son You have caused such grief- I can't forgive This evil thing you've done

He tried to explain How things had really been But he tried in vain No words of his could satisfy the queen

And so he asked the wisest men he knew The way to lessen her distress They told him he'd be pretty certain to impress

By using model soldiers on A checkered board to show it was his brother's fault They thus invented chess

Chess displayed no inertia Soon spread to Persia Then west Next the Arabs refined it Thus redesigned, it Progressed

Still further yet And when Constantinople fell in 1453 One would have noticed every other refugee Included in his bags a set

Once in the hands And in the minds of leading figures of the Renaissance The spirit and the speed of chess made swift advance Through all of Europe's vital lands

Where we must record The game was further changed Right across the board The western touch Upon the pieces ranged

King and queen and rook And bishop, knight and pawn All took on the look We know today The modern game was born

And in the end We see a game that started by mistake in Hindustan And boosted in the main by what is now Iran Become the simplest and most complicated Pleasure yet devised For just the kind of mind Who would appreciate this well-researched and fascinating yarn