Dance Of The Robe

(album: Aida (Original Broadway Cast Recording) - 2000)

[Aida:]
It's knowing what they want of me that scares me
It's knowing, having followed, I must lead
It's knowing that each person there compares me
To those in my past whom I now succeed
But how can whatever I do for them now be enough?
Be enough

[Nubians:]
Aida! Aida!
All we ask of you
Is a lifetime of service, wisdom, courage
To ask more would be selfish, but nothing less will do
Aida! Aida!

[Nehebka:]
Your robe should be golden, your robe should be perfect
Instead of this ragged concoction of thread
But may you be moved by its desperate beauty
To give us new life, for we'd rather be dead
Then live in the squalor and shame of the slave
To the dance!

[Nubians:]
Aida! Aida!
All we ask of you
Is a lifetime of service, wisdom, courage
To ask more would be selfish, but nothing less will do
Aida! Aida!

Aida...!

Aida! Aida!
Aida! Aida!
Aida!

[Aida:]
I know expectations are wild and almost
Beyond my fulfillment, but they won't hear
A word of a doubt or see signs of a weakness
My nigh-on-impossible duty is clear
And if I can rekindle our ancestors' dreams, it's enough
It's enough

[Nubians:]
Aida! Aida! Aida!
Aida! Aida! Aida!

[Aida:]
It's enough!

[Nubians:]
Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah...