Musicals – Sunset Boulevard - The Phone Call lyrics

NORMA
Hello, is this Gladstone 9281? Miss Schaefer?...
Hello, Miss Schaefer, you must forgive me for calling so late, but I really feel it's my duty.
It's about Mr. Gillis...you do know a Mr. Gillis?
Well, exactly how much do you know about him?
Do you know where he lives? Do you know what he lives on?

I want to spare you a lot of sadness
I don't know what he's told you
But I can guarantee you
He doesn't live with mother
Or what you'd call a roommate
He's just a ... I can't say it
Poor Betty
You ask him
I'd love to hear his answer...

...Joe...

JOE
That's right, Betty, why don't you ask me?...

NORMA
Don't.

JOE
...Or better yet, come over and see for yourself. Yes, right now.
The address is ten thousand eighty-six, Sunset Boulevard.

NORMA
Don't hate me, Joe. I did it because I need you. Look at me. Look at my hands.
Look at my face. Look under my eyes. How can I go back to work if I'm wasting
Away?
No! Don't stand there hating me, Joe. Shout at me, strike me, but say you don't hate me...Joe, Joe.

JOE
Come on in.

BETTY
What's going on, Joe?
Why am I so scared?
What was that woman saying?
She sounded so weird
I don't understand...

Please, can you tell me what's happening?
You said you loved me tonight
Shall I just go?
Say something, Joe

JOE
Have some pink champage and caviar
When you go visit with a star
The hospitality is stellar

BETTY
So this is where you're living?

JOE
Yes, it's quite a place, sleeps seventeen
Eight sunken tubs, a movie screen
A bowling alley in the cellar

BETTY
I didn't come to see a house, Joe

JOE
Sunset Boulevard
Cruise the Boulevard
Win yourself a Hollywood palazzo
Sunset Boulevard
Mythic Boulevard
Valentino danced on that terrazzo

BETTY
Who's it belong to?

JOE
Just look around you

BETTY
That's Norma Desmond.

JOE
Right on the money
That's Norma Desmond
That's Norma Desmond
That's Norma Desmond
That's Norma Desmond

BETTY
Why did she call me?

JOE
Give you three guesses

It's the oldest story in the book
Come see the taker being took
The world is full of Joes and Normas
Older woman, very well-to-do
Meets younger man, the standard cue
For two mechanical performers

BETTY
Just pack your things and let's go.

JOE
You mean all my things?
Have you gone mad?
Leave all these things I've never had?
Leave this luxurious existence?

You want me to face that one-room hell
That murphy bed, that rancid smell
Go back to living on subsistence?

It's no time to begin a new life
Now I've finally made a perfect landing
I'm afraid there's no room for a wife
Not unless she's uniquely understanding
You should go back to Artie and marry the fool
And you'll always be welcome to swim in my pool

BETTY
I can't look at you any more, Joe.

NORMA
Thank you, thank you, Joe, thank you...thank you.

What are you doing, Joe?
You're not leavine me?

JOE
Yes, I am, Norma.

NORMA
You can't! Max!

JOE
It's been a bundle of laughs
And thanks for the use of the trinkets
A little ritzy for the copy desk back in Dayton

And there's something you ought to know
I want to do you this favour
They'll never shoot that hopeless script of yours
They only wanted your car

NORMA
That's a lie! They still want me!
What about all my fan-mail?

JOE
It's Max who writes you letters
Your audience has vanished
They left when you weren't looking
Nothing's wrong with being fifty
Unless you're acting twenty

NORMA
I am the greatest star of them all.

JOE
Goodbye, Norma.

NORMA
No one ever leaves a star

REPORTER
And as dawn breaks over hte murder house, Norma Desmond, famed star of yesteryear,
Is in a state of complete mental shock.