Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens (from the musical The Mask Of Joy) By Boat, by foot or carriages To a celebrated night in London

Come Royalty or wanton baggages To the revelry of Babylon And a ticket is a shilling Its a thrilling top-billing Tonight is the Ridotto in a Masquerade And if pleasure is your motto Then youre gonna love the grotto Let the bells announce the opening Of the Tin Cascade If promenading is your forte The illuminated walks for you If your fancy is a little more naughty Then the lovers walk is tried and true All of nature titillating Nightingales participating Even Cupid is awaiting With his arrow as a bait And the musics animating The paintings fascinating While the bars coordinating For the fashionably late. Youll never get to heaven coz the heavens have arrived No need for heaven its paradise And you can be a saint or the devil in disguise Be who you want coz you've arrived We're going to have a ball For this is where the angels fall In the Princes Pavilion Dressed in Vermilion We danced the Cotillion Until we dropped Under the careful management of Mr Tyers What had fallen to a den of vice Is an extremely successful and commercially viable enterprise Its always possible to meet ones friends Hear new songs, see the latest trends Its not difficult to be overwhelmed and constantly surprised. A Princess or a shepherdess The difference is hard to tell And Beaus and Belles are out of this world When theyre not within the sound of Bow Bells. And it really is a pity When youre living in the city That the sticks prohibitively are a bit far off Since the train is not invented We must remain contented

And we mustnt be prevented From a night of Love We'll never get to heaven coz the heavens have arrived No need for heaven its paradise And you can be a saint or the devil in disguise Be who you want coz you've arrived We're going to have a ball For this is where the angels fall See You Next Tuesday For Im otherwise engaged till Sunday Then Ive got a busy day on Monday But Im sure that it can wait till then? See you next Tuesday Cant do next Monday See you next Tuesday Cant wait till then! Would you like another piece of ham? See through it; read the programme! It could stretch from here to Birmingham Although Id never want to go! Youre Welcome, welcome to the pleasure garden Youre Welcome, welcome to the green retreat Youre Welcome, welcome to the pleasure garden At Vauxhall everybody meets Thats everybody, everybody Everybody, everybody Everybody everybody meets Everybody.etc Welcome to the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens Welcome, welcome, welcome to all our friends.

Stuart Wood Music 2012