Songs of Lyle Rogers and Chuck
("the Hawk") Clarke
(and song fragments) from
ISHTAR
performed by
Dustin Hoffman and Warren Beatty
[brackets indicate hours:minutes into the
film]
exciting notes:
I just found another
website where someone transcribed the entire
script for Ishtar!
Dangerous Business (lyrics and music by Paul Williams) [0:00] and [1:43] and
elsewhere . . .
Telling the truth can be dangerous business.
Honest and popular don't go hand in hand.
If you admit that you can play the accordion,
No one'll hire you in a rock 'n' roll band.
But we can siiinnnngggggg . . . our hearts out (all night)
And if we're lucky, then no neighbors complain.
Nobody knows where the beginning part starts out (sing all right)
But being human we can live with the pain.
Because life is the way we audition for God;
Let us pray that we all get the job.
Cryin' out loud gets you pointed and laughed at
Be like a baby. Only babies should cry. . .
Somebody tell me how that rumor got started.
Some things I know that only God knows why.
But we can siiinnnngggggg . . . our hearts out (all night)
And if we're lucky, then no neighbors complain.
No body knows where the beginning part starts out (sing all right)
But being human we can live with the pain
Hot Fudge Love (uncredited; possibly by Warren Beatty)
[0:09]
Hot fudge love
cherry ripple kisses
Lip smacking, back slapping
Perfectly delicious
Love in my Will (lyrics by May and Williams, Music by
Williams) [0:11]
I promised I'd
love you forever
a
promise I'm planning to keep
You'll be well
taken care of after I'm gone
off
to the land of the big sleep
I'm leaving some
love in my will
Yes,
I'm leaving some love in my will
My life is nearly
over, and time goes by so fast
that
I wanted to give you a present
to
thank you for the past
Oh heartbreak (uncredited) [0:12]
I met her, fell
I loved her well
She walked out, hell
Oh heartbreak
I met her, wham
I met her, bam . . .
Software (Lyrics by May, music by Williams) [0:12]
Software.
I'm looking for software.
I gotta have software.
For my machine.
Echo song (Lyrics by May, music by Williams) [0:13]
Hello (hello) Baby (baby)
Love you (love you), baby (baby)
Portable Picnic (lyrics by May and Williams, music by
Williams) [0:13]
Uh, hot crackers from a barrel
and that's when, the morning. . .
Carol (lyrics and music by Williams) [0:13]
They're going to change her name to Carol
That a lawnmower can do all that (lyrics and music by Paul Williams)[0:13]
Saturday morning
The sound of a lawnmower
touches my heart
. . .
And a lawnmower can do all that! [1:41]
It's amazing!
Wardrobe of Love (lyrics and music by Williams) [0:14]
She said come look there's a wardrobe of love in my eyes
Take your time look around
and see if there's something your size
Half Hour Song (lyrics and music by Hoffman and
Beatty)[0:14]
Half an hour. half an
hour,
Give me a half hour.
Like the last half hour.
Give me a half hour.
Like the last half hour
I want to . .
. (Hoffman?) [0:17]
I want to kiss every inch of you
Get in a clinch with you
Break off an inch of you
Sitting on the edge of my life (lyrics and music by Hoffman) [0:19]
I'm finally on the ledge.
I'm finally on the edge
of
my life.
When the tears won't even come
When the pain is so big
I'm finally on the edge of my life
My Lips are on Fire (lyrics by May, music by Beatty) [1:29]
Water!
My lips are on fire
with my desire
for you.
Let me drink some water,
Oh let me drink some wine
If you're not my daughter,
Will you still be mine?
Have Not Blues (lyrics by May, music by Beatty) [1:30]
All the folks that don't have money
Are they poor? Oh
well, sure.
But that's not poverty baby --
That's not the thought of the Have Not Blues!
They have not got soles on their shoes
But I have not got you
Hello Ishtar (music and lyrics by Paul Williams) [1:40]
Hello Ishtar – you're more than a country
You're a state of mind!
Hello Morocco – you're equally pretty
You'
never gonna get left behind
Hello romance, hello adventure!
I'm having the time of my life,
Most
fun I've had so far,
Here in Morocco, I found the spirit of Ishtar!
I look to Mecca (lyrics by May, music by Williams) [1:41]
Mecca! Mecca!
I look to Mecca and I see
the place where we live in the funny old tree
that we sat under when you first said to me
(Oh whee ooo!)
Harem Girl (music and lyrics by Dustin Hoffman)
[1:41]
I can see her standing in the backyard of my mind.
She cracks her knuckles
and the scab that's on her knee won't go away.
I can see the woman waiting in her eyes,
and I can see the love.
But I can't see the Brooklyn Dodgers in LA
How Big am I? (lyrics by May; music by Williams) [1:41]
I feel so small when I look at the stars!
How big is Venus? How
big is Mars?
I feel so small when I look at the sky.
How big is heaven?
How big am I?
Discarded lyrics
for Dangerous Business:
Telling the truth can be bad news
good news
bad idea
difficult problem
scary predicament
bitter herb
dangerous tunnel
dangerous business
why? because
if yourself
you don't know
if you don't know yourself then you don't know why