I am working again for a big software company. They have asked me to help to define their strategy. To make this work I wanted to talk with their CEO. His secretary phoned me and I heard that his mother died last night. She died at the age of ninety.
I talked with his secretary about how strange it is when your mother dies and your parents are gone. My father died much earlier. I am their only child.
With the death of your last parent your childhood is wiped out. Suddenly you are the oldest of your generation. With the death of your last parent not only your childhood but also her childhood is wiped out.
She was a storyteller (like me) and I learnt a lot about what happened in the beginning of the 20th century. My mother was born in 1914, the beginning of the First World War. Her father was working at a famous Publisher in Leiden (Brill). He was a typesetter. He was fired when the economy collapsed (the Great Depression) and his family (four daughters) became very poor. His wife and children were forced to work in the houses of the rich people.
My mother did not finish school. I was her only child and she projected, like all parents, a better future in me. I was a bright person and I was stimulated to learn, learn, learn, read, read, and read. I am a product of her imagination.
My grandfather was a christian socialist. My mother was also a revolutionary person. She was a feminist. She believed in the equality of males and females. She was a pacifist.
I was not allowed to play with weapons. She opposed alcohol and I was not allowed to drink. She was also a Christian. She believed in “giving away everything to the poor” and she practised her faith al her live. I am a product of her ideals.
Later in life she became a very critical person. She gave away everything but nobody gave her back what she gave away. When she was old she was alone and she wanted (!) me to visit her. She even demanded this. In the end of her life she got dementia.
I tried to help her but I was unable to fulfill her dream. She wanted to live with me but this was impossible. I cried. I tried to find a solution. Many advisors visited and promised beautiful things.
Every time they did not keep their promises because there was a shortage in mental care for old people with dementia. I became very angry. I phoned, talked, send letters but nothing worked.
My mother and my father worked with numerous others to rebuild the Netherlands after the war. When she was old The Netherlands was a very rich country but the government was unable to take care of aged people.
I know why.
You know why.
Money makes the world go around
The world go around
The world go around
Money makes the world go around
It makes the world go ’round.
A mark, a yen, a buck, or a pound
A buck or a pound
A buck or a pound
Is all that makes the world go around,
That clinking clanking sound
Can make the world go ’round.
[GIRLS]
Money money money money money money
Money money money money money money
Money money money money money money
Money money
[EMCEE]
If you happen
To be rich,
[GIRLS]
…….Ooooh
[EMCEE]
And you feel like a
Night’s enetertainment,
[GIRLS]
…Money
[EMCEE]
You can pay for a
Gay escapade.
[GIRLS]
Money money
Money money
Money money
Money money
[EMCEE]
If you happen to
To be rich,
[GIRLS]
…….Ooooh
[EMCEE]
And alone, and you
Need a companion
[GIRLS]
…Money
[EMCEE]
You can ring-ting-
A-ling for the maid.
[EMCEE]
If you happen
To be rich
[GIRLS]
…..Ooooh
[EMCEE]
And you find you are
Left by your lover,
[GIRLS]
…Money
[EMCEE]
Though you moan
And you groan
Quite a lot,
[GIRLS]
Money money
Money money
Money money
Money money
[EMCEE]
You can take it
On the chin,
[GIRLS]
…..Ooooh
[EMCEE]
Call a cab,
And begin
[GIRLS]
…Money
[EMCEE]
To recover
On your fourteen-
Carat yacht.
[EMCEE]
Money makes the world go around,
The world go around,
The world go around,
Money makes the world go around,
Of that we can be sure.
(….) on being poor.
[ALL]
Money money money-
money money money
Money money money-
money money money
Money money money money money money
Money money money money money money
Money money money money money money
[DANCE BREAK]
[EMCEE AND GIRLS (In Canon)]
If you haven’t any coal in the stove
And you freeze in the winter
And you curse on the wind
At your fate
When you haven’t any shoes
On your feet
And your coat’s thin as paper
And you look thirty pounds
Underweight.
When you go to get a word of advice
From the fat little pastor
He will tell you to love evermore.
But when hunger comes a rap,
Rat-a-tat, rat-a-tat at the window…
[GIRLS]
At the window…
[EMCEE (spoken)]
Who’s there?
[GIRLS (spoken)]
Hunger!
[EMCEE (Spoken)]
Ooh, hunger!
See how love flies out the door…
For
[EMCEE]
Money makes
The world…
[GIRLS]
…Go around
[EMCEE]
The world…
[GIRLS]
…Go around
[EMCEE]
The world…
[GIRLS]
…Go around
[EMCEE]
Money makes the
…. Go around
[GIRLS]
…Go around
That clinking
Clanking sound of
Money money money money money money
Money money money money money money
[EMCEE]
Get a little,
[GIRLS]
Money money
[EMCEE]
Get a little,
[GIRLS]
Money money
[EMCEE]
Money money
[GIRLS]
Money money
[EMCEE]
Money money
[GIRLS]
Money money
[EMCEE]
Mark, a yen, a buck
[GIRLS]
Get a little
[EMCEE]
Or a pound
[GIRLS]
Get a little
[EMCEE]
That clinking clanking
[GIRLS]
Get a little
Get a little
[EMCEE]
Clinking sound
[GIRLS]
Money money
Money money…
[EMCEE]
Is all that makes
The world go ’round
[GIRLS]
Money money
Money money
It makes the world go round!
I miss my mother.
