So good to meet you, Mr. Chess.
This is a beautifully written song. Penned by lauded playwright Steven Sater and set to music by Duncan Sheik (you remember Barely Breathing, right?). They were inducted into the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame for their collaborative success with the Tony award-winning Broadway play, Spring Awakening. This song is from an earlier collaboration of theirs, an album released by Duncan Sheik called Phantom Moon. You should buy it. There’s a link at the bottom to video of Sheik performing “Mr. Chess” (the record’s first track) at the induction party, accompanied by strings and two of Spring Awakening’s original cast members.
So good to meet you, Mr. Chess
I’ve always heard that you’re the best
At housing knights and castles high up in the air
so I beseech you, Mr. Chess
To let me sleep inside your bed
And would you sleep too, would you sleep too in the chair?
You see, I dream of may things
Of floating, solitary kings
Of pawns and people with blue sequins through their hair
The jesters sings, the bishop brings
The queen a hollow following
And all the pawns and people stop and people stare
So, I too stop
At three o’clock
I stumble to your door
And knock
And ask to see you, ask to be you, Mr. Chess
O, Mr. Chess
Now, I beseech you, Mr. Chess
To let me sleep, to let me rest
To let me dream, to let me sing without a care
And I will dream you things so fair
I’ll sing you castles in the air
And I will sleep too
I will sleep too
I will rest
O Mr. Chess, my Mr. Chess
