Anthony Rapp & Adam Pascal - Tune Up #1 Lyrics

Anthony Rapp & Adam Pascal Lyrics

"Tune Up #1"
(from "Rent (Original Broadway Cast Recording)" soundtrack)

[MARK:]
December 24th, nine PM
Eastern Standard Time
From here on in
I shoot without a script

See if anything comes of it
Instead of my old shit

First shot: Roger
Tuning the Fender guitar
He hasn't played in a year

[ROGER:]
This won't tune

[MARK:]
So we hear
He's just coming back
From half a year of withdrawal

[ROGER:]
Are you talking to me?

[MARK:]
Not at all

Are you ready? Hold that focus, steady
Tell the folks at home what you're
Doing, Roger...

[ROGER:]
I'm writing one great song

[MARK:]
The phone rings!

[ROGER:]
Saved!

[MARK:]
We screen
Zoom in on the answering machine!

Submit Corrections

Writer(s): Jonathan D. Larson

The line "I shoot without a script" is quite appropriate for Mark Cohen because he is a director who wants to make a documentary.

There is a monologue by Mark Cohen before this song when he addresses the audience with a short description of where the action takes place.

This track is called "Tune Up #1" because a tuning guitar serves as an accompaniment to it.

The phone ringing interrupts Roger's line which will happen in the same manner several times during the musical. It shows his career as a musician: every time he is close to writing his "big song" he's got interrupted by something, usually unpleasant.