A song from
Gilbert and Sullivans opera,
Ruddigore. (song #24, in the 2nd act).
I have not seen Ruddigore, and am only noding it because it appears in a slightly modified form in the 1983 movie version of The Pirates of Penzance. It there comes between "When You Had Left Our Pirate Fold" and "Away, Away! My Heart's on Fire". I will not node the modified version, but here's the original.
Robin
My eyes are fully open to my awful situation--
I shall go at once to Roderic and make him an oration.
I shall tell him I've recovered my forgotten moral senses,
And I don't care twopence-halfpenny for any consequences.
Now I do not want to perish by the sword or by the dagger,
But a martyr may indulge a little pardonable swagger,
And a word or two of compliment my vanity would flatter,
But I've got to die tomorrow, so it really doesn't matter!
Despard
So it really doesn't matter...
Margaret
So it really doesn't matter...
All Together
So it really doesn't matter, matter, matter, matter, matter!
Margaret
If were not a little mad and generally silly
I should give you my advice upon the subject, willy-nilly;
I should show you in a moment how to grapple with the question,
And you'd really be astonished at the force of my suggestion.
On the subject I shall write you a most valuable letter,
Full of excellent suggestions when I feel a little better,
But at present I'm afraid I am as mad as any hatter,
So I'll keep 'em to myself, for my opinion doesn't matter!
Despard
Her opinion doesn't matter...
Robin
Her opinion doesn't matter...
All Together
Her opinion doesn't matter, matter, matter, matter, matter!
Despard
If I had been so lucky as to have a steady brother
Who could talk to me as we are talking now to one another--
Who could give me good advice when he discovered I was erring
(Which is just the very favour which on you I am conferring),
My story would have made a rather interesting idyll,
And I might have lived and died a very decent indiwiddle.
This particularly rapid, unintelligible patter
Isn't generally heard, and if it is it doesn't matter!
Robin
If it is it doesn't matter...
Margaret
If it is it doesn't matter...
All Together
If it is it doesn't matter, matter, matter, matter, matter!