"
Tear Me Down" is the opening song of the musical
Hedwig and the Angry Inch, a play written and directed by
John Cameron Mitchell. Mitchell also stars as the lead character Hedwig Robinson, an
East German boy whose
botched sex change stands as the root of the story line. Due to a mistake in
eir sex change operation,
e has no genitals to speak of, simply an
Angry Inch.
The opening scene of the movie has
Hedwig walking into a
Bilgewater's restaurant, then cuts to her
on stage, holding out her arms to reveal a cape which states "
Yankee Go Home" on one side, and With Me on the other. The
Angry Inch, those ambassadors of
Eastern Bloc Rock, begin playing, and the song begins.
The
bridge of the song is actually
spoken word performed by
Yitzak,
Hedwig's husband, while illustrations play on slides behind
em.
Tear Me Down
Music and Lyrics by
Stephen Trask
Performed by
John Cameron Mitchell and
Miriam Shor
Hedwig:
I was
born on
the other side
of a town
ripped in two
I made it over
the great divide
now I'm
coming for you
Hedwig and
Backup Singers:
Enemies and adversaries
they try and
tear me down
You want me, baby,
I dare you
Try and
tear me down
Hedwig:
I rose from off of the
doctor's slab
like
Lazarus from the pit
Now everyone wants to take a stab
and decorate me
with
blood graffiti and
spit
Hedwig and
Backup Singers:
Enemies and adversaries
they try and
tear me down
You want me, baby,
I dare you
Try and
tear me down
Yitzak:
On
August 12, 1961,
a
wall was erected
down the middle of the city of
Berlin.
The world was divided by a
cold war
and the
Berlin Wall
was the most
hated
symbol of that divide
Reviled.
Graffitied.
Spit upon.
We thought
the wall would stand
forever,
and now that
it's gone,
we don't know who we are anymore.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Hedwig is like that wall,
standing before you in the divide
between
East and West,
Slavery and Freedom,
Man and Woman,
Top and Bottom.
And you can try to
tear her down,
but before you do,
you must
remember one thing.
Hedwig:
Listen
There
ain't much of a difference
between a
bridge and a
wall
Without me
right in the middle, babe
you would be
nothing at all
Hedwig and
Backup Singers:
Enemies and adversaries
they try and
tear me down
You want me, baby,
I dare you
Try and
tear me down
Hedwig (Spoken):
From
East Berlin to
Junction City.
Hello
New York Hello
Missouri
What?
Try to
Tear Me Down?
Yitzak attempts a big ending, only to have
eir microphone
disconnected by
Hedwig, who sings a final "
Tear Me Down" as
the band stops playing, and the scene fades.