
Track Title:               Maria


Prime Artist:              Unknown
Lyrics by:                 Oscar Hammerstein II     (O. Greeley Clendenning H. II)
Music by:                  Richard Rodgers

From the Show:             The Sound Of Music  1959 (S)  1965 (M)
From the Film:             The Sound Of Music  1959 (S)  1965 (M)


Lyrics:

[Berthe]
She climbs a tree
And scrapes her knee
Her dress has got a tear.

[Sophia]
She waltzes on her way to mass
And whistles on the stair.

[Berthe]
And underneath her wimple
She has curlers in her hair!

[Sophia]
Maria's not an asset to the abbey.

[Berthe]
She's always late for chapel,

[Margaretta]
But her penitence is real.

[Berthe]
She's always late for everything,
Except for every meal.

[Mother Abbess]
I hate to have to say it
But I very firmly feel

[Berthe and Sophia]
Maria's not an asset to the abbey!

[Margaretta]
I'd like to say a word in her behalf.
Maria makes me laugh!

[Sophia]
How do you solve a problem like Maria?

[Mother Abbess]
How do you catch a cloud and pin it down?

[Margaretta]
How do you find a word that means Maria?

[Berthe]
A flibberti gibbet!

[Sophia]
A willo' the wisp!

[Margaretta]
A clown!

[Mother Abbess]
Many a thing you know you'd like to tell her,
Many a thing she ought to understand.

[Margaretta]
But how do you make her stay
And listen to all you say,

[Mother Abbess]
How do you keep a wave upon the sand?

[Margaretta]
Oh, how do you solve a problem like Maria?

[Mother Abbess]
How do you hold a moonbeam in your hand?

[Margaretta]
When I'm with her I'm confused
Out of focus and bemused,
And I never know exactly where I am.

[Sophia]
Unpredictable as weather,
She's as flighty as a feather,

[Margaretta]
She's a darling,

[Berthe]
She's a demon,

[Margaretta]
She's a lamb.

[Sophia]
She'd out-pester any pest,
Drive a hornet from his nest,

[Berthe]
She could throw a whirling dervish
Out of whirl.

[Margaretta]
She is gentle,
She is wild,

[Sophia]
She's a riddle.


[Margaretta]
She's a child.

[Berthe]
She's a headache!

[Margaretta]
She's an angel!

[Mother Abbess]
She's a girl.

[All]
How do you solve a problem like Maria?
How do you catch a cloud and pin it down?
How do you find a word that means Maria?
A flibberti gibbet!
A willo' the wisp!
A clown!
Many a thing you know you'd like to tell her,
Many a thing she ought to understand.
But how do you make her say,
And listen to all you say?
How do you keep a wave upon the sand?
Oh, how do you solve a problem like Maria?
How do you hold a moonbeam in your hand?

Contributed by Carlene Bogle
<Piscescar9@cs.com>
www.thepeaches.com/music/


