'Be a Pump' was a song sung by Rusty in the original workshop of Starlight Express. The song was cut before the show opened in the West End. The original Rusty, Ray Shell, has said it was his favourite of Rusty's songs.[1]
Placed between 'I Was Robbed' and the 'Starlight Sequence', 'Be a Pump' featured Rusty explaining how his father (not Poppa)[2] told him to accept his limits and not go beyond expectations, and how Rusty had resisted that advice. However, after reflecting on what his father had said to him in the past, Rusty starts to believe that he cannot compete with the other engines.
The melody was taken from two earlier numbers in the show: the verses were sung to the tune of the "who'll go with me?" section of Rusty Why You Looking Sad, and the chorus was sung to the tune of the intro to U.N.C.O.U.P.L.E.D..
Workshop Lyrics[]
Transcribed very carefully from very old footage as no script or written lyrics have been found (yet).
| RUSTY: | Daddy was right, Daddy was right. |
| Don't know why I put up a fight, put up a fight | |
| He said I was crazy, he said I was mad | |
| He said "Son, will you listen to me? I'm your dad! | |
| No one in our family has ever gone far | |
| (?) " | |
| When I said that I wanted to work on the railroad | |
| I wanted some action, I wanted some practice | |
| I wanted to follow (?) that lead | |
| In a parallel arrow away from the shed | |
| But, my Daddy said boldly, "I'm not control" | |
| He said "Be the (?) who saves (?) | |
| You are stationary and that's how you will be | |
| So you just stick by me and stay still | |
| Don't be a stump | |
| Be a pump." | |
| But I said that I wanted to work on the railroad | |
| Not stuck to the ground with the dirt or rock | |
| A slow (?) that came down the line | |
| I'd heard the last story that could have been mine | |
| With a (?) I just picked up my heel | |
| Keep my bolts to the floor and go out of the door | |
| But, my Daddy said "Mh-mh-mh-mh-mh-mh | |
| You (?) stay if you go | |
| You'll come down with the bums | |
| Be a pump" | |
| But, Daddy was wrong, Daddy was wrong | |
| I decided, better be strong, better be strong | |
| So one day I saw that my father (?) | |
| (?) up and I leapt at the (?) | |
| Then I thrust and I heaved | |
| And I practically tore myself out of the floor | |
| But look, I could move, I was free! | |
| The shed had an engine, the engine was me | |
| And, my Daddy, he cried, "You're the laugh of the lot | |
| Come back we can talk | |
| If you don't be a pump | |
| Okay I (?) | |
| We could compromise? If you insist | |
| Be (?)" | |
| But I wanted to move (?) the railroad | |
| I looked every place from Virginia to Maine | |
| No on in my family had ever before | |
| And sorry but Daddy, of course, never saw | |
| So (?) to see the old guy | |
| I told you the date, I was not far away | |
| I decided to head to the old pumping shed | |
| Where I'd wake him in bed and say "Hi!" | |
| That should make him jump | |
| Poor pump | |
| So I went to the shed at the end of the railroad | |
| It was quiet outside and the big door stood wide | |
| I said "Hey there Daddy, it's me, your son" | |
| And good Daddy he listened, "I do not have one." | |
| "My son, he went loco and faced with the fact | |
| He went and he did an unnatural act | |
| He was nothing but shame to our statuary name | |
| And I guess I'm to blame he was not | |
| A (?) and a lump | |
| Be a pump" | |
| So I left him he was resting and headed real slow | |
| Away from the shed but with nowhere to go | |
| And since then I know I'm a train | |
| But deep down in my stump | |
| I'm a pump | |
| I'm a pump. |