"Play To Win" was Ocean's original song used in the 2008-2013 productions of Ride The Cyclone. (Canadian Tour)
Play To Win was replaced with 'What the World Needs[1]' when Ride the Cyclone started touring in the United States, primarily due to the fact it had been used since the very first workshops and did not suit a plot-oriented musical format. It was initially written for Ride The Cyclone when it was a part of the Atomic Vaudeville cabaret show, and didn't set Ocean up for a development and change in attitude by the end of the musical, like her song (What the World Needs) does now. When the show came to America, it was decided that Ocean would play the role of the "main character" and she would need to have a beginning and end to her narrative in the show.
"Play To Win" was also originally written when the plot did not involve one choir member having the ability to come back to life, causing Ocean's song to be more about her achievements in life and not what she would achieve if she were to be brought back. Play to Win depicts Ocean having a crisis while she questions her morals, where one half of her brain is represented by her mother, a hard right wing twisted control freak, (Played by Sarah Peltzer or "Jane Doe") and the other her father. A left-wing hippie whose goals are for his daughter to do the right thing. (Played by Kholby Wardell or "Noel Gruber")
Later in the song she is put on the spot in a debate against a wheelchair bound child who is terminally ill, and she has to choose between winning it all and putting her morality aside like her mother wants, and doing the right thing and letting the dying boy win even if it means sacrificing the win for herself, like her father wants. The solvent in this scenario naturally being a talking Karl Marx puppet head that manifests in Ocean's mind as an angel.
Lyrics[]
Ocean:
Daddy said;
Dad (Noel):
"Oh daughter, dear, you fill my heart with pride
Your words, so pure, you're almost round, the truth is on your side!"
Ocean:
"But daddy dear, they cleaned our clock
A zillion points to none
May I use the phone?"
Dad (Noel):
"Aw pumpkin, you need to speak to one of your friends?"
Ocean:
"No, I'm calling mom!"
So I called mom and I told her the whole story
Mom (Jane Doe):
"You did what?"
Ocean:
I spoke from my heart about the facts
Mom (Jane Doe):
"Incentive: if you do well at this debate, you can come live with me.. me.. me.. me.."
Dad (Noel):
"Plot point!"
Mom (Jane Doe):
"Get the pen!"
Ocean:
She told me something that goes a little something like...
Goes a little something like this;
The art to win in arguments ain't changed much over time
You read and rule your public first and then you change their mind
If the judge looks like a hippie, your foe's a right-wing nut
If the judge seems like a holy hostile Pentecostal
Then your foe's a godless hedonistic slut
Constance:
Porno!
Ocean:
Demonize your opponents with personal attacks
Quote some fake authorities and unrelated facts
Create a false dilemma like, "You're with us or you ain't"
Ask them lots of loaded questions
"How can you say that Adolf Hitler was a saint?"
Oh, the tale of human history is one of damn'ed battery
Choir:
It works on the mob every time!
Ocean:
This candy-coated recipe of black and white morality
Choir:
That's how we like our swine, mhm!
Ocean:
The next day at the school debate, my mom's advice applied
We were like marine corps, stealing cookies from girl guides
The judge gave us a standing O!
Constance:
One kid broke down and cried!
Judge:
"And the winner of the Uranium City debate: Miss Rosenburg- and that other girl..."
Ocean:
Yeah, we won by a frickin' landslide
Look, I even got a trophy!
Constance:
We got a trophy?
Ocean:
Yeah, don't touch it, you'll break it
Constance:
Sorry!
Ocean:
In this world, there's just one sin
Choir:
Don't play the game unless you play to win
Choir:
(You play to win)
Ocean:
"Why does my opposition feel the need to defend a pedophile?"
Choir:
(You play to win)
Judge:
"And the winner of the municipal debate, Miss Rosenburg!"
Choir:
(You play to win)
Ocean:
"I'm very upset, my brother just died"
Constance:
"But you don't have a brother?"
Ocean:
"Shut up!"
Choir:
(You play to win)
Judge:
"And the crowd yet again goes wild for Miss Rosenberg-er!"
Ocean:
Don't tell me there's a better use of your ambition
Than to wipe the floor with your own competition
Mommy dearest said there's only one real mission:
Choir:
Play to win
Play to win
Play to win!
Ocean:
Dad was there, and so was mom, for the national debate
But where were my opponents?
They were half an hour late!
And then this kid rolls in with a wheelchair and begs us to forgive
Constance:
He needed an emergency blood transfusion
Turns out he only had three weeks left to live...
Judge:
"Debate topic: are human beings ultimately good?"
Choir:
(You play to win)
Ocean:
"Are- are you kidding me? He's in a wheelchair"
Choir:
(You play to win)
Constance:
"How are you gonna beat this one?"
Ocean:
"Shut up, Constance"
Constance:
"Sorry!"
Choir:
(You play to win)
Mom (Jane Doe):
"What would Glenn Beck do?"
Choir:
(You play to win)
Ocean:
"Aww, he's blind too?!"
Announcer:
"And the opposition calls Miss Rosenburg!"
Ocean:
My heart began to flutter
Tears welled in my eyes
When I looked unto my father
As he hung his head and sighed
And then I saw an angel
In blinding light and sparks
With a hammer and a sickle
It was a winged Karl Marx
And he said: "Child, heaven's awesome
And everything is free
I've been paling 'round with Jesus"
Turns out he's a Communist, just like me
And we got somethin' to tell you
Choir:
(Tell us, comrade!)
Ocean:
And we got somethin' to sing to you
Choir:
(Sing it, comrade!)
Ocean:
You wanna hear it?
Choir:
(Yeah!)
Ocean:
Can you feel the spirit?
Choir:
(Yeah!)
Ocean:
Can I hear it two times?
Choir:
(Yeah, yeah!)
Ocean:
Let's do this!
When you wrestle with poop
Choir:
(Win or lose)
Ocean:
Oh, listen to me child
Choir:
(sing these blues)
Ocean:
It's gonna get on your shoe
Choir:
(Win or lose)
Ocean:
You're gonna be defiled
Choir:
(Gonna be defiled)
Ocean:
When the game is over, you're knockin' on heaven's door
It's only your soul, your soul alone that's keepin' score
You wanna kick out the crutches from a cripple?
Choir:
(Oh no!)
Ocean:
Or push an old lady down the stairs?
Choir:
(Sweet lord!)
Ocean:
Steal a piece of candy from a cryin' little baby?
As long as you're winnin', who cares!
Choir:
(Who cares!)
Ocean:
Take out a kid in a wheelchair
That's the road to perdition!
Soon you're gonna wind up a backstabbing, ass-grabbing
Rubberneck politician!
When you wrestle with poop
Choir:
(Win or lose)
Ocean:
Oh, listen to me child
Choir:
(Sing these blues)
Ocean:
It's gonna get on your shoe
Choir:
(Win or lose)
Ocean:
You're gonna be defiled
Choir:
(Gonna be defiled)
Ocean:
When the game is over, you're knockin' on heaven's door
It's only your soul, your soul alone that's keepin' score
I said, it's only your soul, your soul alone that's keepin' score!
Oh yeah!!
When you wrestle with poop
Choir:
(Win or lose)
Ocean:
Oh, listen to me child
Choir:
(Sing these blues)
Ocean:
It's gonna get on your shoe
Choir:
(Win or lose)
Ocean:
You're gonna be defiled
Choir:
(Gonna be defiled)
Ocean:
When the game is over, you're knockin' on heaven's door
It's only your soul, your soul alone that's keepin' score
When you wrestle with poop
Choir:
(Win or lose)
Ocean:
Oh, listen to me child
Choir:
(Sing these blues)
Ocean:
It's gonna get on your shoe
Choir:
(Win or lose)
Ocean:
You're gonna be defiled
Choir:
(Gonna be defiled)
Ocean:
When the game is over, you're knockin' on heaven's door
It's only your soul, your soul alone that's keepin' score
Who's keeping score! x5
Choir:
(Who's keeping score) x5
Ocean:
It's only your soul
Your soul alone, that's keepin' score!
Trivia[]
- Segments of this song are reused as background music during the dialogue after "Every Story's Got a Lesson", as well as the songs being generally similar.
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