By early in Act II of The Ghost of Wu, Wu Chao has succeeded in becoming Empress, having removed the Emperor’s first wife from the picture. But she is not satisfied. She’s been trying to convince her husband to decree that upon his death, Wu will assume the powers of the Emperor herself, instead of their son.

Kaozong insists on checking with his Confucian advisors, whom Wu views as stuffy and out of touch. In “The Ways of the Young”, we see the Confucians from Wu’s point of view: as foolish old men with nothing useful to say, and certainly no solutions.

Between verses of the song the Confucians toss coins and consult the I Ching for guidance in this matter. The answer, it turns out, isn’t particularly helpful.


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I don’t understand the ways of the young
Such disrespect for principles and mores
Finding something to reject
I detect
In all that came before

We bear the weight of millenia of thought
And venturing we sought
To understand the workings of the world
The voyage of the soul

To understand why human beings eat the pig
The hen, the cow, the fish, the pig
And joyously sit down to dig
Into a roasted parsley sprig

(Coins are tossed.)

We spend our lives always pondering as to why
And wandering we try
To solve the many mysteries of life
The questions of the ages

To understand why day is light
And dark is night
And out of mind is out of sight
Why some mean reach a greater height
Why might is right and hope is bright

(Coins are tossed again. A conclusion is reached.)

We bear the weight of millenia of thought
And venturing we sought
To understand the workings of the world
The voyage of the soul

To understand why some are shy and others bold
And some will never do as they’re told
Why some men are as good as gold
And others make our blood run cold

Why rulers can be so high-strung
Why one can learn a foreign tongue
Why songs are sung when lovers are hung
And never leave the bottom rung
Why rivers cut through land
Why things don’t go as planned
But we’ll never understand
The ways of the young.

Lyrics by Michael Kaulkin and Donna Kaulkin