The Haves Have Naught

The Haves Have Naught
-Mr. Usher-
Just look at that shopkeeper, peddling his wares
Shouting his sales pitch, but nobody cares
Don’t you wonder what keeps him there, day after day?
Begging for gold, as his hair turns to gray

Blindly they’re bounding apace
Starving for mercy in a merciless place
Only a fool would make martyrs from heathens
And find them so lively when they’re barely breathing
Just barely breathing

-Hunter-
Just look at that toymaker, grinding his gears
Turning no profit, but he doesn’t care
He keeps smiles on faces, day after day
The children keep sadness and suffering at bay

Blissfully bounding apace
Searching for mercy in a merciless place
Only a monster makes fodder from saints
And finds them so worthless when they’re full of grace
So full of grace

-Mr. Usher-
But what better use of hookers and thieves
Than greasing the wheels of perfect machines
That hum into life a harmony of industry?

-Hunter-
But what is the use of cutting them down
To smother and choke the soul of our town?
I know there is another way

-Both-
But, what is so wrong with giving them purpose?
(Just how could you weed them out?)
(Degrading them without doubt)

A man like yourself could bring worth to worthless
(You’re bleeding them dry)
(They live and die like you and I)

Without the guidance of rulers and tyrants
(And under your guidance; the hands of a tyrant)
These people will just tear themselves apart

-Hunter-
Just look at that charlatan steeped in deceit
A threat to the young, to the old and the meek
Don’t you wonder what made him so vicious, so sick?
So far out of balance, so cruel and so callous?
So married to malice?

🌲🌲🌲

What happens?
Mr. Usher arrives in the City and meets Hunter, its Mayor, with a proposal. Incorrectly reading Hunter as a more corrupt person than he actually is, Mr. Usher suggests he reemploy the poor, criminal, and dispossessed citizens of the City as drudge workers in a massive industrialisation effort. Again boosting Hunter’s confidence in himself, Hunter rejects the proposal, seeing it as profoundly inhumane and Mr. Usher himself as a monster beyond monsters.

What’s in a name?
‘The Haves Have Naught’ — basically, ‘The Wealthy Upper Crust Have Nothing’ aka ‘The 1% Are Morally Bankrupt’. Alluding to how Mr. Usher proposes that Hunter could become very powerful by exploiting the underclass of the City, but Hunter rejects this proposal as it presents nothing he values or wants.

Whose viewpoint?
Hunter, with Mr. Usher as a duet.

🌲🌲🌲

>Just look at that shopkeeper, peddling his wares / Shouting his sales pitch, but nobody cares / Don’t you wonder what keeps him there, day after day? / Begging for gold, as his hair turns to gray
Woah hello! Right in to this one. We’re continuing immediately from the ending instrumental passage of Mr. Usher (On His Way To Town), with Hunter and Mr. Usher talking as they go about the town. They have probably been hanging out for a while now, with that being represented by the ending passage of Mr. Usher (OHWTT). But what are they talking about?

Well, Mr. Usher, as we’ll see, has probably been proposing to Hunter ways to stimulate and innovate business in the City. Hunter has been wary about this proposal so far, and we’re coming in to this song as the conversation reaches its most crucial point, where Mr. Usher presents his argument for why Hunter should accept, and Hunter giving his argument as to why Mr. Usher’s proposal is wrong. Despite the tense underbelly, my impression is that their meeting and talk up to this point has been basically cordial, in the carefully diplomatic way of politicians.

And also, hey new voice and it’s not just me going ‘oh that’s so-and-so’s intonation, trust me’, it’s a different dude singing! Yeah, this song is a duet so Casey wanted the speakers to be distinct, more distinct than he could get by doing the intonation thing. Say hi to Gavin Castleton, who’ll be singing as the voice of Mr. Usher through this song, while Casey sings (like usual) as the voice of Hunter.

SO, Mr. Usher and Hunter are on a street, and Mr. Usher points out a shopkeeper to Hunter. The shopkeeper is old and has been in business for a long time, but he’s plainly not making much money. He’s poor, barely scraping by, and not profiting from his business. Mr. Usher cynically suggests that there’s no worth in the shopkeeper continuing in this business, and that the shopkeeper is not just stupid, but scum on society’s boot for clinging to this useless enterprise.

Pretty harsh stuff. Why is Mr. Usher saying this to Hunter? Well, because he seems to want Hunter to close the man’s business down. Why would he want that? Probably two ways to take it: we’ll see that Mr. Usher is trying to sell Hunter to the idea of introducing more industry to the City, so he either wants Hunter to seize the man’s business so it can be replaced with some kind of industrial factory-type thing, or he wants Hunter to reemploy the man as a worker in such a factory. Probably both.

Why would Mr. Usher want Hunter to industrialise the City? Again, two main ways to take it. Mr. Usher either thinks he can profit from the City’s industrialisation, or he thinks it will work to inflame hostilities between TP&P and Hunter. The answer here is probably both, again. Part of the demographic Mr. Usher wants Hunter to target is ‘hookers and thieves’ — Dime workers. He is telling Hunter to instate a framework by which he can dismantle the Dime, by reemploying its workers in something ostensibly productive and useful, which will be monumentally difficult for TP&P to counteract even with his blackmail on Hunter. Why? Because by spearheading this push into industrialisation, Hunter’ll be raking in boatloads of money and boosting the City’s GDP to the stratosphere. With that kind of money and that kind of influence, and with a good public face still, he would actually be in a stronger position than TP&P. That is the nature of what Mr. Usher is trying to sell to Hunter.

Of course, I doubt Mr. Usher actually wants Hunter to stay in the picture. Hard to figure without Act VI, but I think Mr. Usher both wants to industrialise the City and remove Hunter/TP&P as players here, so he’s principally looking to have Hunter and TP&P destroy each other first, to establish a power vacuum that Mr. Usher can fill, then swoop in and do whatever he wants.

Anyway, getting a bit ahead of myself here. For now Mr. Usher is just arguing that poor people are worthless and they/their businesses would be better utilised as factory drudges/factories, not zeroing in on things that could necessarily hurt TP&P.

>Blindly they’re bounding apace / Starving for mercy in a merciless place
Lovely line. Mr. Usher’s contempt for not just poor people, but humanity in general is immense. He sees the world through a merciless, cruel, and utilitarian lens, where the weak are meat for the strong and no essence of ‘goodness’ truly exists. Most people are selfish, naive idiots who either don’t see, don’t accept, or can’t adapt to the cruel nature of the world they live in, hence why they’re doing so poorly and earning more of Mr. Usher’s contempt. Probably explains why he’s so upfront and blunt in sharing these views to Hunter; he thinks he’s objectively right to view such weak people as worthless, doesn’t see a need to mince words about it, and doesn’t have any chink in his beliefs that would even let him put on a more palatable persona for Hunter.

>Only a fool would make martyrs from heathens / And find them so lively when they’re barely breathing / Just barely breathing
Mr. Usher criticises Hunter’s idealistic view of the City folk. By Mr. Usher’s perspective, these people that Hunter cherishes and wants to protect are worthless scum who do nothing for themselves or those around them, dependant on the charity of others and clinging to ideas of some fundamental essence of ‘goodness’ to keep them alive. Honestly to Mr. Usher it sounds like these people are barely even human. Again though, by framing them as being utterly miserable and set in their lot, he’s encouraging Hunter with the idea that it’s not like uprooting their worthless lives will make them more miserable, and if it does then who even cares.

Man. Zero empathy. You can contrast this again against TP&P, who isn’t a great guy himself, but at least understands the mental effects his villainy has on people (and loves it). Like he’s quick to judge the people he judges as bad or exploitable people, when to Mr. Usher it’s more like they’re animals or numbers or dirt.

>Just look at that toymaker, grinding his gears / Turning no profit, but he doesn’t care / He keeps smiles on faces, day after day / The children keep sadness and suffering at bay
Hunter gives his rebuttal. He zeroes in on the important things that Mr. Usher doesn’t see when he looks at those around him — for example, the ‘shopkeeper’ is not just a faceless ‘shopkeeper’ grubbing for cash in a failing business — he’s a toymaker, who passionately puts his heart into his craft. The money isn’t as important to him as the joy and wonder he’s able to bring to children, who in turn bring joy to those around them by their innocent wonder and happiness. So Hunter doesn’t need to wonder why the toymaker has remained in this business so long; to him, it’s obvious that it’s a labour of love that makes the world just a little bit happier.

>Blissfully bounding apace / Searching for mercy in a merciless place
Hunter concedes that the world is cruel, but that’s why people such as the toymaker do things to make it a little less cruel. It’s not that they’re blind or stupid, it’s that they are choosing hope, trust, comfort, and kindness over materialistic, utilitarian strife and misery. It’s by their own desire to find mercy that they propagate it and indeed start making mercy something that can be found.

>Only a monster makes fodder from saints / And finds them so worthless when they’re full of grace
Hunter sees incredible virtue and beauty in those who can still bring humble happiness, and pursue goodness, despite the darkness and harshness of the world they live in. Given how horrible Hunter knows the world can be when you’re cornered in the dark, the strength and pureheartedness of such people as the toymaker is truly inspiring, precious, and marvellous to him. Apart from just being a rebuttal of Mr. Usher, we’re finally hearing Hunter assert himself on his values with a real kind of confidence — Mr. Usher is so completely antithetical to everything Hunter cherishes or believes, it’s actually stabilising how his utter villainy draws out Hunter’s own soul and convictions.

>But what better use of hookers and thieves / Than greasing the wheels of perfect machines / That hum into life a harmony of industry?
Mr. Usher contests Hunter again.

‘But what better use of hookers and thieves’ -> WHOOPS! Mr. Usher, were you snubbing Hunter (an identity thief) and his lover (an ex-hooker) intentionally, or did you skimp on your research? Apart from Mr. Usher dismissing the downtrodden (escalating to criminal) again, I take this as an indication that Mr. Usher went into this conversation severely misreading Hunter. He can probably figure that Hunter is corrupt and compromised by TP&P due to the reopening of The Dime, but he apparently doesn’t know much else about his character, or perhaps hasn’t even realised yet that identity theft was involved and Hunter has a whole life and aspirations disparate from the Son persona.

Anyway, so this is where all that ‘Mr. Usher is trying to get Hunter to industrialise the City’ stuff comes from. He seems to be telling Hunter here that he can repurpose ‘useless’ people like hookers, thieves, misc criminals, and the poor as workers for major industries, and everyone would be better off for it. Genuinely, Mr. Usher doesn’t seem to see the benefit of what Hunter’s saying, and rather seems confused as to the rationale why Hunter is resisting his proposition. Like okay, the stupid failing toymaker soon to go out of business makes children happy… buuuut how about cleaning the streets AND generating some FAT GDP? You know, contributing to society and all that?

Maybe he’s just a good enough manipulator that I’m buying him at face value too, but he sounds pretty upfront in his sentiment here that society only matters for its profit margin, and that trash people are best utilised as servants.

>But what is the use of cutting them down / To smother and choke the soul of our town?
Hunter again rejects Mr. Usher. He can see Mr. Usher’s broad point that investing in heavy industrialisation could bring the City into an economic boom, and the broad point that ‘hookers and thieves’ generally aren’t contributing much, but he doesn’t regard it as worth it if it means strongarming people out of their existing passions/pursuits or forcing them to become these dehumanised ‘labour units’. He sees Mr. Usher’s plans as oppressive, miserable, and inherently damaging to the soul and character of the City and its people, even the lowest rungs of it, who don’t deserve to be stomped on in this way.

>I know there is another way
Hunter also sees how Mr. Usher’s proposal can be used against TP&P, but refuses to be so controlling, dehumanising, or cruel. He would rather use other methods to combat TP&P — given that Hunter already had scorched earth ideas back in The Moon, hearing this horrible alternative of Mr. Usher’s may be encouraging him more and more to the idea that yes, actually, the scorched earth idea (or some other idea of strong, good-infused resistance against TP&P) is maybe worth trying. (Such resistance also solves the ‘hookers and thieves’/’misery in the City’ problem as TP&P is the driver of lots of that.)

>But, what is so wrong with giving them purpose? / (Just how could you weed them out?) / (Degrading them without doubt)
LOVE these verses with their voices overlapping. Parentheses is Hunter, no parentheses is Mr. Usher. The two get into the most involved part of their argument, their worldviews inherently conflicting.

‘But, what is so wrong with giving them purpose?’ -> WOW. The real mindblowing part of this isn’t so much that Mr. Usher thought this would work on Hunter, but that he doesn’t seem to see why it’s not working, ie, he actually is so out of touch to be asking this as a serious question. I guess it’s easy to view people as units or resources when you’re sitting on the top of things, and not really care about their personal dreams or aspirations, huh. If he even can. The only purpose to life anyone could have is in Mr. Usher’s world is one either relevant to him or that can be reflected as a number.

‘(Just how could you weed them out?) / (Degrading them without doubt)’ -> Meanwhile, rather than address Mr. Usher’s arguments anymore, Hunter is standing there flabbergasted that he’s hearing such words actually come out of a person’s mouth. He’s beyond even hypothetically entertaining the merits or lack of merits in the proposal, he’s busy questioning Mr. Usher’s character as like… it’s so absolutely rotten and cruel, Hunter can barely believe it’s real.

>A man like yourself could bring worth to worthless / (You’re bleeding them dry) / (They live and die like you and I)
Mr. Usher tries to appeal to a corrupt ego that Hunter doesn’t have, while Hunter tries to impress the point that these people he’s regarding as cogs or numbers or cattle are, well, people, individuals, hearts, souls, and trying to get Mr. Usher to empathise on the point that treating them cruelly is wrong.

>Without the guidance of rulers and tyrants / (And under your guidance; the hands of a tyrant) / These people will just tear themselves apart
Mannn. Pretty impressive to have this guy show up and blow TP&P out of the water in two songs as far as wickedness goes.

‘Without the guidance of rulers and tyrants / These people will just tear themselves apart’ -> Yeah, holy hell. Mr. Usher is one of those types who doesn’t think other people are capable of making good or sensible decisions, so forcing them to bend to your will instead and oppressing them is actually a virtuous thing to both their and your benefit, as they’re too stupid or irrational to know what they want or what’s good for them. As we’ve seen though, Mr. Usher is simultaneously too out of touch to understand why people’s passions make them happy. Might just be Mr. Usher trying to sell this idea to Hunter or misreading him again, but I get the impression that this is upfront about how Mr. Usher views the world.

‘(And under your guidance; the hands of a tyrant) / These people will just tear themselves apart’ -> Hunter’s view of this exchange is more sane, though. If Mr. Usher is allowed any kind of influence or power over the City, he’ll drive its citizens into absolute misery.

>Just look at that charlatan steeped in deceit
The conversation ends and Mr. Usher leaves, having failed to sell Hunter to his proposal. Hunter watches him as he goes, sparing some final thoughts for what he has just witnessed.

First of all, Mr. Usher reads to Hunter as a charlatan, a liar. Hunter is now experienced enough to be able to pick out such false deals and sniff out unscrupulous agreements — more than just the premise of the offer being evil and twisted, not to the benefit of anyone it’s purported to benefit, he can likely figure that Mr. Usher would have screwed him over, too.

>A threat to the young, to the old and the meek
More than just a liar, Mr. Usher strikes Hunter as dangerous. He’s the type of person good and innocent city folk desperately need to be protected from, and the type of person Hunter wished to rebuff when he got his seat as Mayor. Probably one of the most heinous examples of it, too. In that way, by rejecting him, Hunter has come into his own as a leader, even if TP&P has been forcing him into a pit.

>Don’t you wonder what made him so vicious, so sick?
The same as Mr. Usher couldn’t understand why the toymaker would stay in a failing business, Hunter can’t understand why Mr. Usher is so heartless and cruel. Like, TP&P is one thing. He’s bad. He’s awful. But this guy… God, he’s pitch black. How does anyone get to be like that? Not even Hunter, at his worst, is anything like that.

>So far out of balance, so cruel and so callous? / So married to malice?
Aside from leaving the question hanging of just how someone as wicked as Mr. Usher could exist, Mr. Usher’s callousness and cruelty have restored some of Hunter’s confidence. Not in the sense of ‘there’s a guy worse than me!’, but more like, Hunter’s natural reaction to this man was to challenge him, rebuke him, refuse him, and ultimately Hunter could not understand or empathise with him at all, as he’s utterly, purely evil. It’s a kind of confirmation that Hunter himself is still good, and will still rise to resist evil where he can. And this time, he did it completely correctly. He didn’t get carried away, he kept firm and true to himself, and the guy left.

It’s another one of the slowly building pillars in his confidence not just in himself, but against TP&P. Maybe it is possible for him to do something… maybe.

>3:36 – 4:09 Instrumental
Something again but I’m not sure. Man, what is that stuff that’s shuffling around? Leaves?

>4:09 – 4:12 Instrumental
Hunter, feeling the way the wind is blowing in the City, returns home to his wife and son.

Mr. Usher (On His Way To Town) | Act V | Light