Bought and Sold is one of the quietest and most devastating moments in A Clockwork Heart. Stripped back to a slow, aching tempo in A minor, this reprise follows Rose as she confronts her reflection and the brutal reality of what she has become. Alone with an old guitar and a cracked mirror, she sings of lost innocence, stolen choice, and a world that now treats her as an object to be traded. As Minuet watches from the shadows; Rose’s resignation fractures into a raw, desperate refusal. Intimate, sparse, and emotionally exposed, Bought and Sold is the sound of a spirit breaking and still daring to say no.

(ROSE retreats behind a changing screen. She re-emerges slowly, her dress is shorter and she is draped in red. She walks to the cracked mirror, stares at herself)

(Rose picks up and old guitar and starts to play)

Tempo: 85 bpm Key: Am Chords: Am | Dm | E7 | Am | Dm | E7 | Dm | Am

BOUGHT AND SOLD (CARIVALE OF FUN REPRISE)

Verse 1

How, did I find myself here? I just wanted to see the world, Am I nothing more than, Something to be bought and sold.

Verse 2

Cracked mirror, a broken heart, I just want to go home, But I can’t go back That world’s not mine, I’m now alone.

(MINUET re-enters quietly, watches from the doorway. Her expression breaks — just for a moment)

Outro

So, I’ll just give myself up, Accept my new loathsome world, I’m nothing more than a plaything, To be bought and sold.

…I don’t want to be bought and sold!

(Rose sobs. In silence)