Worst Broadway Lyric ever?- Page 8

Posted: 1/26/06 at 5:35pm

I adore Rent, but I find myself cringing during various parts of the songs because some of them are lyrically awful or have just ONE bad line that sticks out like a sore thumb.

"I Should Tell You." Awful song, even worse lyrics. I always find myself wondering if Adam Pascal is wondering what the f*ck he's singing. "Without You" is a step above ISTY and a decent song, but it's also a great example of horribly cliche lyrics. Ugh.

Others:
"I'll call. I hate the fall."
"Think twice before you pooh-pooh it."
"Let's go eat. I'll just get fat."
...and various others.

Thankfully, the greatness of Rent overshadows its lyrical shortcomings.

[Piazzaslight]

Posted: 1/26/06 at 5:37pm

Another RENT adorer over here, but I CAN'T STAND the following lyric:

Why does distance make us wise?

I just HATE that lyric. Love the rest of the song, though.

[emo_geek]

Posted: 1/26/06 at 5:46pm

So many brooklyn lyric haters...yet I still think raven has some heart touching moments.

[LaVieHilary]

Posted: 1/26/06 at 6:55pm

That ones from RENT in You'll See

"And you broke your word, this is absurd" and "think twice before you pooh-pooh it" I do love the arrangement of that song but the lyrics are just ehh. The "I like boys" "boys like me" isn't the best fit either. Oh well, it is what it is.

[Katt]

Posted: 1/26/06 at 7:55pm

At least the Rent lyrics now aren't as bad as the NYTW lyrics.

"Can't find the...right brain" and "Use your right brain, there's so much to care about..." Come to mind

"You're the coachroach in my jam, the hepetitis in my clam, the extra ten pounds on my scale."

And from Wicked...the "We deserve each other" lines. They just really irritated me.
Updated On: 1/26/06 at 07:55 PM

[freelancer]

Posted: 1/26/06 at 8:15pm

There are bridges we crossed we didn't know we crossed until we crossed.

[Musical_nerd]

Posted: 1/26/06 at 8:23pm

I'm too lazy to look back and find out who said this... but whoever was talking about Roger randomly expressing his hate for a season:

You literally made me lol. I don't know why.. but.. hehehehehehe...

[Katt]

Posted: 1/26/06 at 8:28pm

I actually never thought about it as he hates a season. I always thought of it more that Roger hates it that his "fall" to a low point in his life once again and he's running away. Yes, I've analyzed this a lot.

Posted: 1/26/06 at 8:39pm

Not the worst lyric, but the worst matching of a lyric to music. This, from WITH ONE LOOK in SUNSET BOULEVARD: 'THEY'LL say Nor-ma's back a-gain!". Why on earth didn't they write something like "Nor-ma's back where she be-longs"?

[My Strongest Suit]

Posted: 1/26/06 at 8:42pm

oh! La Vie Boheme! "Without You" is like, my favorite song from RENT. tear.

[wickedfreak]

Posted: 1/26/06 at 9:00pm

"There are bridges you cross you didn't know you crossed until you crossed" - Wicked. It is one of my favorite show but that lyric annoys me soooo much!

[littleredridinghood]

Posted: 1/26/06 at 10:50pm

They're not the worst lyrics ever, but what comes to mind are the lines in "You'll See Boys" from Rent where it says "boys" about 6 lines in a row...though the NYTW lyrics of Rent are by far the most awful lyrics I have ever heard in my life. Love Rent though.

Also, I love T.S. Eliot, but if you didn't know that Cats was based on his poems, you'd probably think that Cats had the most screwed-up lyrics ever... Updated On: 1/26/06 at 10:50 PM

[Necromancer07707]

Posted: 1/26/06 at 11:18pm

Regarding "leave your cheese to sour"... isn't that because cheese and crackers were often served before performances and durig intermission? Or am I just crazy...?

Posted: 1/26/06 at 11:45pm

I love ON THE TWENTIETH CENTURY but remember these lyrics:

"She's a nut. She's a nut. Mrs. Primrose is a nut. Mrs. Primrose is a nut but but but but but but. It's a lie, it's a lie, she's as sane as you are I!" Oy!

"Life Is Like a Train" was equally awful.

[??]

Posted: 1/27/06 at 10:33am

Hi Necro,

Regarding "Leave your cheese to sour", I have always assumed that Pippin is presented as a representation of travelling plays in the middle ages. Basically, set up on a box with magic and dancing and stories etc. Pippin is the story of a troop of players and the "Leading Player" invites we, the audience to sit and enjoy this impromptu story (hence the limited sets etc). But anyway, I'm sure you knew all that.

As for the line, I think it is referring to that in the middle ages, people obviously made cheese, maintained fields etc etc. What the Leading Player is saying to the people of a "village" so to speak is leave your field tending and cheese making (which without constant upkeep would lead the fields to flower and the cheese to sour) and come and sit down and enjoy this musical by the man who will one day compose Wicked.


That was sarcasm by the way.

[Dr. Jaykll]

Posted: 1/27/06 at 11:26am

It never made it to Broadway (folded in a Texas tryout tour that came through Dallas), but the worst lyrics I've ever heard in a show - Selena, the Musical, are as follows:

I want to have your babies
No "buts," no "ifs," no "maybes"

I swear that those lyrics were sung. We left approximately 1.2 seconds afterwards

[caitiesus1522]

Posted: 1/27/06 at 11:31am

O agree with whoever said

I feel charming oh so charming
It's alarming how charming I feel

That is just bad

[singingwendy]

Posted: 1/27/06 at 12:03pm

w a woman who'll kiss on a very 1st date,
Is usually a hussy,
And a woman who'll kiss on the second time out,
Is anything but fussy,
But a woman who'll wait 'till the 3rd time around,
Head in the clouds, feet on the ground,
She's the girl he's glad he's found,
She's his Shipoopi.

Shipoopi, Shipoopi, Shipoopi,
The girl is hard to get.
Shipoopi, Shipoopi, Shipoopi,
But you can win her yet.

Walk her once just to raise the curtain,
Then you walk around twice and you make for certain.
Once more in the flower garden,
She will never get sore if you beg her pardon.

Do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si, do,
Si, la, sol, fa, mi, re, do.

Squeeze her once when she isn't lookin'.
If you get a squeeze back that's fancy cookin'.
Once more for a pepper-upper,
She will never get sore on her way to supper,


Yeah....that's the best it gets!

[Compose4Life]

Posted: 1/27/06 at 12:07pm

A lot of people are expressing dislike to a lot of RENT lyrics, but I honestly think the lyrics are fitting for the show. I think those lines add to the style of the show and the characters. Can you imagine the show without those lyrics? I can't!

[bschneid76]

Posted: 1/27/06 at 1:42pm

"Don't want the pie that's in the sky...I want the pie before I die" -- JENNI

[wonderwaiter]

Posted: 1/27/06 at 2:14pm

How'd we get 8 pages in without someone mentioning Starlight Express? I just pulled out the booklet from my two-disc OCR (which I'm ashamed to admit I own), to try to find the worst one. I couldn't do it. It's the whole show. Every stinking word.

[Color and Light]

Posted: 1/27/06 at 2:22pm

Maybe it's just an unspoken sort of agreement that most people find Starlight Express to be awful, wonderwaiter.

"My name is Lancelot./I'm big, and strong, and hot./Occasionally I do/Some things that I should not" from Spamalot always hurts. It pains me, namely because I'm such a Python freak, but I just can't bring myself to really like Spamalot.

Updated On: 1/27/06 at 02:22 PM

[children&art]

Posted: 1/27/06 at 2:55pm

anyone notice how many times Stephen Schwartz comes up in this thread? Pippin, Godspell, Wicked, any Children of Eden? hmmm, what does this say about the man - well i know it serves to further support a mindset i have about him.

[WickedOne2]

Posted: 1/27/06 at 3:07pm

"Would it be all right by you
If I de-greenify you?" from Wicked

"I'll just get fat, its the one vice left when you're dead meat" from Rent

[hoedown]

Posted: 1/27/06 at 3:12pm

don't know if anyone has said this one yet....

"we'll fight our way through life
we'll disagree the best we can..."
(Little Women)

when i heard that lyric i knew that Louisa May Alcott was rolling over in her grave. it made me want to throw up. seriously.... did the lyricist read the book?