Steven Sater's Lyrics

[EugLoven]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 1:42am

Can we just take a moment, please, to say how gorgeous Steven Sater's lyrics are in "Spring Awakening?"

Yeah, they are.

Not only do they paint remarkable images in your head, with your heart as a paintbrush, but they tell some of the most intense and real stories... so delicate and heavy.

I especially appreciate his use of themes with such descriptive and unique words: silver, blue, purple, touch, bruise, known, sing, wound, angel, hand

I am now pushing "PLAY" to listen to this album completely through for the 31st time.

Updated On: 12/19/06 at 01:42 AM

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 1:55am

I couldn't agree with you more. They're absolutely beautiful. The lyrics, partnered with Sheik's music and those kids' fantastic voices all make for a stunning show.

(counts down until CurtainPullDowner comes in and makes negative comments about his lyrics...)

Updated On: 12/20/06 at 01:55 AM

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 8:19am

They are the lowest point of this interesting musical.

[bigbigbill]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 9:05am

Shut up.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 9:35am

blue, purple, sing are unique words?

Hey, i get to have my opinion.

[AC126748]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 9:40am

I'm actually listening to the score right now, and they are a little on the weak side. He uses a lot of near-rhyming, which I hate; if you can't think of two words that rhyme, just don't rhyme. The lyrics to "My Junk" are kinda silly, too. However, there are enough good songs to make up for some of the bad material, and the wonderful cast cannot be faulted.

[steveshack]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 10:17am

I don't have the cast album but I did see the show and enjoyed it. I loved the music but I have to admit that I found his choice to not use actual rhymes to be disconcerting and kept pulling me out of the play. Each half-rhyme and near-rhyme startled me at first. Once I accepted, though, that he wasn't even attempting to go for real rhymes, I made the conscious decision to just ignore them and enjoy the show on its own terms.

[MrSweetNAwful]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 10:22am

"I want the world to find out/ That you're dreaming on me"
Chilling and hauntingly beautiful.

Dark I Know Well, Word of Your Body and Left Behind have some of the most amazing lyrics I've ever heard. They paint such vivid pictures.

[elvisitis1302]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 7:20pm

Though they hardly rhyme.
For this show, having a more rock oriented score, I can deal with this a bit more.
"Come cream away the BLISS.
Travel the world within my LIPS."

or Wonder/Summer?

Not GREAT lyrics, but they work for the most part.

[shiksa_goddess]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 7:31pm

I'm a little torn on Steven Sater's lyrics. In some points I find his choice of words to be cliched, and other times they just don't make sense. However, in The Dark I Know Well, and Left Behind Sater's lyrics and Sheik's score are blended so wonderfully. Sater hits the emotions dead on in both songs. Then of course there are the disaster songs aka My Junk and The Word of Your Body-Reprise.

[Caroline-Q-or-TBoo]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 7:33pm

I'm of the school that believes that the lyrics are shabby. Not bad, shabby.

[EugLoven]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 7:34pm

I think "Word of Your Body (Reprise)" is marvelous.
What don't you like about it?

It's nearly the same as "Word of Your Body" but features some even more beautiful harmonies near the end.

"My Junk" might be one of the songs you skip over when listening on your iPod, but that's not to go without saying that we all haven't been in the same shoes as those kids, especially at that age. So easily distracted thinking about our crush.

[popular_elphie]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 10:20pm

I think the lyrics in My Junk are simple and bubblegum-ish, etc, but the song is just so freaking catchy that I just keep playing it over and over.

I think the lyrics are at their best in "Left Behind", with special mention to "Dark I Know Well".

[theaterdude87]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 11:10pm

the lyrics are great...i loved how it seemed like all the songs were what the actors were thinking...so so great!

[Becoz_i_knew_you21]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 11:25pm

CurtainPullDowner, just go away on commenting on this show.

[gumbo2]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 11:36pm

I like the lyrics for the most part. I agree that some parts of My Junk are a little ridiculous, but I could still listen to that song all day. Left Behind has become one of my favorite songs on the CD. It's just beautiful.

[teka21]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 11:43pm

I'm repeating my reply to different thread here, as it discussed Sater's brilliantly conceived lyrics...
I teach in a Middle School- and SA is "so where they live."
The unjustly criticized lyrics of Sater's perfectly capture the awkward and inarticulate way my 8th graders express their joy and pain. When my students share their feelings with me, I don't take that moment to correct their grammar, I listen with respect. Anyone who spends a great deal of time with this age group will recognize the truth of the SA characters created in the way they speak in their songs. Sheik's passionately emotional, powerful music also speaks their language, and gives SA its heart. Spring Awakening is a remarkable achievement!

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 11:46pm

No.

[LostLeander]

Posted: 12/20/06 at 3:38am

Out of context, the lyrics can be a bit cliched, and sometimes silly, but I completely bought them when I saw the show. I think it's a completely different style of musical theatre writing, and we cannot compare them to, say, Rodgers and Hammerstein or Sondheim.

They are pop songs, and therefore lack the direct references to characters, plot points, etc that a normal musical would have. There is an intentional disconnect between the classical feel of the text, and the rock show feel of the songs, which explore the inner feelings of the characters in an emo, pop punk rockish sort of way.

I've been describing it as a backwards Jukebox Musical.

I think it's absolutely innovative and brilliant.

[EugLoven]

Posted: 12/20/06 at 3:42am

Thank you teka21.

Just another reason why teachers are
my favorite people on the planet.

[shiksa_goddess]

Posted: 12/20/06 at 12:57pm

I understand that Sater is writing from the point of view of a 14 year old, but in my mind it sounds like a 14 year old from the 70's. If I didn't understand this I would take even more issue with the lyrics.

I don't have them in front of me, and I don't know how accurate this site is, but:

I go up to my room, turn the stereo on…
Shoot up some you, and the you is some song.

WHAT?!

I agree that The Word of you Body-Reprise is basically similar and does have gorgeous harmonies at the end. Only problem is the harmonies are Sheik's work, not Sater's. The whole Hanchen/Ernst seduction scene was shabby to me.

I still love the show and even some of Sater's lyrics, but I just felt kind of cold towards most of them.

[dramaqueen2]

Posted: 12/20/06 at 1:11pm

you guys keep talking about rhymes.. but who said there has to be rhyme to classify a song/score as "beautiful."

there has been enough poetry and verse written without rhyme, and have gone on to be called some of the best and most innovative.

so, i say, who cares about the poetic device and format of the songs, and just listen and enjoy them.

and you're probably getting "pulled out of the show due to sater's near rhymes" because you're analyzing and listening for it. so stop digging for problems and just take it for what it is. don't bring it down, lift it up.

i'm finished. happy holidays, everyone. =)

[little_sally]

Posted: 12/20/06 at 2:01pm

I love the show, and I can't stop listening to the score (like I've said in other threads, I think it's fantastic) but the lyrics are sort of hit and miss. There are some really great ones in some songs but in others, like "My Junk" they are pretty silly.

[joniray]

Posted: 12/20/06 at 2:25pm

I can't speak for Steve and others but what I find so distracting isn't that he doesn't use rhymes but that he seems to be trying to rhyme and he keeps missing.

It's totally okay not to rhyme (although I think rhyming is a great way to get audiences to understand a lyric on first listen) but it should be clear that the lyricist is doing that on purpose. When lyricists use near-rhymes, it just sounds like they are either too lazy to come up with a real rhyme, or they think that "time" and "mine" do really rhyme (and therefore don't know what a rhyme actually is).

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 6/8/07 at 10:51am

Bumping this because I thought some of you would enjoy it...
http://www.ibabuzz.com/backstage/2007/06/05/tony-week-here%e2%80%99s-steven-sater