Best & Worst Lyrics in a Score

[laura is broadway]

Posted: 9/15/08 at 9:30pm

Best: Stephen Sondheim's in Sunday in the Park With George. The reason I love the show, lyrics are very relatable even out of context. I love "Why do you insist You must hear the words, When you know I cannot give you words?"

Worst: Leslie Bricusse's in Jekyll and Hyde. "Good n Evil" has the worst lyrics I've heard in my life, and though I enjoy catchiness of the song, the song really has little relevance in the show. I suppose it kind of parallels Dr. Jekyll's theory, but no it really just doesn't work or make since that a stripper would be speculating this.

[Janki]

Posted: 9/16/08 at 4:22am

Broadway should be thankfull "Romeo&Juliet" never made it further than London

"Fools, men are fools.
They're like stubborn mules!"

Honestly...what the f***

[GlindatheGood22]

Posted: 9/16/08 at 7:12am

Best: Sweeney Todd

Worst: probably Little Women

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 9/16/08 at 8:36am

"Broadway should be thankfull "Romeo&Juliet" never made it further than London

"Fools, men are fools.
They're like stubborn mules!" "

Janki, that's only the tip of the iceberg.

What about Notre Dame de Paris:

From nowhere came the age of the cathedrals
The new world began
A new unknown thousand years
For man just wants to rise up where the stars are
And live beyond lies
Live in glass and live in stone

...WHAT?!

Best: Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

[Janki]

Posted: 9/16/08 at 9:34am

Mattbrain;

Remember this one:

"Live for the one I love.
Love as noone has loved.
Give, asking nothing in return.

Free,
free to find my way,
free to have my say,
free to seize the day."

I kinda see what she is saying, but she's (Esmeralda) not that good with words, now is she?

[BustopherPhantom]

Posted: 9/16/08 at 10:29am

Worst: "I Don't Like You" - The Beautiful Game (because I refuse to call it by its new, terrible name until absolutely necessary)

Don't like you
Don't like you
I'm don't think I like you

You're bad
You're sad (please kill me now...)
And I know nicer boys

[Josh Freilich]

Posted: 9/16/08 at 10:34am

In POTO's "Think of Me," try to compare these lyrics:

"When you find that once again you long
To take your heart back and be free"

with these:

"On that day, that not-so-distant day
When you are far away and free"

I like the above ones better, because the one below is just too REPETITIVE.

[EponineAmneris]

Posted: 9/16/08 at 10:54am

INTO THE WOODS has some of the best lyrics ever written.

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 9/16/08 at 2:55pm

Best? I'd have to say "Sweeney Todd." I write a lot of parodies of musicals for a Harry Potter website, and of all of the ones I've done, "Sweeney Todd" was BY far the most difficult-- so many internal rhymes.

Worst? I think a lot of the lyrics for "Woman In White" are terrible. "You Can Get Away With Anything" has great lyrics, but so many of the other songs have surprisingly bad lyrics, especially "I Hope You Like It Here." And though "Evermore Without You" is a beautiful song, it's the same few lines over and over again.

Also, I can't stand a lot of the lyrics from South Pacific, though I guess I can understand, seeing as half the characters don't speak good English.

[timesquare01]

Posted: 9/16/08 at 3:07pm

I would have to agree that Into The Woods has some of the best lyrics I've ever heard.

"You may know what you need, but to get what you want, better see that you keep what you have"

"It's your father's fault that the curse got placed and the place got cursed in the first place."

"Careful the things you say,
Children will listen.
Careful the things you do,
Children will see and learn.
Children may not obey,
But children will listen.
Children will look to you,
For which way to turn,
To learn what to be,
Careful before you say,
Listen to me,
Children will listen.
Careful the wish you make,
Wishes are children,
Careful the path they take,
Wishes come true, not free.
Careful the spell you cast,
Not just on children.
Sometimes the spell may last,
Past what you can see,
And turn against you.
Careful the tale you tell,
That is the spell.
Children will listen."

it is my favorite show lyric-wise.

[WOSQ]

Posted: 9/16/08 at 3:36pm

Considering the music is so good (and the book is better than the music), the lyrics to Man of La Mancha are severely wanting.

Camp in places without any intention of being camp.

[laura is broadway]

Posted: 9/16/08 at 11:02pm

"Also, I can't stand a lot of the lyrics from South Pacific,"

I'd have to disagree..

[laura is broadway]

Posted: 9/16/08 at 11:03pm

"Also, I can't stand a lot of the lyrics from South Pacific,"

I'd have to disagree..

[laura is broadway]

Posted: 9/16/08 at 11:05pm

"Also, I can't stand a lot of the lyrics from South Pacific,"

I'd have to disagree..

[ashley0139]

Posted: 9/16/08 at 11:19pm

My absolute favorite lyrics are from Sunday in the Park. You just can't beat it.

"I chose and my world was shaken, so what? The choice may have been mistaken, the choosing was not."

"Look I made a hat. Where there never was a hat." That one is so simple and yet so complex. Just amazing.

[geekgirl06]

Posted: 9/16/08 at 11:46pm

" What about Notre Dame de Paris:

From nowhere came the age of the cathedrals
The new world began
A new unknown thousand years
For man just wants to rise up where the stars are
And live beyond lies
Live in glass and live in stone

...WHAT?! "

For it's credit, it is in French... the translation makes it a lot less... poetic. It's really rather beautiful in it's original format.

Best Lyrics: Into the Woods... though that is really rather hard, because Sondheim has a lot of winners... but this is just so... gah!

Worst Lyrics: Oh geeze... there are so many! Will have to think on this one.

[BustopherPhantom]

Posted: 9/17/08 at 12:00am

Concerning INTO THE WOODS:

I always thought Sondheim's lyrics for that show were among his worst. The penchant he has for cleverness is overindulged, resulting in lyrics that are so dense with rhyme and inner rhyme and wordplay that I can't concentrate on what's being said.

Also, most of them are constricted by the farcical book, and so don't carry much emotion - when Sondheim is allowed to let go, the work is brilliant, of course ('No One Is Alone', 'No More', 'Children Will Listen', etc. - although even most of these are badly didactic)

That's my opinion, anyway.

Granted, Sondheim's best lyrics are among the best in a musical: SWEENEY TODD. They carry the story, they flow beautifully, and they're fat with heartwretch - so much so that you actually get something new every time you listen.

(ex. On my last listen, I was struck by this: by the time Mrs. Lovett finally comes right out and says to Todd "I love you!", she's practically screaming it, trying to justify why she never told him his wife, and the whole reason for his being, was still alive. TAKE THAT, MUSICAL CONVENTIONS!

And of course, 'City on Fire' is one of the most brilliant lyric pieces ever.)

Updated On: 9/17/08 at 12:00 AM

[James885]

Posted: 9/17/08 at 12:08am

Best: Almost anything by Sondheim. I personally think that A Little Priest takes the cake.

Worst:

Wicked has some truly awful lyrics: The "bridges you crossed" line, among others.

Little Women: "If You Could/That Would Be Good"

Carrie has some atrocious lyrics.

That's all I can think of right now....

[into_the_woods2]

Posted: 9/17/08 at 8:23am

I agree that Sondheim is definitely the King of Lyrics. 'Into the Woods' is just brilliant, in my opinion. Second place would go to Sweeney.

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 9/17/08 at 9:02am

ex. On my last listen, I was struck by this: by the time Mrs. Lovett finally comes right out and says to Todd "I love you!", she's practically screaming it, trying to justify why she never told him his wife, and the whole reason for his being, was still alive. TAKE THAT, MUSICAL CONVENTIONS!
I don't want to thread jack, but that part is painful. the way she screams "I'd be TWICE the wife she was!" is killer.


I have to agree that Sweeney has the best lyrics, although I think almost all Sondheim lyrics are among the best. as for worst...well, my fallback is always "Sunset Boulevard". with such gems as
To my people in the dark
Still out there in the dark

[EponineAmneris]

Posted: 9/17/08 at 9:10am

Glad to see I'm not alone with INTO THE WOODS

And I need to add that A LITTLE PRIEST is beyond brilliant and makes me happy everytime I listen to it

[jv92]

Posted: 9/17/08 at 10:22am

Sondheim's best lyrics are probably either Gypsy, Company, Follies or Night Music. I can't decide!
I'm a fan of Ebb's for Chicago and Zorba. Harnick's for She Loves Me are sheer perfection. Hammerstein's for Carousel are marvelous, though I love his work on The King and I. Loesser's for How to Succceed... are utter genius too.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 9/17/08 at 10:43am

"For it's credit, it is in French... the translation makes it a lot less... poetic. It's really rather beautiful in it's original format."

I'm not gonna argue with ya! I'll admit, I have the French cast recordings of Notre Dame de Paris and Romeo and Juliet. But the English lyrics are an absolute pile of crap!

[dented146]

Posted: 9/18/08 at 1:44am

I don't know why people have a problem with " There are bridges you cross you didn't know you crossed until you cross them."

That happened to me twice in one night when I got drunk in San Francisco and woke up the next morning at Cal with a girl I didn't know.

[laura is broadway]

Posted: 9/18/08 at 10:05pm

haha nice dented.