Awesomely bad Broadway songs- Page 2

[alliez92092]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 7:48pm

It's not awful, but I Should Tell You is the weakest from Rent.

[bwaylvsong]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 8:00pm

Springtime For Hitler

[jasonf]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 8:00pm

"Unworthy of Your Love"- Assassins

Doesn't fit in the show it's in? Have you ever seen Assassins? Sondheim does NOT write songs that don't fit into his shows. You might not like the song, but to say it doesn't fit simply is not true.

[Julian2]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 8:02pm

Any Dream Will Do / Don't Cry For Me Argentina

Not terrible, but they have weird lyrics, I can't for the life of me figure out what the hell Tim Rice is talking about in Any Dream Will Do.

As far as Don't Cry For Me Argentina, there have been whole threads devoted to explaining this song, but it all still seems to be wonky lyrics wise. She JUST became the first lady, and she's already fending off criticisms that she's too removed. Maybe if they had shown some of those accusations, or made the lyrics more "this won't happen" instead of "this hasn't happened", it might make more sense.

And as far as I Want More, Lestat is terrible. But its so much f*cking fun to belt the sh*t out of this song that I can't help but love it.

Updated On: 11/22/06 at 08:02 PM

[Neverandy]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 8:06pm

I second Any dream will do. It makes no sense. Tim Rice seems to like to do this. The beginnig of Anthem is a little weird, but if you make some leaps of faith you can sort of figure it out. But Any Dream will do is just nonsense. The title of the song only fits in the song because it Rhymes.
Don't Cry For me... I totally disagree with you there .

[Neverandy]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 8:12pm

I think the point is that Eva Knew that if she gave herself some kind of controversy, some kind of obstacle (real or imageined) to overcome, she could win the affection of the people. They loved her, and she had the foresight to see how the Middle Clases would eventually try to drive a rift between her and the Poor. She was proactive in Manipulating them into preceiving an issue that didn't exist at the time. It is an example of her masterful manipulting skills.
Evita is always an interesting show to me. I have been in it four times and am definitely on Che's side. But whenever I see it I feel Like a lot of the Audience ends up on her side at the end. Maybe that is the point. I don't know.

[TechEverlasting]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 8:17pm

Re: Aida "How I Know You"

Can't argue with that one. Aida is a good example of a show that was much improved between its Chicago tryout and its Broadway opening.

There used to be an opening song called something like "Our Nation Holds Sway" that featured the exact foot stompin'/hand clappin' sound from Queen's "We Will Rock You".

There was also a lyric in "Enchantment Passing Through" that just boggled my mind. Ramades sang something like "Of this and every month I'm now the flavour, scheduled to do things I've never done"..."

And they didn't even have barf bags at the theater!

[Julian2]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 8:22pm

That makes sense, but even with that explanation, the whole thing seems to come out of nowhere. You obviously have had more time to dissect the show, being in it four times, I have only seen the movie. But I still think that it comes out of nowhere, and if there is a good explanation, the audience needs to see it. Maybe it works better on stage. A lot of people get confused with this song, I think Rice tries to pull off Sondheim-like revelations that never work. Both with this and Any Dream Will Do. I watched Into the Woods and I got all the metaphors as they came and was never lost. I think Rice tries to do the same, but only leaves people lost and confused.

[NathanLaneStalker]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 8:25pm

Here Gos - RENT
Something Bad - Wicked
I Speak 6 Languages - Spelling Bee (better performed live)
Love From A Heart of Gold - How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
Too Many Tomorrows - Sweet Charity
I Know Where I've Been - Hairspray
Little Lamb - Gypsy
A Friend to Me - Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (written for the tour)
A Little of Good - Chicago (Better performed live)
Love Sneaks in - Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Better performed live)

[Neverandy]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 8:27pm

Julian you are right, though that you have to really make some big assumptions to get to what I think she (and Tim Rice) is getting at. This is what Drives me Crazy about Rice-He can be so good, especially with recitative(Evita) but then so indecipherable in his solo work (chess, Aida)
I also have to second another poster's nomination of "How I know YOu"- Truly a case of "When bad Lyrics happen to a good Melody".

[TechEverlasting]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 8:31pm

Okay, this one might be controversial. I love Ragtime, and think it's a brilliant score.

(except for...)

"Make Them Hear You"

Yuck! It sounds like it came from the same beginning songwriting workshop that "Now That I've Seen Her" did. Actually, I'd rather hear Coalhouse sing "Now That I've Seen Her" at this point in the show.

[neomystyk29]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 8:32pm

While "Little Lamb", I'll agree, is bad, I don't think it qualifies as awesomely bad. Something about "Little Lamb" seems to oppose the term awesome.

Shipoopi?

[NathanLaneStalker]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 8:34pm

I love shipoopi.

Little Lamb is pointless.

[Neverandy]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 8:39pm

Make them hear you?
Coal house is rallying these men who followed him to go out and talk about the injustice that led them to do what they did. At that moment he knows that what he did was wrong, and he has set an example that is hard to admire. He knows that although the truth is hard to understand it is the truth nonetheless and it still should be heard. He is telling the men that although some of their actions were wrong, their reason was right. It was only one battle of the war, so to speak, and it was their responsibility to make sure it wasn't forgotten.
It is so good that it makes the audience forget that he is, at that moment, a terrorist, and realize that he is a man who is fighting for what he beleives.
Sorry for the Rant -I did the show for 7 months of my life and I am intimitely aware of that particular song's message and power.

[TechEverlasting]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 8:50pm

"I did the show for 7 months of my life and I am intimitely aware of that particular song's message and power."

I'd still rather hear him sing "Now That I've Seen Her" then. The show really needed something incredible at that moment, something with the power of ""Til We Reach That Day". "Make Them Hear You" weakened the show's climax for me.

I still love Ragtime, and of course this is just my opinion.

[jasonf]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 8:52pm

I Speak Six Languages? I like that song (as do a lot of people) - and the thread doesn't say whether we're talking performance live or on a recording...You want a bad William Finn song, try "Making a Home" or the title song from March of the Falsettos!

[Neverandy]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 8:56pm

I can't beleive that Make them Hear you is not powerful enough.
But you are entitled to your opinion.
Back to Before is my favorite though. The show has two 11o'clock numbers which is awesome.
Anyway this is not a ragtime thread (My fault)
I think the worst song is shipoopi.

[kate2]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 9:06pm

"The I Love You Song" from Spelling Bee just killed the whole show. It just drags on.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 9:24pm

re : Little Lamb (GYPSY) - not pointless. It underscores Louise's isolation, lack of knowledge about her true age. Also it is very deliberately placed. The show is very fast moving, and noise: Noisy vaudeville numbers, noisy Merman numbers, noisy comedy scenes. It's a nice chance to relax and catch your breath. Jerome Robbins didn't like it but then he was a choreographer and there is nothing really to stage for that 2 1/2 minutes.

I'd say far from pointless.

"Love from a heart of Gold" in HOW TO SUCCEED is awesomely bad but was written to give Rudy Vallee the kind of old fashioned love song he made famous in the 1920s. Of course without Vallee the song doesn't work.

My choice for one of the worst songs in the history of musicals: "Paris Makes Me Horny” in VICTOR/VICTORIA. What a sad excuse of a show but that song really scrapes the bottom of the barrel.

[gertiecummings]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 9:30pm

There is one line in Defying Gravity that I HATE:

"Well if that's love, it comes at much too high a cost.
I'd sooner buy defying gravity!"

WTF?!?!?!?!! How the hell do you "buy" defying gravity? Even if Schwartz meant it as in buying an idea, it still sounds weird.

[dirty rotten guy]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 9:39pm

Not Unworthy of Your Love, but I have to say Something Just Broke. To me the song was a terrible addition to the show. I love Assassins, and that song just does not fit in the show at all. Throughout the entire show the whole premise is seeing the events through the eyes of the assassins and understanding they're actions. Symbolicly and stylisticly, Something Just Broke just does not fit in the show.

Updated On: 11/22/06 at 09:39 PM

[TechEverlasting]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 9:42pm

"I can't beleive that Make them Hear you is not powerful enough.
But you are entitled to your opinion."

As are you. And it's important to note that in this case I mean "Awesomely bad" in comparison to the rest of the score. Ragtime is another show I saw many times, including an early version in Toronto that had a much less coherent 2nd act.

I'm curious if you would agree with me that "Make Them Hear You" is one of the weaker songs in the Ragtime score. There are so many gems there, but I don't think that is one of them.

[inlovewithjerryherman]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 9:43pm

I think a LOT of songs in Rent are really really bad.

I think "Goodbye, Love" and "Another Day" have some of the cheesiest, silliest lyrics EVER. "Something Bad" from Wicked stands out, as does "Wonderful". I think that country western song in "Joseph..." is pretty awful, too.

I can't remember the one solo Kevin Anderson had in "Brooklyn" but it was awful too.

[Boq101]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 9:49pm

"I Know Where I've Been" Is a pretty good song in Hairspray. In fact I think that "Cooties" got cut down because if any song in that show slowed it down, it was that song. I don't know who would ever say that "I know where..." is a bad song.

"I Should Tell You" is a weak song, and I think it's only there just so that they could use it later on in the show (which they do, like little bits and junk)

In Wicked I do agree with "Something Bad" but I gotta say that "Wonderful" just isn't right in something. The whole song isn't bad, but theres song in it that just doesn't work. I think that it just doesnt mesh well together as it should.

[B3TA07]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 9:53pm

Julian2 - as ego-boosting as it may be to rock out to I Want More, I think we can agree that the score was almost written specifically for this thread.