Awesomely bad Broadway songs- Page 3

[TechEverlasting]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 10:07pm

"I don't know who would ever say that "I know where..." is a bad song."

How about the producers of the show when it was being developed in Seattle?

I'm certain I read that Shaiman and Wittman had to fight like mad to keep "I Know Where I've Been" in Hairspray. Margo Lion and others thought the number was too much of a downer. At least one alternate song was written, but the producers agreed to keep "I Know Where I've Been" in for the first previews. It got such a great response that the issue was settled.

[Boq101]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 10:12pm

Well i suppose giving the eleven o'clock number to someone other than the lead always brings some sort of discussion but if the song got such great responses then it really can't be a bad song.

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 10:24pm

I really can't believe some of these responses. I'm not arguing that these are the best songs ever, but they really don't belong in the discussion of "awesomely bad" Broadway songs.

I don't think it gets much more awesomely bad than "Think of Meryl Streep" from Fame: the Musical.

[Becoz_i_knew_you21]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 10:29pm

"Here Gos - RENT "

That's not the title of the song. Just Sayin.'
Updated On: 11/22/06 at 10:29 PM

[jasonf]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 10:37pm

wickedrentq -- how can you POSSIBLY say that when "Can't Keep It Down" is in the same musical???

[TechEverlasting]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 10:56pm

"I really can't believe some of these responses. I'm not arguing that these are the best songs ever, but they really don't belong in the discussion of "awesomely bad" Broadway songs."

Perhaps entire score of "Cyrano" would be more the sort of thing you're thinking of. When a show is completely dreadful, who cares if certain songs are bad or not? I think bad songs are most objectionable when they somehow end up in an otherwise serviceable score, which accounts for my choices.

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 11:09pm

Because I had to play that score. We even hated playing STREEP--it had all these orchestrations that made no sense.

Okay, so we actually cut Can't Keep it Down, which is probably why I wouldn't consider it. You always like the forbidden, right? It's kind of fun to sing. STREEP is just a bore.

Hmm, okay, thank you for clarifying tech. I guess I saw the title and just thought of the interpretation of awesomely bad songs from whatever, but I guess if you want to look at it the other way..

In that case, no song from Fame: the musical could really qualify...

[NathanLaneStalker]

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

Becoz_i_knew_you21 - Sorry. I just couldn't remember the name. Is that "I Should Tell You"?

[Hank]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 11:18pm

"Mack The Knife"

[jasonf]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 11:21pm

You're kidding, right? Geez. The subject is BAD songs

[B3TA07]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 11:26pm

jasonf- Maybe this person's experience with the work is only the recent revival. The poor thing.

[Liverpool]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 11:28pm

Pretty much anything from the recent revival of Threepenny

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 11/23/06 at 12:13am

God, I swear, people put Sondheim on this pedestal. He is good, but there are OTHER shows out there.

The thread is "Awesomely Bad Songs" - so, to me, that means songs that are so bad that you can't stop listening to them. So, I'd have to say anything in Wicked - especially with some of those lyrics.

If we're talking bad scores/songs, I'd have to say "Legs Diamond." Wow. That was just painful to listen to. I try to expose myself to new shows and new composers, but that was painful to hear.

[Neverandy]

Posted: 11/23/06 at 12:24am

Tech-I think if I had to think of the worst song from that show I would have to say Coalhouse demands. It is the weakest.
I guess my favorite is Buffalo Nickel photplay inc. Back to Before is Great but Buffalo Nickel is so much fun. It also really helps that it is one of the only uptempos in the second act.

[Neverandy]

Posted: 11/23/06 at 12:25am

Rentboy-I would think For someone who chose "Rentboy" as your name you would appreciate sondheim. You would be hard pressed to find a Bigger fan of Sondheim than Larson-Listen to Tick Tick Boom!

[jasonf]

Posted: 11/23/06 at 12:30am

RentBoy - what exactly was your point about Sondheim? This has NOTHING to do with this thread, but it was brought up, so...

Quite honestly, in just about any circle you go in where people have knowledge about theater, Sondheim is put on a pedestal because he IS that good - just like Dickens and Steinbeck are put on a literary pedestal, Mozart and Bach on a classical music pedestal, or Van Gogh and Monet are put on an artistic pedestal.

There are other shows out there - OF COURSE there are - I don't have some 600 odd cast albums of just Sondheim shows - but when asked for a best - yeah, Sondheim's name is the first that will be mentioned because he IS the best. I believe there are degrees that you may like someone's work (which is subjective), but from an objective stand point, very few come anywhere near what Sondheim has accomplished in his career. Like him or not, you can't deny that he is a master at his craft (just as those who might not like Mozart would CERTAINLY not deny his standing in the world of music).

[B3TA07]

Posted: 11/23/06 at 12:30am

I think it'd be cool if they'd expanded "Back to Before" to become a tablea number, with other characters joining and singing about the changes in their paths.


But i like it how it is too.

[Fosse76]

Posted: 11/23/06 at 2:25am

"I Want More"

That was the ONLY thing about Lestat that was even remotely enjoyable...though it would be better in na Willy Wonka musical.

[Perfectly Marvelous]

Posted: 11/23/06 at 3:07am

""Motherhood March" from Hello, Dolly!
Bob Merrill was called in to write the song when the show was suffering out of town, and I'm so used to hearing Jerry Herman's score so much that Bob Merrill seems a tiny bit out of place with this song. Although "Elegance" is total perfection, the song is pretty bad (especially due to the fact that Dolly knows absolutely nothing about American history)."

But you have to admit, the "I stand for Motherhood America and a hot lunch for orphans" line is pretty damn funny.

Especially when you know the true meaning of what a 'hot lunch' is. Though I suppose that could make the song disturbing more than funny.


As much as I like it, "Why Should I Wake Up?" from Cabaret. There's really nothing wrong with the song itself, it just sounds so un-Cabaret like that it can be a bit off setting. (However, I do realize that it's Cliff's perspective on his relationship with Sally and his stay in Berlin, and it's sort of sad that they cut it in the revival because his line at the end "I was dancing with Sally Bowles...and we were both fast asleep" doesn't make too much sense. It *does*, to some degree...but it would make even more sense had they kept his song entact).

I really can't think of anything at the moment...other than that song (which really isn't too bad).

[sweetestsiren]

Posted: 11/23/06 at 4:17am

"Heaven Help My Heart" from Chess. Bad, bad, bad. It's just such an awful, out of place pop-ballad-by-numbers song that neither advances the show's plot nor says anything new or important about Florence's relationship with Anatoly. There doesn't even need to be a song there, in my opinion, but if there must be, I so wish it were a better one.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 11/23/06 at 9:52am

For my money, the "Entering Grey Gardens" number in GREY GARDENS is a new low. I just couldn't believe my eyes and ears. It looks like some high school production of Disney's Haunted Mansion. Embarassing. Much of the rest of the score is good, but this song is like something out of DANCE OF THE VAMPIRES or CARRIE: THE MUSICAL.

[strelimyn]

Posted: 11/23/06 at 8:05pm

I'm going to have to agree whole-heartedly on I Love To Cry At Wedding

[Rose_MacShane]

Posted: 11/23/06 at 8:37pm

I nominate most of the score of Carrie. In fact, it would be much easier to name the songs that don't belong on this list, and those are: And Eve Was Weak, Evening Prayers, Unsuspecting Hearts and Heaven. Every other number is AWFUL.

Posted: 11/23/06 at 10:53pm

"A New Town is a Blue Town" from Pajama Game. Oy.

[Trekkie2]

Posted: 11/23/06 at 11:15pm

tobias, I love Assassins, I just think that Unworthy Of Your Love, while it is an interesting song, doesn't tell us anything we didn't already know about those characters. All the other songs in the musical show us a line of reasoning we hadn't thought of. We knew "Squeaky" Fromme and John Hinckley, Jr. thought that they were pleasing the people they loved. The song doesn't make me feel anything for those assassins, unlike the other songs.