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Posted: 7/5/20 at 11:03am
Posted: 7/5/20 at 12:37pm
The above conversation about "la, a note to follow so" is seven years old and the video it pertains to is no longer available, but I have to agree that it's a terrible lyric. In fact, Douglas Adams wrote an entire essay about it.
Posted: 7/5/20 at 1:00pm
Posted: 7/5/20 at 3:38pm
Posted: 7/5/20 at 5:50pm
“I hate to admit it, but he doesn’t get enough credit for all the credit he gave us” is an all-time bad line in an otherwise great closing number."
Yes, I always thought that was a very clunky line.
Posted: 7/6/20 at 1:43pm
Fun to see this thread back, curious to hear some examples from the last few years. I forget who said it, but one of my favorite criticisms of William Finn is that he "snatches at a rhyme like it's the last canape on the tray". I think Finn has even stated that he's not entirely sure what certain songs in In Trousers are meant to be about.
edit: Tootsie has some stinkers. The musical "lube" punchline in Whaddya Do doesn't make any sense. Ideally, the audience should fill in the missing words with something along the lines of "up your ass" by setting that rhyme up previously, but the line that the missing words actually would rhyme to is "We take that list and roll it in a ball", which doesn't rhyme with anything suggestive off the top of my head. Also, could a plate of humble pie be "overwhelming"? Would "everything you ever wanted in life" be capable of "laughing at you and calling you a jerk"?
Updated On: 7/6/20 at 01:43 PM
Posted: 7/7/20 at 10:19am
My friends and I always like to laugh at some of the dumbest lyrics in Urinetown.
"You'll be a arrested soon / Perhaps as soon as noon"
"You are wrong, Mr. Strong!"
Posted: 7/7/20 at 1:08pm
Does the discography of Beetlejuice count? Truly one of the most inane scores I've ever heard in a theater.
Posted: 7/7/20 at 3:33pm
CATSNYrevival said: "Has everyone seen this video? Apparently "la, a note to follow so" is lyricism at its worst.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8zD0qFvvMs"
I want to use this as a jumping off point for what I consider the most unfairly maligned lyric in Broadway history: "A lark that is learning to pray." There's literally nothing wrong with this lyric. No, larks can't learn to pray, but brooks don't laugh or trip, and chimes can't sigh, either. No ones' bothered by those other lyrics. They are all examples of poetic imagery. Maria is a free spirit who loves nature but is trying to force herself to conform to the rigid life of a cloister, thus all the references in the song's lyrics are to nature, freedom and religion. She is the lark who is learning to pray. It's a perfectly fine lyric.
Updated On: 7/7/20 at 03:33 PM
Posted: 7/8/20 at 1:51am
I suspect you know I agree, Joe. "A lark who is learning to pray" is the PERFECT expression for a teenage novice who lives in a convent.
What? She should be comparing larks to taxis honking in Times Square?!
Posted: 7/9/20 at 4:00pm
VotePeron said: "Does the discography ofBeetlejuicecount? Truly one of the most inane scores I've ever heard in a theater."
"The Whole Being Dead Thing" featured "hitlist/Christmas/Triscuits/statistics" back to back, which was a big oof.
Posted: 7/9/20 at 6:08pm
I can't even list every lousy lyric/phrase/stanza I've heard being sung in a Broadway theatre. Slant rhymes especially seem to be all the rage nowadays, and it gets on me a little.
Posted: 7/9/20 at 7:23pm
Posted: 7/9/20 at 8:53pm
iwuldwf said: "I revisited some of The Prom recently and “I can guess your whole agenda / You be Elphie, I’m Galinda” is impressively bad."
Courtesy of Chad Beguelin- a lyricist who, ironically, has said before that he tries to form perfect rhymes as much as possible. I'll say this: I also think this is a clunky lyric, but Beguelin did a decent job lyric-wise with most of The Prom. Sure, it's no Hadestown, but it feels great to hear lots of pure rhymes, something most new musicals nowadays lack.
Posted: 7/10/20 at 9:52pm
