Bad lyrics by good lyricists

My choices are by the usually estimable Oscar Hammerstein.

1. From "Flower Drum Song," "Chop Suey"

Basically the whole song but especially "Harry Truman, Truman Capote [not Ca-po-te], and Dewey/Chop suey."

What a shame that Juanita Hall had to descend from the heights of "Bali Hai" to sing this drivel.

2. From "The Sound of Music," "So Long, Farewell"

The line "Adieu, adieu, to yuh and yuh and yuh." No excuse for that.

What about yours?

I generally really like Jonathan Larson's lyrics.

That being said, I've always thought "It's what we used to dream about / Think twice before you pooh-pooh it" was ridiculous

goodlead said: "My choices are by the usually estimable Oscar Hammerstein.

1. From "Flower Drum Song," "Chop Suey"

Basically the whole song but especially "Harry Truman, Truman Capote [not Ca-po-te], and Dewey/Chop suey."

What a shame that Juanita Hall had to descend from the heights of "Bali Hai" to sing this drivel.

2. From "The Sound of Music," "So Long, Farewell"

The line "Adieu, adieu, to yuh and yuh and yuh." No excuse for that.

What about yours?


"

These kinds of threads make me want to vomit on the ground. Chop Suey has a specific purpose in the show and it's lyrically perfect to suit that purpose. You can't just print lyrics divorced from their context so you can feel superior. And as the other person pointed out to you, the So Long, Farewell lyric is a joke, performed by the children.

Why I oughta...

West Side Story.

"Smoke on your pipe and put that in."

Also: "I'm depraved on account I'm deprived." No way any self-respecting Jet would have said that--or even known the definition of "depraved."

I'm sure there are more. Sondheim was a baby then. Or perhaps Bernstein is to blame.

Updated On: 9/4/18 at 09:44 AM

CATSNYrevival said: "The first time I heard that, I thought the lyric was “Think twice before you don’t do it” simply because I thought I couldn’t have possibly heard what I thought I just heard."

HAHA this made me laugh and I agree oof

I love the 'yuh and yuh and yuh' it's just so silly but also like, doing an over the top Austrian accent.

Zippel's work on Woman in White baffles me completely. It's hard to believe it's the work of the same genius who penned the lyrics to City of Angels and Hercules.

From "Camelot" ("The Lusty Month of May": "What sweet feelings does its scent transmute?" As a kid listening to the original cast album I could never figure out what the hell she was singing.

Mister Matt said: "I absolutely love the score toThe Woman in Whiteand not seeing it on Broadway will always be a big regret for me, but there are definitely a few lines in there that make me cringe every time.

I really like the music, but some of those lyrics are just awful. I Believe My Heart is one of the most trite and treacly songs I've ever heard in a musical."

Actually, I have no problem with that song and I think it fits well in the context of the show.

Unfortunately, one of my favorite songs also includes what I believe to be the most horrendous turn of phrase in the entire show: "rugged arms".

I'm generally okay with Stephen Schwartz (at the worst, I feel like he's got a case of the "a-bit-on-the-nose"-isms), but man oh man, some parts of Wicked. If I hadn't looked up the lyrics to "As Long As You're Mine," I still wouldn't know what they were singing. At first I was just like, Butz, enunciate, my man, but then when I finally looked up the lyrics, I realized that it's a losing battle to try to make any sense out of "And somehow I'm feeling / It's up that I fell".....(Also, to this day, I still didn't remember the phrase "Borrow the moonlight" being in that song until I looked it up again just now...I mean...what?)