Bad lyrics by good lyricists

[goodlead]

Posted: 9/2/18 at 5:12pm

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?


 

[15minutecall]

Posted: 9/3/18 at 3:00am

Of course there’s an excuse for Yeu and yeu and yeu. It’s a joke in a song meant to be performed by children.

[Kitsune]

Posted: 9/3/18 at 3:07am

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 

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 9/3/18 at 3:20am

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.

[bk]

Posted: 9/3/18 at 3:21am

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...

 

[Alex Kulak2]

Posted: 9/3/18 at 9:28am

Leslie Bricusse is usually pretty good, I like his songs from Willy Wonka, and some of the songs in Jekyll and Hyde, but the obvious answer to this question is "Murder, Murder"

"To Kill Outside St. Pauls/Requires a Lot of Balls"

 

Stephen Schwartz is a genius, and I might be in the minority here, but I hate Godspell. I mean I can't find one thing to like about it. I know the lyrics are taken from Bible verses, but they sound like bad Christian Rock.

 

On the other side, I can think of a good lyric by a bad lyricist: I find Tim Rice's work to be pretty bland and unspecial, but I really like the lyrics for "Me" from Beauty and the Beast.

 

[TweetyPie2]

Posted: 9/4/18 at 9:44am

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

[ScottyDoesn'tKnow2]

Posted: 9/4/18 at 11:20am

TweetyPie2 said: "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."

I actually loved the Jets' lyrics there. That whole song showed these kids were NOT stupid as they are often dismissed to be. People who work with "troubled" teens realize they are, for the most part, a lot smarter than people think they are.

[rjm516]

Posted: 9/4/18 at 11:26am

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. 

[darquegk]

Posted: 9/4/18 at 11:39am

A lot of the Godspell lyrics are actual "vintage" Protestant hymn lyrics, given new musical settings. It probably read as subversive to conservative audiences in the late 1960s, but with changes in both Catholic and Protestant musical tradition in the past fifty years, the "Godspell" musical settings of "Save the People," "O Bless the Lord," "Turn Back O Man" and "All Good Gifts" are probably better known- and as often performed in church- as the old Lutheran versions.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 9/4/18 at 11:54am

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.

[Lot666]

Posted: 9/5/18 at 9:27am

Mister Matt said: "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."

I absolutely love the score to The Woman in White and 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.

[ebroadwayrundown]

Posted: 9/5/18 at 10:06am

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]

Posted: 9/5/18 at 12:16pm

I absolutely love the score to The Woman in White and 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.

[Lot666]

Posted: 9/5/18 at 2:30pm

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".

[TheSassySam]

Posted: 9/5/18 at 2:48pm

Chicago's Roxie: 

"I'm gonna be a celebrity
That means
Somebody everyone knows"

 

Always stood out to me as weak.

[aimeric]

Posted: 9/5/18 at 4:32pm

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?)