Hey Friends,
I am making a mix tape, and need your help. What are some of the best unrequited love songs from shows? Yes, I'm in a mood today!! Thanks.
"On My Own" from "Les Miserables" is the first one that pops into my head
"Someone Like You" from "Jekyll and Hyde"
"Once Upon a Dream" from "Jekyll and Hyde" could be argued to be that
"There's a Fine, Fine Line" from "Avenue Q"
"Goodnight My Someone" from "The Music Man" kind of is-she doesn't know who her 'someone' is just yet
There are some exchanges in "Phantom" that talk about unrequited love (Stranger Than You Dreamt it, Down Once More)
Will he like me? (Kinda)
If I told you
Updated On: 10/19/12 at 10:34 AM
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/5/09
"One Kind Word" from Juno is beautiful.
"Not A Day Goes By" reprise from the OCR of Merrily We Roll Along. "Frank Mills" - Hair. "The Money Tree" - The Act. "Unworthy of Your Love" - Assassins. "In This Wide, Wide World" - Gigi. "Look of Love" - Leader of the Pack. "Whoever You Are, I Love You" - Promises, Promises.
"Easy to Love" from Born to Dance by Cole Porter
"Fifty Percent" from BALLROOM. Would that qualify?
Note sure if some of these count...
"Lida Rose/Will I Ever Tell You?" from The Music Man
"Who Will Love Me As I Am?" from Side Show
"She Was There" from The Scarlet Pimpernel
"What Do You Do" from Death Takes a Holiday
"As Long As He Needs Me" from Oliver
"If I Can't Love Her" from Beauty and the Beast
"Too Many Mornings" from Follies
"Losing My Mind" from Follies
"Someone to Watch Over Me" from ??
"On the Street Where You Live" from My Fair Lady
and i second "On My Own" from Les Miz - that was the 1st song that popped in my head, too.
Updated On: 10/19/12 at 10:50 AM
Leading Actor Joined: 5/20/11
"Easy To Be Hard"- Hair
"I Know Him So Well"- Chess
By definition, an unrequited love song would be about one who loves and one who doesn't (or at least is believed not to love).
So songs like "Fifty Percent" (in which she sings, "but he says he loves me, and I believe it's true") and "Easy To Love" (a flirtation song between two people who are in love, but not stating it yet) don't really fit...
The Street Where You Live, from My Fair Lady
"Not that Girl," Wicked
"Dulcinea," Man of La Mancha
"It's a Perfect Relationship," Bells are Ringing
"I Don't Know How to Love Him," Jesus Christ Superstar
"If I Can't Love Her," Beauty and the Beast
"Music of the Night," The Phantom of the Opera
So songs like "Fifty Percent" (in which she sings, "but he says he loves me, and I believe it's true") and "Easy To Love" (a flirtation song between two people who are in love, but not stating it yet) don't really fit...
I was thinking of the verse ("I know too well that I'm/Just wasting precious time/In thinking such a thing could be/That you could ever care for me"). I'll admit I don't know the context in the show, but I think as a standalone it *sort of* works as an unrequited love song.
f130verture, I love the song "She Was There" but I don't think it counts. Percy and Marguerite never stop loving each other, which is why most of the show is so tragic. "She Was There" is the song in which his love for her is vindicated, essentially.
Updated On: 10/19/12 at 11:05 AM
f130verture, I love the song "She Was There" but I don't think it counts. Percy and Marguerite never stop loving each other, which is why most of the show is so tragic. "She Was There" is the song in which his love for her is vindicated, essentially.
Ah, Thanks. I never saw the show - just listened to the cast album.
Ah, Thanks. I never saw the show - just listened to the cast album.
I love that album :)
"Only Love" is more about unrequited love than "She Was There" and even that's pushing it.
"Where's the Girl" is, I think, the only real unrequited love song in the show.
Losing My Mind is the ultimate.
Send in the Clowns from A Little Night Music.
By the way, "Someone to Watch Over Me" is from O Kay. But not really a song about unrequited love (love for someone who doesn't return the affection).
"Someone to Watch Over Me" falls into the same category as "Goodnight, My Someone". The singer doesn't know WHO the 'someone' is and the 'someone' is unable to return the affection.
I still say "Only Love" could be construed as an unrequited love song.
Most of "Passion" is about unrequited love. And I find it interesting because, while most songs about the subject are sung from the point of view doing the loving, many in Passion are from the point of view of the person who is not returning the love. There are also several from Fosca's POV as well as Clara's when Georgio begins to drift away from her towards Fosca.
"Is This What You Call Love?"
"Transition"
"Flashback"
"I Wish I Could Forget You"
"Farewell Letter"
all have some element of unrequited love about them.
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/18/03
"The Gentleman Is A Dope" from Allegro
and
the nastiest you-hurt-me-so-now-I'm-going-to-try-to-hurt-you song that might fit under the heading of unrequited love:
"I Don't Ever Want To See You Again" from Dance a Little Closer, a one performance flop by Alan Jay Lerner and Charles Strouse.
"You Should Be Loved" from Side Show is a beautiful and powerful example of unrequited love, gorgeously sung by Norm Lewis on the cast recording.
And like several others, "On My Own" from Les Miserables was the first that came to my mind as well.
Also seconding "I'm Not That Girl" from Wicked, and i would add in a similar vein: "I Could Be That Guy" from Sister Act
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/30/08
"Lie to Me" form WOMEN ON THE VERGE?
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