Broadway Songs that are controversial?

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Broadway Songs that are controversial?

Posted: 11/16/09 at 11:12pm

I have an essay coming up that analyzes songs. The songs need to have some sort of message that is stereotypical. Such as demeaning to women, against homo-sexuality, or ethically or morally wrong. So far I could come up is the STRIP from Gypsy, I was going to write about how women were only talented by there looks and by stripping. But I found the song to be dated. Any other opinions? I need to actually read the lyrics of Spring Awakening and Ave. Q to see if there is anything I can salvage.

thx

Herbie: "Honey, Don't you know there's a depression?"
Rose: "Of Course I know, I Watch Fox News"
-(modified)Gypsy
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re: Broadway Songs that are controversial?

Posted: 11/16/09 at 11:17pm

Ummm, THE ENTIRE SCORE OF AVENUE Q.

When I think about you, I touch myself.

re: Broadway Songs that are controversial?

Posted: 11/16/09 at 11:24pm

How about you do your own homework.

thx

"This table, he is over one hundred years old. If I could, I would take an old gramophone needle and run it along the surface of the wood. To hear the music of the voices. All that was said." - Doug Wright, I Am My Own Wife

re: Broadway Songs that are controversial?

Posted: 11/16/09 at 11:24pm

"Dumb Luck" from THOU SHALT NOT absolutely OWNS this.

A dreary morgue song where the protagonist drunkenly dances with gurneys and eventually lifts the sheet up on one of them (with Rachelle Rak's nude "corpse" underneath) and proceeds to... ahem... pleasure it.

This song was only in the first preview performance and considering the show started previews a mere 2 weeks after 9/11 certainly added another layer of tastelessness to the proceedings.

The music from the song shows up on Connick's OTHER HOURS cd.

Top THAT! And DOTV doesn't count!

P

Updated On: 11/16/09 at 11:24 PM

re: Broadway Songs that are controversial?

Posted: 11/16/09 at 11:25pm

I don't think the strip from GYPSY really qualifies for what you are looking for. Yes, its a strip but its a smart song about women who have found a way to survive and find success by using their brains to get a gimmick that puts them on top. Its also comedic and hardly controversial.

I would imagine you are looking at songs that are controversial because of the straightforward context in which they were originally presented. AVENUE Q is a satire. Its meant to be offensive.

Its not controversial like say, the opening number of SHOWBOAT in 1927 that started with "N-word Folk Work on the Mississippi. N-word Folk Work while the white man play..."

Even though it was pointed satire when it came out, I suppose you could analyze out of context the lyrics to "Happy to Keep His Dinner Warm" from HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS as being incredibly sexist towards women.

Updated On: 5/7/19 at 11:25 PM

re: Broadway Songs that are controversial?

Posted: 11/16/09 at 11:27pm

Try CAREFULLY TAUGHT from Rodgers & Hammerstein's SOUTH PACIFIC.

re: Broadway Songs that are controversial?

Posted: 11/16/09 at 11:40pm

"I Enjoy Being a Girl" from Flower Drum Song comes to mind as a song that's somewhat stereotypical.

Jimmy, what are you doing here in the middle of the night? It's almost 9 PM!

re: Broadway Songs that are controversial?

Posted: 11/16/09 at 11:44pm

I had no idea Thou Shall Not had necrophilia -- the more I hear about this show the more I wanna hear :P

re: Broadway Songs that are controversial?

Posted: 11/16/09 at 11:49pm

I agree with Ashley (and Ashley; obsessed with that pic of the actor who plays Arizona - she's BEAUTIFUL. and is going to sing a duet, in an upcoming episode... by the way).

Do your own homework! The fact that kids turn to message boards these days is pretty sad. Sorry.

When I think about you, I touch myself.

#10

re: Broadway Songs that are controversial?

Posted: 11/17/09 at 12:03am

That raped by a squid song from the Addams Family musical sounds promising.

Updated On: 11/17/09 at 12:03 AM

#11

re: Broadway Songs that are controversial?

Posted: 11/17/09 at 12:30am

MusicSnob (or is it TooDarnHot or TheCharleston?), a board like this is a sensible place to start to research something like that. Plus, I have a very hard time taking seriously anyone who starts a sentence with "Ummm". It's simultaneously so very childish and dismissive.

On topic - "Two Ladies". "Can't Stop Loving That Man of Mine".

#12

re: Broadway Songs that are controversial?

Posted: 11/17/09 at 12:36am

I agree, I think it makes sense to look for suggestions on here--it's not like he asked for someone to write the paper.

How Lovely to be a Woman from Bye Bye Birdie would count except I know Gower Champion (and maybe Longbottom in the new one too?) staged it to be ironic with her putting on boys clothes, etc.

As Long as He Needs Me from Oliver.

#13

re: Broadway Songs that are controversial?

Posted: 11/17/09 at 12:52am

About thirty years into the original Off-Broadway run of The Fantasticks Tom Jones thought that the changing times had people misinterpreting the meaning of his lyric for "It Depends on What You Pay" so he did a rewrite replacing the word "rape" with abduction whenever possible. He also revised the dialogue leading up to the song in order to very clearly explain that El Gallo was refering to a "romantic" literary rape and not an act of sexual violence.

#14

re: Broadway Songs that are controversial?

Posted: 11/17/09 at 1:06am

Wait, is this controversial lyrically, or controversial in portrayal?

Like a firework unexploded
Wanting life but never knowing how

Updated On: 11/17/09 at 01:06 AM

#15

re: Broadway Songs that are controversial?

Posted: 11/17/09 at 6:08am

Ugg-A-Wug from Peter Pan and
I'm An Indian Too from Annie Get Your Gun

#16

re: Broadway Songs that are controversial?

Posted: 11/17/09 at 9:37am

Much of Damn Yankees:
Six Months
A Little Brains, A Little Talent
The Game

If you want songs that sound sexist but are actually commentary, then I second "Happy to Keep His Dinner Warm" and raise you a "somewhere That's Green"

#17

re: Broadway Songs that are controversial?

Posted: 11/17/09 at 11:27am

Going back aways, you can examine the lyrics to "Homework" from "Miss Liberty." It's a song about a woman who just wants to stay at home and crochet, bake pies, etc. to cater to her man.

#18

re: Broadway Songs that are controversial?

Posted: 11/17/09 at 11:35am

I will say this. When I took chorus senior year in high school, our "teacher" (I've put it in quotation marks for a multitude of reasons) wanted us to sing There Is Nothing Like A Dame from South Pacific and I know that the girls made quite a fuss about the lyrics (I myself had reservations about the song but not as much as when we ended up singing "Jump Down, Turn Around" for a contest...but that's another story. For full details, PM me).

Butters, go buy World of Warcraft, install it on your computer, and join the online sensation before we all murder you. --Cartman: South Park ATTENTION FANS: I will be played by James Barbour in the upcoming musical, "BroadwayWorld: The Musical."

#19

re: Broadway Songs that are controversial?

Posted: 11/17/09 at 3:54pm

I'm not sure if you mean to take the songs out of context or not. Some songs require offense lyrics based on the opinions and expressions of the character. At any rate...

The Very Next Man - Fiorello
Spanglish - Seesaw
Spanish Rose - Bye Bye Birdie
I Hate Men - Kiss Me, Kate
I am Ashamed That Women are So Simple - Kiss Me, Kate
In Praise of Women - A Little Night Music
My Strongest Suit - Aida
Happy to Keep His Dinner Warm - How to Succeed
Hymn to Him - My Fair Lady

"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian

#20

re: Broadway Songs that are controversial?

Posted: 11/17/09 at 4:11pm

"What's The Use Of Wonderin'" from "Carousel" rubs a lot of people the wrong way, and it can seem like an apology for wife-beating.

I totally don't agree, but louder people than me have claimed that the song is reprehensible and no self-respecting woman would sing it.

#21

re: Broadway Songs that are controversial?

Posted: 11/17/09 at 4:50pm

I would say the most controversial song I could think of is "Joanna, Joanna" from Sweeney Todd. It's always cut from the show in many productions because of its content. The Judge sings it about loving his 'ward' Joanna as a daughter, But he sings about fantasizing about her, and peeping at her in her see-through nightgown. While he does this, he gets aroused and he starts flagellating (whipping) himself, for the inpure thoughts. In the end of the song he starts singing about how he used to lover her as a daughter and now he will lover her as a woman and marry her. The song is very pediphilic. YOU WANT CONTROVERSY, THERE IT IS.

Stephen: "Could you grab me a coffee?" Me: "Would you like that with all the colors of the wind?"

Updated On: 2/23/22 at 04:50 PM

#22

re: Broadway Songs that are controversial?

Posted: 11/17/09 at 5:52pm

I think Nothing Like a Dame is nothing in comparison to Happy Talk.
The lyrics read harmlessly enough, but the perception is much different when it's a strongly-accented minority woman making finger puppets to get her point across.

mybigsplash, the song title is just "Johanna". I've never heard of it being cut from productions.

Like a firework unexploded
Wanting life but never knowing how

#23

re: Broadway Songs that are controversial?

Posted: 11/17/09 at 6:14pm

The Judge's "Johanna" was cut from the original Broadway production during previews.

The only "controversial" songs I can think of at the moment are ones that are actually commentary (like "We All George" from Grind).

Updated On: 11/17/09 at 06:14 PM

#24

re: Broadway Songs that are controversial?

Posted: 11/17/09 at 6:56pm

Terminal Illness from 13? That was somewhat controversial on these boards when it first came out.

#25

re: Broadway Songs that are controversial?

Posted: 11/17/09 at 7:02pm

"Have a Nice Day" which was cut from La Cage is pretty offensive.

http://www.youtube.com/huskcharmer

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