Castle On a Cloud

[AndAllThatJazz22]

Posted: 7/5/09 at 5:20pm

I'm sorry, but I must ask about this one lyric that makes me itch like crazy.

There is a Room That's Full of Toys
There are a Hundred Boys and Girls

That just annoys me. With all the major productions of this Les Miz, did the lyricist not notice that flipping girls and boys would make the lines actually rhyme? At first I thought it was a mistake, but after listening to several different recordings of this song, I realized that it is clearly the correct lyric. Am I missing something here? Why is the lyric 'Boys and Girls' instead of 'Girls and Boys'?

Updated On: 7/5/09 at 05:20 PM

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 7/5/09 at 5:27pm

It does bother me too, and I'm not sure, but I think it has to do with the rhyme scheme not calling for a rhyme at that point. Every time that melody repeats the first two lines don't rhyme with each other. The rhyme comes latter. If it was "girls and boys" there would be two rhymes in that one verse.

[winston89]

Posted: 7/5/09 at 5:53pm

I thought that the point for that song was that every line didn't rhyme. do remember reading somewhere that there was a reason behind it but I forgot what the reason was.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 7/5/09 at 8:07pm

Those lines don't rhyme in the other verses. You only notice it because of the possibility for a rhyme if you switch the words.

What's really annoying is that the rhyme scheme changes. It's
a-b-b-a in the first stanza, then a-b-c-c- for the others (excluding "lady all in white" B section).

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 7/5/09 at 11:54pm

He did that on purpose, because he said rhyming it was too obvious. (This is from an interview in THE BARRICADE. All my back issues are at my apartment but I'm spending the weekend with my parents, so I can't cite it directly.)

[AndAllThatJazz22]

Posted: 7/6/09 at 11:13am

Reginald Tresilian, I never did realize that thing about the pattern. Was the song originally written in French? If so, could that be why the rhyme scheme is so awkward?

[COOOOLkid]

Posted: 7/6/09 at 12:20pm

If they didn't care to rhyme it, I don't understand why that phrase is in the song.

[p.s.]

Posted: 7/6/09 at 12:33pm

I asked this question here two years ago:

At what point in the lyric creation was it decided to use "boys and girls" rather than "girls and boys"?

... [and] why?

I got no good answer at that time. But I recall someone later mentioning that the young girls singing girls and boys after the previous line's full of toys couldn't consistently hit the right notes. The rhyme somehow threw them off tune.

p.s. Does that make sense?

[AndAllThatJazz22]

Posted: 7/6/09 at 12:46pm

^

If that were true, couldn't they have changed it once that actress left, or for their numerous other english-language productions.

[p.s.]

Posted: 7/6/09 at 12:56pm

My understanding of the answer was that they noticed the difficulty in testing or tryouts, well before going on stage with it.

p.s. Not just one or two of the young actresses, but in general, all/most/many of the young girls.

[ken8631]

Posted: 7/6/09 at 1:42pm

interesting... never noticed it...

[AndAllThatJazz22]

Posted: 7/7/09 at 9:04am

That's odd. I sing the lyrics as 'girls and boys' all the time, and I hit the notes. Hey, I'm not an 8 year old girl so that explains it...