Favorite ALW-song lyric (yeah, really...)- Page 2

[philly03]

Posted: 3/31/08 at 10:08pm

Oh amalou you beat me to it. I really enjoyed almost all of the lyrics to Woman in White too. I really thought it was there! And I agree with everything you already said but on top of it:

"All for Laura, but at the start...were you foremost in my heart?"

Oh and of course:

"I Believe my heart, it believes in you. It's telling me that what I see is completely true."

Oh wait, that was a joke.

[Looney]

Posted: 3/31/08 at 11:48pm

OMG, are those really some of the lines? I confess I haven't paid a moment's attention to Woman in White. The last ALW I bought was Beautiful Game. By the time I had gotten through the CD I had to have dental work done because I lost three teeth when my lower jaw hit the pavement.

That POS was the worst thing ever, I think. There was one decent song on it, but, ugh...

Imagine if *that* had been his first? We'd never have seen JCS, Cats, POTO, Evita, Joseph, etc...

[thetinymagic2]

Posted: 3/31/08 at 11:58pm

Hate ALW generally, but LOVE, LOVE, LOVE "Unexpected Song" as brilliantly sung live, on stage by the inimitable Bernadette. (Song and Dance). Chills!

[Kitzarina]

Posted: 4/1/08 at 12:08am

The only lyrics from an ALW show that I truly love:

If the money keeps rolling in what's a girl to do?
Cream a little off the top for expenses--wouldn't you?
But where on Earth can people hide their little piece of Heaven?
Thank God for Switzerland
Where a girl and a guy with a little petty cash between them
Can be sure when they deposit no-one's seen them
Oh what bliss to sign your checks as three-o-one-two-seven
Never been accounts in the name of Eva Peron!

[jpbran]

Posted: 4/1/08 at 12:11am

Am starting to think that Evita had the best lyrics of any of ALW's shows. (Rice's best work I'd say...)

Agree about Unexpected Song (Maltby Jr, correct?) too. Though I think Take That Look Off Your Face is lyrically my fave song from that show.

[Looney]

Posted: 4/1/08 at 12:16am

I just hate lyrics where the lyricist has picked the first simple word that rhymes, like a freakin' cheap Hallmark card.

I like the more complex, internal rhymes. Sondheim's a genius, of course, but another person who I think does this very nicely (these days) is Stephen Schwartz...

[Sparx67]

Posted: 4/1/08 at 1:49am

The bridge is crossed, so stand and watch it burn.
We have passed the point of no return.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 4/1/08 at 2:14am

Tim Rice's best lyrics are indeed in EVITA, which might be the best show composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber.
SONG & DANCE is only good in the revised American version by Richard Maltby Jr., I think the TELL ME ON A SUNDAY version from London is a travesty. Maltby Jr. and Peters are responsible for the beautiful show that transferred to Broadway.
EDIT:
I do love the lyrics "All you have to do is sit and wait, keeping out of everybody's way, we'll...you'll be handed power on a plate..." It shows the character's manipulative and power-hungry nature, as well as her effect on her husband. It is also a very telling lyric about corruption in politics.

Updated On: 4/1/08 at 02:14 AM

[thevolleyballer]

Posted: 4/1/08 at 3:43am

I loved that song about the jellicle cats. You know? That song that repeats the word jellicle about eighty times? Yeah? That song.

[Eastwickian]

Posted: 4/1/08 at 6:49am

'Nothing like you've ever known' from Tell me on a Sunday - Don Black. A bit corny, but a nice understated song. As a guilty pleasure I prefer the London version of Song and Dance, though the finale from the Broadway version can't be beaten. However, the changed lyrics are inferior, 'English Girls' is a terrible song and Bernadette Peter's can't do a British accent to save her life...

[ladybegood]

Posted: 4/1/08 at 7:42am

Isn't it sad that so many need to keep making the same point that was irrelevant in the first place and has had to repeatedly explained again. How simple does it have to get? The only point that they are actually making is that they apparently can't read!

But lyrics so often seem so strange out of context. But some that really appeal to me, because they do their job, and they paint the picture perfectly, are from Sunset Boulevard.

Dreams are not enough to win a war
Out here they're always keeping score
Beneath the tan the battle rages
Smile a rented smile, fill someone's glass
Kiss someone's wife, kiss someone's ass
We do whatever pays the wages.

[EponineAmneris]

Posted: 4/1/08 at 8:13am

How could not have said LOVE CHANGES EVERYTHING, TELL ME ON A SUNDAY and UNEXPECTED SONG?! *lol* Well, I'm saying it now.

The sarcasm and venom in the title song of SUNSET BOULEVARD (the only part of that show I like) never fails to get me.

[madbrian]

Posted: 4/1/08 at 9:24am

From JCS, lyrics by Tim Rice:

Always hoped that I'd be an apostle.
Knew that I would make it if I tried.
Then when we retire, we can write the Gospels,
So they'll still talk about us when we've died.

[JohnPopa]

Posted: 4/1/08 at 9:36am

I enjoy Rice's work in 'Superstar' more than his work in 'Evita.' I think 'Superstar's tighter, much of 'Evita's recitative segments don't work for me.

Also agree that 'Tell Me On A Sunday' is a nice, warm lyric, and 'As If We Never Said Goodbye's also very strong.

[singingbackup]

Posted: 4/1/08 at 11:05am

"Mourning all day and mourning all night..." from EVITA

[phantom8019]

Posted: 4/2/08 at 8:53am

Has anyone mentioned By Jeeves? Those lyrics are kind of fun.

[jpbran]

Posted: 4/2/08 at 10:39am

Oh, and SOME of the Fermin/Andre (sp) sung dialogue (Notes) from Phantom is pretty clever. Some is cringeworthy, but some is better than average.

[Someday]

Posted: 4/2/08 at 1:37pm

I have played, in my time, every possible part,
And I used to know seventy speeches by heart.
I'd extemporize backchat. I knew how to gag.
And I knew how to let the cat out of the bag.

I knew how to act with my back and my tail.
With an hour of rehearsal, I never could fail.
I'd a voice that would soften the hardest of hearts,
Whether I took the lead or in character parts.

—T.S. Eliot

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 4/2/08 at 2:18pm

Don't leave in silence with no word at all
Don't get drunk and slam the door
That's no way to end this
I know how I want you to say goodbye
Find a circus ring with a flying trapeze
Tell me on a Sunday please

Don't want to fight day and night
Bad enough you're going
Don't leave in silence with no word at all
Don't get drunk and slam the door
That's no way to end this
I know how I want you to say goodbye

Don't run off in the pouring rain
Don't call me as they call your plane
Take the hurt out of all the pain
Take me to a park that's covered with trees
Tell me on a Sunday please

[LePetiteFromage]

Posted: 4/2/08 at 3:06pm

Updated On: 5/7/09 at 03:06 PM

[amalou]

Posted: 4/2/08 at 3:10pm

I remember hearing some of the originl lyrics to "All I Ask of You" before they were changed. I think I liked those a little better. Something along the lines of "Tonight I can achieve it and you suggest I leave it."

[toddbarker]

Posted: 4/2/08 at 5:26pm

One I've always loved from Sunset Boulevard:

"She was fading fast, I threw a rope,
Now I've got suits and she's got hope"

[courtnyj]

Posted: 4/2/08 at 6:49pm

For thevolleyballer:

"Because Jellicles can and Jellicles do
Jellicles do and Jellicles can
Jellicles can and Jellicles do
Jellicles do and Jellicles can
Jellicles can and Jellicles do"


ugh.