Favorite Sondheim Lyrics

[esparza 333]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 5:10pm

A true genius when it comes to lyrics. He has such a deep understanding human nature and brilliantly expresses it through words. My favorites are a few phrases that are more low key and less popular in this topic. They are lines from Children and Art. They are:

Mama spent money when she had none

"Mama said, "Honey, mustn't be blue
It's not so much do what you like
as it is that you like what you do""

and

"Isn't it lovely how artists can capture us?"


While these aren't his most poetic or insightful, the beauty and simplicity of the lyrics really strike a chord with me. I think part of what makes Sondheim so brilliant at it is that he know when to be showy and wordy and also when to be subtle and simple.

Your Thoughts??

[ClapYo'Hands]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 5:31pm

Seriously? 4 words. Send in the Clowns.

[JOak]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 5:35pm

"In Buddy's Eyes"

And all I ever dreamed I'd be,
The best I ever thought of me,
Is every minute there to see
In Buddy's eyes. Updated On: 7/26/10 at 05:35 PM

[xoffender45]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 6:23pm

"You may know what you need, but to get what you want, better see that you keep what you have."

"You're so nice. You're not good, you're not bad, you're just nice."

[TheKandyLife]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 6:30pm

Rose's Turn

"Why did i do it?
What did it get me?
scrap books full of me in the background.
give them love and what does it get you?
what does it get you?
one quick look as each of them leaves you.
all your life and what does it get you?
'thanks a lot!' and out with the garbage.
They take bows while you're betting zero...."

ultimate lyrics ever written i think for me haha

[StageManager2]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 7:28pm

"Nice is different than good."

So true. Just 'cause someone appears nice doesn't make them a good person. Learned that the hard way. Repeatedly.

[uncageg]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 9:19pm

Practically everything from "Into The Woods". (Favorite line out of all of his shows is also from this show "I was only trying to be a good mother"!)

"Phone rings, door chimes, in comes Company"

[adamgreer]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 9:24pm

Almost anything from Into the Woods, though my favorite is the lyrics to Children Will Listen.

[Cearsgk]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 9:31pm

Once my clothes were shabby. Tailors called me Cabbie. So I took a vow, said this bum'll be Beau Brummel...

[madbrian]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 9:35pm

If you wanna bump it,
Bump it with a trumpet.

[colorandlight2]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 10:58pm

My favorite from Merrily


"Trouble is, Charley,
That's what everyone does:
Blames the way it is
On the way it was,
On the way it never ever was."

[backwoodsbarbie]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 11:01pm

"I had a dream, I dreamed it for you June, it wasn't for me Herbie, and if it wasn't for me, then where would you be, Miss Gypsy Rose Lee?"

[onedaymore]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 11:08pm

Oh my god...sooo hard to pick.

"Sometimes the things you most wished for are not to be touched"
"Ask the wolf's mother."
"Careful before you say listen to me - children will listen."

Notice that all of those lines are from the same character in the same musical. Into the Woods is practically like Shakespeare. Pure brilliance.

Updated On: 7/26/10 at 11:08 PM

[TheBoyDownstairs]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 11:13pm

Pretty much all the lyrics of "Chrysanthemum Tea"

[Pippin]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 11:14pm

In the depths of her interior
Were fears she was inferior
And something even eerier,
But no one dared to query her
Superior exterior.

- Ah, But Underneath

[fanof many]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 11:37pm

"Losing My Mind"
from "Follies"

The sun comes up - I think about you
The coffee cup - I think about you
I want you so, it's like I'm losing my mind
The morning ends - I think about you
I talk to friends and think about you
And do they know it's like I'm losing my mind?
All afternoon doing every little chore
The thought of you stays bright
Sometimes I stand in the middle of the floor
Not going left - not going right
I dim the lights and think about you
Spend sleepless nights to think about you
You said you loved me, or were you just being kind?
Or am I losing
Losing my mind?

[CockeyedOptimist2]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 11:44pm

All of "A Little Priest"...simply brilliant...I can't get enough!

[Dsiggy15]

Posted: 7/27/10 at 1:39am

Practically anything from Franklin Shepard, Inc. but specifically
"There I am in California,
Talking deals and turning pink,
Back in business and I mean just that
Back with Franklin Shepard, Inc.!"

Also, "Now You Know" is just one big ball of brilliance.

[binau]

Posted: 7/27/10 at 1:42am

Also not his most insightful or 'brilliant' etc.. but I love the way these words roll off the tongue.

A love as pure as breath, as permanent as death.
Implacable as stone
A love that, like a knife, has cut into a life
I wanted left alone.

[chewy5000]

Posted: 7/27/10 at 4:27am

If you want to have weddings, then you gotta have divorces! No?

[Jewtopia]

Posted: 7/27/10 at 11:12am

Please Hello from Pacific Overtures has the best lyrics of any song ever written IMHO

[claude hooper2]

Posted: 7/27/10 at 11:18am

But I just go on thinking, and sweating, and cursing, and crying, and turning, and reaching, and waking, and dying
-Not A Day Goes By

There's a place for us, a time and place for us. Hold my hand and we're halfway there.
Hold my hand and I'll take you there. Somehow, some day, somewhere!
-I dont know what it is about this song, but its lyrics always move me to tears. Its such a beautiful song, and never fails to touch me.

[IdinaBellFoster]

Posted: 7/27/10 at 11:20am

One of my favorites, his use of language is beautiful:

"It's a wink and a wiggle and a giggle in the grass
And I'll trip the light fandango,
A pinch and a diddle in the middle of what passes by.
It's a very short road
From the pinch and the punch
To the paunch and the pouch
And the pension.
It's a very short road
To the ten thousandth lunch
And the belch and the grouch
And the sigh"

[gcal]

Posted: 7/27/10 at 12:34pm

"It's called flowers wilt, it's called apples rot, it's called thieves get rich and saints get shot, it's called god don't answer prayers a lot, OK now you know."- Now You Know

"You watch while I revise the world."- Beautiful

[Kad]

Posted: 7/27/10 at 12:57pm

Well, when the world goes mad
Then they've got to be shown,
And when the hero quits
Then you're left on your own,
And when you want things done
You have to do them yourself
Alone!