Good Score, Bad Lyrics

[Unknown User]

Posted: 8/23/06 at 4:01pm

I was listening to Aspects of Love last night, and I really think it's ALW's most beautiful score. It's a shame the lyrics were so awful. Can anyone think of other examples?

[jasonf]

Posted: 8/23/06 at 5:44pm

I think Woman in White fits this also - the score is one of the best Webber's written, but the lyrics leave much to be desired.

Updated On: 8/23/06 at 05:44 PM

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 8/23/06 at 5:47pm

Eh, I think all of THE WOMAN IN WHITE leaves much to be desired.

Though, I think this description fits almost every ALW show. His scores are all generally good, or alteast okay, and it's the lyrics that make them worse.

[Caroline-Q-or-TBoo]

Posted: 8/23/06 at 5:53pm

Lippas Wild Party

[COOOOLkid]

Posted: 8/23/06 at 5:54pm

Miss Saigon

[Matthewjames]

Posted: 8/23/06 at 5:58pm

not that great of a score..but the lyrics..ugghhhh

[Yero]

Posted: 8/23/06 at 6:00pm

Jekyll and Hyde, or any other Frank Wildhorn show. I really believe he is very talented and should choose different lyricists.

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/23/06 at 6:09pm

Les Mis.

Terribly pedestrian, badly translated French lyrics.

Generally, they are too “literal,” obvious, and demonstrative.

Very clumsy.

And the score is beautiful and emotional.

EDIT: With the exception of "I Dreamed a Dream" which has very nice (if not brilliant) lyrics. At least they're semi-poetic. The rest are... not.

Updated On: 8/23/06 at 06:09 PM

[Roninjoey]

Posted: 8/23/06 at 6:13pm

You guys ever think maybe Andrew is holding back his lyricists with his tendency to have a small set of melodies that he uses over and over and over? Or does he write the music after the lyricists write the lyrics? I have always assumed that he writes a certain amount of music (i.e. the BIG songs), gives it to his lyricists to set words to and then together they go about converting the rest of the libretto to song using the same melodies.

Also, it's hard to write a good lyric when the sentiment being expressed is "I love you... you love me... there's a scary masked man... but I love you..."

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 8/23/06 at 6:16pm

The Wedding Singer

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 8/23/06 at 6:19pm

SONG AND DANCE (Some of Maltby's lyrics are ok)
STARLIGHT EXPRESS
PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
ASPECTS OF LOVE
SUNSET BLVD
WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND
BEAUTIFUL GAME


Yes, I would agree ALW seems to choose weak lyricists on purpose. Remember he didn't want the shows known as Webber & Rice's ... (or whoever), He wants the shows advertised as ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER'S...

And that is is downfall.

[Piazzaslight]

Posted: 8/23/06 at 6:58pm

I agree that ALW has written some very good melodies, but the lyrics in most of his shows are nothing to write home about. Some even boarder on embarrasing (IMO, at least). Anyways, I really like the score to JANE EYRE. However, I find the lyrics rather dumb at points. Just my opinion, though. Some of RENT's lyrics are also awful, although some are very inspiring and emotional.

[luvliza89]

Posted: 8/23/06 at 7:04pm

Piazzaslight agreed with RENT.
"Love is a gift from up above."
Um, yeah, ok.

Phantom would benefit greatly if only the lyrics were better.

[TomMonster]

Posted: 8/23/06 at 7:11pm

With the exception of CATS, Webber has always "written" the music first. His lyricists have had to shoe-horn their lyrics into his music. Webber's idea of thematic development usually invovles nothing more than a key change. If Puccini hadn't already done it for him...

[pippin2]

Posted: 8/23/06 at 9:02pm

Call me crazy, but independent of the lyrics, some of the music in Wicked isn't too bad. As Long As You're Mine and No Good Deed are good examples: dark, complex melodies that are bogged down by some awful lyrics.

[camp_actor]

Posted: 8/24/06 at 6:09am

I used to have a music teacher who absolutely hate ALW. He would come into a class red with fury then say "Right, guys, listen to this!" - He'd pop on a piece of ALW all the while staring at us waiting for a reaction. Of course, none of us had much proper musical knowledge so we didn't react particularly. He'd then get another piece out - a piece of classical music, Pucini or whoever - and play it. He'd then say..."Plagarising b*****d!"

I think he was angry that ALW was making so much money and making other people's music popular. It's not entirely true as it's never complete copies, but it's definitely strange how similar certain pieces are.

I don't have a problem with ALW. Not a big fan, but I think he's done a few pieces of good work. But I just thought it was a fun story.

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 8/24/06 at 6:13am

Oh God . . . here we go again with the Webber bashing.

[camp_actor]

Posted: 8/24/06 at 6:29am

I wasn't Webber bashing. If you'd read my post you'd have seen that I mentioned that I think he's done some good work. I love Evita and I think Sunset Blvd and JCSS are interesting.

I was just sharing a story about someone who I knew who didn't like him. That's not "Webber bashing" as you call it.

If I wanted to criticise ALW I would start with "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?" and that would not be about how good he is as a composer (as we all know he didn't write the Sound Of Music), but about what a cheap, tacky, money-grabbing a******* he is! I doubt I'd bother criticising his composition skills.

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 8/24/06 at 6:39am

That wasn't directed towards just you, but different posts. I agree that Webber write beautiful melodies, but his lyricists give lack luster results. Bring Tim Rice back and show the musical world what's what!

[Eastwickian]

Posted: 8/24/06 at 7:03am

Rent - I'm sure that some would have been fixed in previews, but I still find many of them a little too tum-te-tum...

Rent my amigoes is due
Or I will have to evict you
See you in a few

[camp_actor]

Posted: 8/24/06 at 9:21am

Tim Rice? Have you listened to the lyrics in AIDA?

"I want nothing in this world except myself to protect me."

I've never heard a more redundant sentence.

"I hadn't got to my first shave before the body blow."

But then AIDA is a case of Bad Score, Bad Lyrics.

I'm sorry...Tim Rice makes me cringe. Occasionally he'll write something that is serviceable, but in general he's so clunky.

[sweetestsiren]

Posted: 8/24/06 at 9:34am

Tim's definitely capable of turning out good lyrics, though. Evita's lyrics are fairly consistently good, and I would consider the lyrics to Chess great. He doesn't always deliver, obviously... Aida doesn't seem to be his best work. Updated On: 8/24/06 at 09:34 AM

[camp_actor]

Posted: 8/24/06 at 9:43am

sweetsiren, I agree with you. He definitely has produced some good work, but in my opinion his bad lyrics are worse than his good lyrics are good. Does that make sense?

[sweetestsiren]

Posted: 8/24/06 at 9:48am

Yep, perfectly.

[Calvin]

Posted: 8/24/06 at 9:54am

Bway & I were just talking about this the other day. The first that sprung to mind for me was the Kopit/Yeston Phantom. There are some lovely songs in there but some incredibly silly lyrics.

Where every English horn makes me feel glad I'm born
Where every woodwind trill excites a thrill that's new
The giant contrabass, the great soprano's face...

Yeouch.
And don't get me started about rhyming "toilet bowl" and "leading role." Updated On: 8/24/06 at 09:54 AM