Hamilton's "Satisfied" the best unrequited Broadway love song ever?

[Hamilton22]

Posted: 12/29/15 at 5:12pm

 It really is THAT good. I can't think of a better one. Can you?

[hork]

Posted: 12/29/15 at 5:13pm

On My Own

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 12/29/15 at 5:14pm

Better is subjective but off the top of my head... Every Day A Little Death from A Little Night Music and Love Look Away from Flower Drum Song are two favorites.

[Hamilton22]

Posted: 12/29/15 at 5:15pm

Satisfied is 10000 times better than On My own.  The lyrics are much smarter. 

[Hamilton22]

Posted: 12/29/15 at 5:16pm

Vintage Snarker, you're right. It's impossible to really judge what is the best song, but dang is SATISFIED up there.

[Kad]

Posted: 12/29/15 at 5:19pm

"On My Own" is a whiny bleat of a song. "Satisfied" is far superior.

[Hamilton22]

Posted: 12/29/15 at 5:20pm

Agreed, Kad. I can't stand that On my own song anymore.

[jv92]

Posted: 12/29/15 at 5:24pm

I'm sorry. I like HAMILTON a lot, but there are about four other Rodgers and Hart songs (not to mention Johnny Mercer songs, Sondheim songs, hell, even "The Very Next Man" from FIORELLO!) that I'd place over "Satisfied" in terms of "best unrequited love songs ever." 

 

 

[binau]

Posted: 12/29/15 at 5:25pm

I prefer the simplicity and earnestness of "Loving You" from Passion (but I like Satisfied, too).

Updated On: 12/29/15 at 05:25 PM

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 12/29/15 at 5:26pm

jv92 said: "I'm sorry. I like HAMILTON a lot, but there are about four other Rodgers and Hart songs (not to mention Johnny Mercer songs, Sondheim songs, hell, even "The Very Next Man" from FIORELLO!) that I'd place over "Satisfied" in terms of "best unrequited love songs ever." 

 

I had forgotten what a fantastic song "The Very Next Man" was until hearing it again at the Encores! discussion on race and gender at the Greene Space a few weeks ago.

 

 

 

 

Updated On: 12/29/15 at 05:26 PM

[HogansHero]

Posted: 12/29/15 at 5:27pm

It is a very satisfying song. (Sorry, couldn't resist.) It is also a very sophisticated and layered piece of writing. I don't really find it important to rank things.

[jv92]

Posted: 12/29/15 at 5:29pm

I had forgotten what a fantastic song "The Very Next Man" was until hearing it again at the Encores! discussion on race and gender at the Greene Space a few weeks ago.

"Waiting for ships that never come in, a girl is likely to miss the boat" is one of my favorite lyric lines ever.

In any event, it is indeed silly to rank things, but I just had to give Larry Hart, and the other writers I mentioned, some props. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[hork]

Posted: 12/29/15 at 5:33pm

What's smart about the lyrics to "Satisfied"? Is it the part where she forgets her "dang name"? Or where she says, "I'm 'a give it a chance"? Or when she uses a dream as a simile for "dreamlike candlelight"?

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 12/29/15 at 5:33pm

Aw, I like On My Own. I think there are different facets to unrequited love and simple and overwrought as it is, it captures one of those facets very accurately. 

[binau]

Posted: 12/29/15 at 5:37pm

I really like the "forgot my dang name" lyric, it's cute and endearing. 

[Hamilton22]

Posted: 12/29/15 at 5:39pm

My favorite lyrics from the song: I’m a girl in a world in which
My only job is to marry rich
My father has no sons so I’m the one
Who has to social climb for one
So I’m the oldest and the wittiest and the gossip in
New York City is insidious

 

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 12/29/15 at 5:40pm

Would you classify You Should Be Loved from Side Show as an unrequited love song?

 

Oh, I also want to throw in Unusual Way from Nine. 

Updated On: 12/29/15 at 05:40 PM

[hork]

Posted: 12/29/15 at 5:44pm

Hamilton22 said: "My favorite lyrics from the song: I’m a girl in a world in which
My only job is to marry rich
My father has no sons so I’m the one
Who has to social climb for one
So I’m the oldest and the wittiest and the gossip in
New York City is insidious

 

Ah, the part where she rhymes "one" with "one." Gotcha.

 

 

 

"

 

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 12/29/15 at 5:49pm

More Sondheim... Losing My Mind from Follies and Agony from Into the Woods.

[mpd4165]

Posted: 12/29/15 at 5:49pm

I really, really love this song and I think this list from The New Yorker does an excellent job breaking the song down:

The jewel of Miranda’s jewel-heavy score, “Satisfied” may be the single best theatrical song written in the past decade. It’s hard to recall any recent show tune that packs in as much verbal wit, narrative surprise, stylistic alacrity, and revelation of character—and it belongs not to Hamilton, not to Burr, but to Angelica Schuyler, played by the incandescent Renée Elise Goldsberry. The song begins with Angelica’s wedding toast—Hamilton is marrying her sister, Eliza—and rewinds to the moment Alexander met them both, and Angelica made a snap decision that sealed her frustrated fate. Her motor-mouthed deconstruction of her own motives is mind-bending in complexity, and when we finally return to that wedding toast it’s heavy with irony. I’ve seen “Satisfied” three times onstage, listened to it maybe a hundred more, and still haven’t tired of its breathtaking nuance. It’s musical storytelling at its best.

http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-top-ten-showstoppers-of-2015

Updated On: 12/29/15 at 05:49 PM

[Hamilton22]

Posted: 12/29/15 at 5:56pm

Ah, the part where she rhymes "one" with "one." Gotcha.

 

I mean hey, if you disagree that Satisfied is better than On My own, that's fine. But  don't be a little bitch about it. 

 

Updated On: 12/29/15 at 05:56 PM

[mamaleh]

Posted: 12/29/15 at 5:59pm

"Satisfied" is a fine song.  Other good songs about unrequited love: "Perfect Relationship" (BELLS ARE RINGING); "I Wonder How It Is to Dance with a Boy" (HENRY SWEET HENRY), the aforementioned "Very Next Man" and the grandmama of them all, "Losing My Mind."  The last is the absolute best in that category IMHO.

[UrNotAMachine]

Posted: 12/29/15 at 6:04pm

hork said: "Hamilton22 said: "My favorite lyrics from the song: I’m a girl in a world in which
My only job is to marry rich
My father has no sons so I’m the one
Who has to social climb for one
So I’m the oldest and the wittiest and the gossip in
New York City is insidious

 

 

 

Ah, the part where she rhymes "one" with "one." Gotcha.

 

 

She actually rhymes "I'm" with "Climb." It treats "I'mtheone" and "Climbforone" as if they are each just one word and it makes for more varied and surprising lyrics than using perfect rhymes at the end of each phrase through the entirety of the show. In addition, a show like hamilton, which emulates a lot of today's pop music, is more likely to borrow from the rhyme scheme of today's music than rely on the standard perfect rhyme scheme of musical theatre. The show's whole concept hinges upon telling the story through the lens of modern music and cultural awareness so while it's respectful of and makes many nods to musical theatre of the 20th century, the lyrics best serve the story by resembling modern pop and rap and aren't being tied down by what's considered "proper" by broadway lyric standards.

 

 

Updated On: 12/29/15 at 06:04 PM

[binau]

Posted: 12/29/15 at 6:07pm

There is a lot more going on in Satisfied than On My Own. I'm not saying that necessarily makes it better, but the song is much more layered than On My Own.

 

On My Own is simply about what it feels to like someone that doesn't like you back. In addition to that, Satisfied explores things like conflicts between loving two people (sister/Alex), what it is like to have a connection with someone that is very rare to find, and family expectations regarding partners. 

I guess my point is that, sure feel free to criticise small details regarding rhyming etc. But Satisfied is substantially more complex than On My Own. And that's without even considering the variety/complexity of the actual music. 

 

 

Updated On: 12/29/15 at 06:07 PM

[IlanaKeller]

Posted: 12/29/15 at 6:13pm

"You Don't Need to Love Me" from "If/Then."