INTENTIONALLY bad, cheesy or simplistic lyrics

[jpbran]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 4:13pm

Am kinda tired of songs being bashed for **intentionally** simple, silly and/or bad lyrics.

Spring Awakening got crap from people about the "blah, blah, blah" chorus. Duh-- they're using teen-speak in place of the usual "la" or "dah" chorus. It's totally appropriate and fairly clever.

"Blah, blah" is how adolescents hear adults speak, and it's also used as shorthand to refer to their parents. SA bashers were making it sound like Sater just couldn't think of anything else.

Recently, Cry Baby (not a great show, but I wasn't insulted or bored) is getting grief for "Baby, baby, baby, baby..." Again, not like the lyricists were that stupid that that's ALL they could think of. He was singing a song to her that's SUPPOSED to be lunk-headed and simplistic. THAT was the joke. (It was also the one song that stuck in my head strangely.)

Goes all the way back to Bye Bye Birdie and the "Sincere" song. Not a great song, nor was it supposed to be. It was s'posed to be a banal & cheesy parody of a pop song. Also "Over the Moon" from Rent. I've heard people say how it's a really bad song. It's supposed to be!

I'm rambling... Oh, never mind.

[musicaltheatrefan3]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 4:14pm

"but even a person who's smart"

Legally Blonde - What You Want

[singingbackup]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 4:16pm

Great point jpbran. Sadly your point will not be understood or appreciated by the band of brothers who are hunting Cry-Baby merely for sport.

[jpbran]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 4:18pm

Thx... Agreed-- it's slowed down somewhat, but the bashing and the new threads about EVERY SINGLE performance were getting kinda old.

(And I've seen many, many worse shows over the years that have been treated far more kindly.)

[InfiniteTheaterFrenzy]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 4:23pm

jpbran, I think you make a great point, and I applaud you.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 4:26pm

The difference between "Totally F*CKed"/"Sincere" & "Baby Baby Baby (Baby Baby Baby)" is that the former 2 have intelligent lyrics and hummable music. They're also memorable.

Nothing stands out in CRY-BABY, except the lingering bad taste in your mouth.

[bwayguy22089]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 4:44pm

That's all a matter of opinion really. I actually really enjoyed Cry-Baby. It's a certain kind of musical with a certain type of humor. Not everyone is going to get it (clearly).

[B3TA07]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 4:49pm

"Love Is Your Legs" in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels has always seemed very satirical to me.

[Raspberry]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 4:49pm

I agree that the "blah, blah" fits well, but overall the lyrics for Spring Awakening were so horrific they were distracting. At times they were all I could think about. I'm not trying to purposely insult anyone who likes the show (I have a lot of good friends who paid money to own the cast recording and listen to it often... a lot of the same people who went to midnight release parties for Britney's Blackout album, and I respect all that), but it is my opinion that these were absolutely the most poorly-written lyrics I've ever heard on a Broadway stage--and I've seen Wicked twice!

I still get upset when I try to digest the fact that on Tony night, this beat out the Grey Gardens score, which had some of the most gorgeous and brilliant lyrics I've ever heard. I come back to the Grey Gardens CDs again and again and still find myself deeply moved and astounded by its intricacies. I know the Tony's are pretty complicated and don't necessarily reward the best, and it's understandable how Spring Awakening lead the awards last year, but this will probably bother me forever: that's just who I am.

Also, I haven't seen Cry-Baby yet, so I can't comment, but I'm looking forward to the score, especially after that article about the composer and lyricist that appeared in the NYT. I'm hoping to rush it in the weeks after opening, so we'll see.

[Raspberry]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 4:53pm

But to say something more positive, I think my favorite intentionally cheesy lyrics are all the silly rhymes and imagery from the Mary Jane song in Reefer Madness.

"you stirred me up like beef chow mein," "your toxic kisses make me heart race faster than a cheetah," "softer than a pillow stuffed with bunnies," etc.

[insertclevernamehere]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 4:59pm

Follow your Heart from Urinetown

[goldenstate5]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 5:00pm

"I'm Not Wearing Underwear Today" from Ave Q is another one...

[singingbackup]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 5:22pm

Wow,it only took 6 replies for the "Cry"ing to begin.

And again with the trite, tired and cliched "not a hummable score" comments

I have been involved in music most of my life and have been blessed with skills and a well-trained ear. Even I needed a second viewing (listening) to catch some of the tunes in Cry-Baby. That goes for 90% of the shows I have seen. I don't have access to the demos many on here do...and they are DEMOS, not the final representation of the score. Nor do most people for that matter. Add to that the trend away from more traditional musical theater structure and it often times won't be as memorable the first go 'round for most. (More 'classic' musicals repeated songs often, including in the overture, entr'acte, reprises and exit music...they couldn't help but be 'hummable')

[broadwaywriter]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 5:28pm

Though some of Spring Awakening's lyrics are rocky...some are really beautiful, especially those in "Those You've Known", "Whispering", and "Left Behind". The second act of that show is SO much stronger than the first.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 5:38pm

Singingbackup, not everyone has the opportunity to see things more than once.

[Raspberry]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 5:47pm

edit: to clarify, when I say I agree, I mean I agree with singingbackup

I agree completely. I hate when people act like "catchy," "hummable" and "memorable" are qualities a good song from a musical should have. It doesn't matter if you can sing it in the cab on the way home. It should matter how the song functions in the show, in the moment, with the characters, story, mood, etc.

I saw the Grinch musical in December 06, the first year it was on Broadway. I only saw it once, which was about once more than I would have liked, in retrospect. Except for the songs that were in the original cartoon, I never heard any of the Grinch music before the show, and haven't heard any of it since I saw the show. So it's been 16 months since the only time I heard it, but you know what? About once a week, I still get that stupid song that the Who children sing stuck in my head. You know, the one where the Grinch imagines them playing noisily with all there obnoxious toys? I get about as pissed at those dumb Who children as the Grinch does, so I guess the song accomplishes exactly what it wants to. If I'm still humming that one-time song a year and a half later, it must be a masterpiece of American theatre by the "memorable, hummable tunes" standard.

Updated On: 4/17/08 at 05:47 PM

[DMsquared2]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 5:59pm

Don't get hot and flustered
Use a bit of mustard

"Planet Schmanet, Janet" from The Rocky Horror Show

[singingbackup]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 6:45pm

Yankee..that's just my point...if one only sees it once and doesn't have access to other ways of hearing the music...it's hard for Cry-Baby or most musicals to be 'hummable' or memorable after only one sitting.

[TooDarnHot]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 7:22pm

singingbackup - if the music was actually decent, I wouldn't need to see it a second time to remember it.

[MrSweetNAwful]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 8:19pm

Some people say Your Eyes isn't that great, I agree it is kinda weak but what do you expect from some ex-junkie punk who's suffering from, amont other things, writers block?

[MrSweetNAwful]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 8:37pm

Oh, and ALL of The Drowsy Chaperone.

[delucad15]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 10:06pm

I find a random spots in legally blonde's lyrics simplistic at times

[pants2]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 10:09pm

I'm pretty sure all of Drowsy's lyrics aren't meant to be taken seriously.