Lyrics in musicals that make you itch- Page 3

[Cutielyricist]

Posted: 6/25/08 at 4:16am

I caught this the first time I heard it and it still bugs me.

The Little Mermaid- "She barely sticks her toe in down at the tidal pool" in "She's in Love"...

Yeah, She doesn't have toes. She's a little mermaid.



Updated On: 6/25/08 at 04:16 AM

[brochatkid]

Posted: 6/25/08 at 6:40am

SporkGoddess: You're right it is. Oops.

I still hate the lyric and think it's cringe-worthy.
Updated On: 6/25/08 at 06:40 AM

[Weez]

Posted: 6/25/08 at 7:10am

Much as I love Tim Rice, this thread is making me think we need to revoke his knighthood.

"Greatest man since Noah
Only goes to show-a"

OUCH. XD

Updated On: 6/25/08 at 07:10 AM

[SirNotAppearing]

Posted: 6/25/08 at 7:50am

"Go, go, go, go, go, go, go Joseph you know what they say
Hang on now Joseph you'll make it some day
Sha la la Joseph you're doing fine
You and your dreamcoat ahead of your time"

"Those Canaan days we used to know
Where have they gone, where did they go?
Eh bien, raise your berets
To those Canaan days"

"Grovel, grovel, cringe, bow, stoop, fall
Worship, worship, beg, kneel, sponge, crawl"

"I rather like the way you're talking,
Astute and sincere
Suddenly your tragic story
It gets me right here"

Ick.

[newsieboy23]

Posted: 6/25/08 at 9:37am

Aida:


"RE: Another Pyramid"

[sondhead]

Posted: 6/29/08 at 1:34pm

" And as for 'Defying Gravity', the lyric is "as someone told me lately". Some Elphabas may sing "someone's", but for once we can't blame the lyricist. "

No. Even if it's not "someone's" told and lately don't match. It's still redundant. To be grammatically correct it would have to be "As some has been telling me lately..."

And the things I did you blame me for--blame means "to hold responsible". So she's saying I ask forgiveness my actions, which you hold me responsible for. Redundant.

Posted: 6/29/08 at 3:04pm

There's a quick one in In the Heights:

"That's Abuela,
She's not really my abuela..."

I just wince and giggle each time, but Sonny makes up for it with his Chita Rivera line.

[luke-h***]

Posted: 6/29/08 at 3:23pm

The Finale to Bat Boy. A very dramatic scene, runied by the 'lets-try-to-make-the-very-sad-finale-scene-funny' lyrics

'Love your neighbour,
forgive keep your vows
and a mountain's no place to raise cows
revenge is something god forbids
to scape-goat folks is wrong
and don't kill Mrs. Taylors kids'

God if that's the final draft of that song, I'd hate to think how dire the first was...*shuddders*

[fanpires]

Posted: 6/29/08 at 3:26pm

From Bare:

"Hey little boy would you like a ride, a lollipop, a puppy?
How about a baseball bat? – there’s one in my pants"

So horrible.

Posted: 6/29/08 at 5:22pm

There are so many lyrics in Chess I can't stand.

In fact, there are so many I can't even begin to quote them.

[Weez]

Posted: 6/29/08 at 5:27pm

"That's Abuela,
She's not really my abuela..."

What's wrong with that? I used to have an Uncle Bob. He wasn't really my uncle, but he was a very good friend of the family. *shrugs*

But yes, the Chita Rivera line pwns. :3

[MCfan2]

Posted: 6/29/08 at 5:39pm

"" And as for 'Defying Gravity', the lyric is "as someone told me lately". Some Elphabas may sing "someone's", but for once we can't blame the lyricist. "

No. Even if it's not "someone's" told and lately don't match. It's still redundant. To be grammatically correct it would have to be "As some has been telling me lately..." "

No, it would have to be "As some have been telling me lately."

Re: "The things I've done you blame me for" -- to me it sounds like something a politician would say. Sort of like, "I'm sorry if you were hurt" (which tends to imply, "I didn't do anything to hurt you; you just decided to feel hurt"). Or even the ever-popular "Mistakes were made."

As for lyrics that make me itch, I love "She Loves Me," and I think most of it is brilliant, but these lines bug me every time:

"I must stop thinking with my skin
I will not be a mandolin
That someone strums and puts away
Until he gets the urge to play!"

I get what she's saying, but "thinking with my skin" just sounds silly. And to jump right from that to the mandolin metaphor sounds even sillier.

[winston89]

Posted: 6/29/08 at 5:55pm

I think that my least favorite one would have to be "there are bridges you didn't know you crossed until you crossed." That not only makes no sense but it was just so poorly written. I could say that for a lot of they lyrics.

I do find it interesting that the first time I had see The Little Mermaid the musical I had never seen the move before. So I couldn't point out which songs were from the movie and which ones were written for the show. Of course there were the obvious like Part of Your World and Poor Unfortunate Souls and Under the Sea which are songs that I know are Disney standards etc. But, other then that I had trouble figuring it out. However, I was able to tell by the lyrics. The ones with the bad lyrics I figured out were not from the movie and were done by Glenn Slater. The ones with good lyrics I found out were done by Ashman.

[ElFantasma14]

Posted: 6/29/08 at 5:56pm

I love most of "A Catered Affair", but in the song "Partners", the lyric that goes like (and forgive me if I mess up the words because I'm going from memory):

"Partners, friends for life
Can't believe you're ready to be my wife"

seem so contrived! ugh.

[toanythingtaboo 2]

Posted: 6/29/08 at 7:16pm

"there are bridges you crossed, you didn't know you crossed until you crossed"

that does make sense...it's basically saying 'sometimes you do/say something without realizing you've done/said it, until its too late'.

the 'as someone told me lately' line isn't grammatically correct, but it does make sense. you get what she's saying...'recently the wizard said to me that everyone deserves the chance to fly'...doesn't really flow as well.

to be honest, Wicked has several words that are entirely made up so its not surprising that they would have lyrics that don't technically make much sense, but at the time you get what they're meaning which is the most important thing.


em...what else have people said, oh yeah the 'every time he looks at me its totally proposal eyes'. i thought she was saying 'totally proposalized' for ages, guess not haha.

but the 'proposal eyes' line does sort of make sense. just saying he looked like he was going to propose..


if we're going to criticize lyrics, how about we go for almost the entire of 'We Go Together' from Grease.

'ramalamalamagadinkyitydinkidonk' or something. grrrreat lyrics.

[defyingonbroadway]

Posted: 6/29/08 at 7:36pm

"What do you think of our rhythm bands...monkey glands...hot dog stands" - Conga, Wonderful Town

I don't know why, but it makes me itch. I love the song, but I just cringe when I hear it..I think it's the monkey glands.

And I know everybody is going to kill me for this, but some of the Sunday in the Park with George lyrics.

[philly03]

Posted: 6/29/08 at 7:41pm

CHESS does have so many, but Tim Rice has so many flaws in his lyric writing that you know he thought was so clever at the time (and perhaps when he wrote them), but I think that's what I find interesting about his lyrics.
"And the appeal, partner
of this deal, parter
is that we both stand to win
we'll bring back the golden era"
I just happen to think that it might not be crap, just interesting writing.

And I happen to think Nan Knighton (Saturday Night Fever--some adjustments, Scarlet Pimpernel and Camille Claudel) writes some really creative lyrics, and just some really crappy ones.

In "Into the Fire" she rhymes the second and last lines, example:
Hand & Stand
Hell & Tell
Night & Fight
..and then she tries to rhyme:
Scale and Sail?

And then of course all of those "BOYS!" thrown into that song.

Also, it seems like she ran out of something to fill in, so wrote, cleverly and then just ($&#*&$?? !:
"See the moon slink down in the sky, darling
Let your fantasies fly, darling"
"Just see how virtue repays you
You turn and someone betrays you
Betray him first
and the game's reversed."

That last part just seems well WHAT? Obviously.

There's a bunch more from just about EVERY Frank Wildhorn show, with the exception of Camille Claudel, but no one's really heard any of that!

[Ryan4]

Posted: 6/29/08 at 9:25pm

"Sunset Boulevard":

L.A.'s changed a lot over the years
Since those great gold rush pioneers
Came in their creaky covered wagons.
Far as they could go, end of the line
Their dreams were yours, their dreams were mine
But in those dreams were hidden dragons.

?

[dinglehopper89]

Posted: 6/29/08 at 9:29pm

a nice majority of Wicked's lyrics
I don't like Stephen Schwartz's lyrics. It always sounds like he's trying to smush a bunch of words into one line and it just doesn't sound right to me.

[B3TA07]

Posted: 6/29/08 at 9:40pm

"Tim Rice has so many flaws in his lyric writing that you know he thought was so clever at the time (and perhaps when he wrote them),"

Uh...

[MCfan2]

Posted: 6/29/08 at 10:15pm

Ryan4, that one always gets me too. "In those dreams were hidden dragons"? Eek.

[PJC]

Posted: 6/29/08 at 10:29pm

I hate bad rhymes, but logic flaws drive me crazy. For example:

"No wizard that there is or was ... "

Why would she care about wizards who no longer exist? The sentiment should be "No wizard that there is or ever will be", but rhyme-whore Schwarz needs to rhyme with "Oz".

On the subject of Sunset Boulevard, here's Michael Walsh's review from time.com:

"Some of the lyrics, though, have got to go. To have Joe sing that L.A. has changed a lot "since those brave gold rush pioneers/ Came in their creaky covered wagons" is ridiculous. L.A. barely existed in 1849; the gold rush took place 400 miles to the north; and the prospectors mostly came by sea, it being difficult to get wagons over the Rockies. Even in Hollywood they can't manage that."

[Lovelylady17329]

Posted: 6/29/08 at 10:49pm

I second "proposal eyes" from Legally Blonde. It took me a very long time to figure out what the heck she was actually saying.

**Shudder**

[toanythingtaboo 2]

Posted: 6/30/08 at 8:10am

PJC..

"no wizard that there is or was"

i always thought that line was supposed to be a reference to the Wizard of Oz.

"he is a whiz of a Wiz! If ever a Wiz! there was."

[PJC]

Posted: 6/30/08 at 7:12pm

Just goes to show, Yip Harburg knows when it's time to rhyme with 'Oz', and Schwarz knows it's always rhyme-time.
With anything.