Lyrics or lines that made you cringe!

I was torturing myself by listening to my CD of Ethel Merman's worst Broadway show, HAPPY HUNTING. In the song "Wedding of the Year" I had to wince when I heared a part of the song lyrics that actually (Attempted to) rhyme "Everything but the kitchen sink went" with "American juvenile delinquent". Ugh!

I was then reminded of what was possibly Oscar Hammerstein's worst set of lyrics- In CAROUSEL's "A Real Nice Clambake" with the painful line "The vittles we 'et were good, you bet!" Eek!

So what I'm asking now is, what lyrics in songs from musicals or lines from plays made you wince? They casn be bad rhymes, hokey lines or stuff that made you think "Why on EARTH was this put in there?!"

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Don't be offended by my frank analysis
Think of it as personality dialysis

i say it sucka sucka sucka sucka sucka sucka etc...

OMG! Here's one I remember reading about from ROCKABYE HAMLET:

Good son, when you go to France
Keep your divinity in your pants.

I couldn't make that one up if I tried!

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Updated On: 7/12/04 at 03:24 PM

yes, but urinetown lyrics are supposed to make you cringe, cant say the same for some other musicals

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It may be stupid but Kristin's belt seems to cover that up nicely... Or that may just be me...

i agree with you brdwaybaby, i love that line.

"It may be stupid but Kristin's belt seems to cover that up nicely... Or that may just be me..."

I do like how she sings it (it sounds kind of country-ish), but when you just see it written, it's doesn't really make any sense.

I'd say Hammerstein's low point was in Flower Drum Song, when he rhymes "Grant Avenue" with "Can't have a new... (way of living)". Also in the same song: "Dong dong - you're in Hong Kong!"

There are many lyrics that make me cringe.

One lyric that makes me cringe the most is June’s “She’s so moosical” lyric during the Farmboy Sequence in Gypsy.

At open callbacks for the show, I remember selecting the “Moo Cow” section (plus another—I’m not totally sadistic) for any women wanting to sing for the part of June. None of the women present were interested in June. {In fact, 90% of the women wanted to be Louise…the remaining 10% wanted to be Rose.} At first, a few girls (including two that really wanted to be Rose) volunteered just for “kicks.” We had them stand in a line, and had them sing the “moosical” section. In reaction to that one word, one of the Rose-auditionees walked off the stage saying “I just can’t sing that…” After that, the director instructed me to just call people up regardless of their interest (we couldn’t not have a June!).

What really hit me was that of all lyricists, Stephen freakin’ Sondheim was responsible for that lyric! Sondheim! One of our living legends of musical theatre!

It bothered me for a bit, but then I realized that it takes real talent to write lyrics intended to be cheesy…and then I felt a little better.

-SuperSchubert

I do like the way they used this is "Popular"

"You're gonna grin and bare it
Your new found popularit...ty"

I thought that it was clever

Updated On: 7/11/04 at 04:43 PM

pretty much all of the lyrics from Wicked.
Would it be all right by you, if I degreenify you?

Oh, and this one from Kiss Me Kate, which I originally thought was a typo:
If his checks I fear, mean that sex is here to stay!

Jonart... what I find funny is that I giggle every time I hear those parts in Wicked... I dunno... they make me giddy. Ehh, but I wonder, with just about everyone here saying the lines that make them cringe are from Wicked... how the heck did it become so popular? (No pun intended)