Lyrics or lines that made you cringe!
Lyrics or lines that made you cringe!
#0Lyrics or lines that made you cringe!
Posted: 7/11/04 at 3:02pm
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?!"
Praying Decca Broadway will put "Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope" on CD!
Support
Swing Joined: 7/11/04
#1re: Lyrics or lines that made you cringe!
Posted: 7/11/04 at 3:05pm
You're perfect
You're perfect
So we're perfect together
One of many from Wicked
ShbrtAlley44
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/1/03
#2re: Lyrics or lines that made you cringe!
Posted: 7/11/04 at 3:10pm
Don't be offended by my frank analysis
Think of it as personality dialysis
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
#3re: Lyrics or lines that made you cringe!
Posted: 7/11/04 at 3:15pm
The drink you blood
Then they eat your soul...
Let the bad times roll.
Dance of the Vampires. EWW!
Emutional
Featured Actor Joined: 7/7/04
#4re: Lyrics or lines that made you cringe!
Posted: 7/11/04 at 3:16pmi say it sucka sucka sucka sucka sucka sucka etc...
Featured Actor Joined: 12/31/69
#5re: Lyrics or lines that made you cringe!
Posted: 7/11/04 at 3:22pmbut that part does not make me cringe it makes me wet myself as it sounds so Margaret Cho's mom singing.... LOL
#6re: Lyrics or lines that made you cringe!
Posted: 7/11/04 at 3:24pm
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!
Praying Decca Broadway will put "Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope" on CD!
Updated On: 7/12/04 at 03:24 PM
Emutional
Featured Actor Joined: 7/7/04
#7re: Lyrics or lines that made you cringe!
Posted: 7/11/04 at 3:26pm99% of the lines from "urinetown".
#8re: Lyrics or lines that made you cringe!
Posted: 7/11/04 at 3:44pmyes, but urinetown lyrics are supposed to make you cringe, cant say the same for some other musicals
"Contentment it seems merely happens, It appears Accompanied by no bravos and no tears"
"The world is good you said Enjoy it's highs you said The summer flies you said So make a parade Of every moment Now throw away your hate And focus on what's great instead" ~William Finn
GovernorSlaton
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/14/04
#9re: Lyrics or lines that made you cringe!
Posted: 7/11/04 at 4:07pm
I love Urinetown's lyrics because they are so inventive AND hilarious. God, that's a great show.
Anyway...how about:
"There are bridges you crossed you didn't know you'd crossed until you'd crossed!"
GAH.
#10re: Lyrics or lines that made you cringe!
Posted: 7/11/04 at 4:10pmIt may be stupid but Kristin's belt seems to cover that up nicely... Or that may just be me...
JakeB
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#11re: Lyrics or lines that made you cringe!
Posted: 7/11/04 at 4:10pm
"Don't be offended by my frank analysis
Think of it as personality dialysis" -
is actually very witty and original, even though it's a rhyming couplet.
Emutional
Featured Actor Joined: 7/7/04
#12re: Lyrics or lines that made you cringe!
Posted: 7/11/04 at 4:11pm
i agree with you brdwaybaby, i love that line. 
ponine24601
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/4/03
#13re: Lyrics or lines that made you cringe!
Posted: 7/11/04 at 4:23pmhm... the last "LET'S DANCE!!" during Dancing through Life.
"People asking questions, lost in confusion. Well I tell them there's no problems, only solutions."
~The one and only John Lennon
GovernorSlaton
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/14/04
#14re: Lyrics or lines that made you cringe!
Posted: 7/11/04 at 4:27pm
"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.
jonartdesigns
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/04
#15re: Lyrics or lines that made you cringe!
Posted: 7/11/04 at 4:28pm
i've got something to confess-a reason why...-wicked
also the other one along the same lines
pal-a-sis ter and adviser- wicked
"Grease," the fourth revival of the season, is the worst show in the history of theater and represents an unparalleled assault on Western civilization and its values. - Michael Reidel
Jon
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/20/04
#16re: Lyrics or lines that made you cringe!
Posted: 7/11/04 at 4:28pmI'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!"
ponine24601
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/4/03
#17re: Lyrics or lines that made you cringe!
Posted: 7/11/04 at 4:29pmoh i repeat that last one :pal-a-sis ter and adviser- wicked . that is the only part of "popular" that i can't stand.
"People asking questions, lost in confusion. Well I tell them there's no problems, only solutions."
~The one and only John Lennon
#18re: Lyrics or lines that made you cringe!
Posted: 7/11/04 at 4:38pm
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
th
Swing Joined: 5/13/04
#19re: Lyrics or lines that made you cringe!
Posted: 7/11/04 at 4:41pm
"This is the moment, this is the hour
When we can open up tomorrow like a flower"
th
Swing Joined: 5/13/04
#20re: Lyrics or lines that made you cringe!
Posted: 7/11/04 at 4:43pm
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
#21re: Lyrics or lines that made you cringe!
Posted: 7/11/04 at 4:51pmAlthough I like the line in assassins I hate the part in putting it together where they change Jodie Darlin to "Darlin Darlin"... I know it had to be changed for context of the show, but it just bothers me for some reason.
You, you are the worst thing to happen to musical theater since Andrew Lloyd Webber... and you I just don't like you.
judy_in_disguise
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/31/04
#22re: Lyrics or lines that made you cringe!
Posted: 7/11/04 at 4:58pm
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!
#23re: Lyrics or lines that made you cringe!
Posted: 7/11/04 at 4:59pm
haha...can't you just feel the Wicked love lol! I agree with a lot of these though...especially-
"There are bridges you crossed you didn't know you'd crossed until you'd crossed"
Ugh that one just kills me it's like something they thought would sound profound but just comes out like a bad run on that is trying desperately to rhyme
"Take a breath. Take a step. Take a chance. Take your time." -L5Y
#24re: Lyrics or lines that made you cringe!
Posted: 7/11/04 at 5:00pmJonart... 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)
Videos