Lyrics that strike you as odd or disgust you — Page 3

^I agree that the songwriting is nothing to scoff at but I find the lyrics offensive because they're blasphemous. I about fell off the treadmill when I first heard the song.

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Going back to the stupid Nessa, confess-a line, shouldn't it be, "I have something to confess, the reason why..."? I mean, there really is only one reason he asked her. It's not like he had planned on it before Guh-linda suggested it.

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Hasa Diga Eebowai also bothers me. I heard about it before I saw the show and thought I would be ok with it when seeing it but, although the tune is catchy, I just don't care for the lyrics. And I have a very good sense of humor.

Also those lyics from "For Good". I also feel it is like a backhanded apology.

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charlesjguiteau-

I do see that, and yes, from a technical standpoint the word is a good choice. But I feel like Herman's penchant for being clever still got the better of him in that instance. It's just not a word people often use (I can't really recall ever coming across it otherwise). It's not as bad as Nellie Forbush using "bromidic", for instance, but still.

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I also can't stand the lyric "you'll be with me like a hand print on my heart". It makes me think of Elphaba cutting her chest open, taking Glinda's hand, forcing it into red paint, then smacking her hand on her open heart. It disturbs me
From Women on the Verge- "In a helmet of telephone wire" and "the cobwebs in your head turn into razor wire". Odd lyrics, but I LOVE them. I think the lyrics from this show are just so beautiful and poetic.

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EVA: Did you hear that? They called me a whore! They actually called me a whore!
ADMIRAL: But, signora Peron, it's an easy mistake- I'm still called an admiral- yet I gave up the sea long ago!

Hate that we're supposed to laugh at that.

I could understand a person
If it's not a person's bag.
I could understand a person
If a person was a fag.

Sondheim revised that verse. It's now this:

I could understand a person,
if he said to go away.
I could understand a person,
if he happened to be gay.

the phrase "unexpected song" bothers me. I don't know why.

Also, I don't really know what the context of the song was, but "You need someone who's older" strikes me as weird from "You're Just In Love."

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raker, Yeah I always hated that Sondheim changed that fag lyric into something so banal and politically correct. To me, the fag line always sounded exactly like what those girls would have said to eachother in 1969, however unpleasant it sounded to our ears. Isn't a lyric supposed to be all about character, not political correctness?

CharlesGuiteau--remember the lyric change was made initially for the revision that moved Company up once again to the "present day" which in this case was 94 or 95 or so. That said, even most productions that bring it back to the 70s usually keep the revised lyric, but of course the term would make more sense from those women in 1970, although many modern audiences could hear it as more mean spirited than it's meant to be (I guess it's nto the same thing, but it does remind me of all the probs they've had changing the opening use of the N word in Show Boat).

In "Real Live Girl", there's a line "just when I started to learn how to knit", which is just so random. The next line has something about being "in stitches", but the wordplay is not justified when the previous lyric sounds so random.

In Spring Awakening (I could quote the whole show if we're discussing bad lyrics) "we'll take that silver magic, and we'll aim it at the wall". Is "silver magic" supposed to be semen? Why are they aiming it at the wall? That's kind of disgusting.

I always find the line in Les Miz "...and mine's Javert. Do not forget me. Do not forget my name" (or whatever it is) to be so awkward. It's like Javert is doing a cheesy line delivery to the audience saying that he's an important character. How does he know that he's going to meet Jean Valjean again?

In "Steal Your Rock and Roll" from Memphis, I can't stand the line "love it with your feet" because, first of all, it's just an awkward thing that people don't say, and second, the line would make some sense if the show were about dancing, but it's all about singing. This line has no meaning. I suppose "love it with your mouth" sounds dirty and "love it with your vocal chords" is too many syllables.

charlesjguiteau, did Hal Prince restore it for the 94 revival? I don't have it with me to verify, but I'm pretty sure that on the cast recording it's "colored folk". I honestly can't remember what they were saying when I saw the tour (when Cloris Leachman and I think Dean Jones were playing Parthy and Captain Andy).