Broadway Legend Joined: 7/30/09
I'm by no means an expert on this, but I want to say that I heard that Hal Prince intended on using the original line, but then his wife said she would not see the show if he used that line, so it was changed. I might be way off, but I vaguely remember someone mentioning something like that here.
The line "Anything you want to, do it" in "Pure Imagination" bothers me because when it's sung, the comma kind of disappears and then its just a weird phrase.
So much of Spring Awakening, but especially:
O, I'm gonna be wounded
O, I'm gonna be your wound
O, I'm gonna bruise you
O, You're gonna be my bruise
O, I'm gonna blow chunks
O, You're gonna be my chunks
So sad but true about Hal Prince's Showboat lyric. Yep, the first words sung onstage are:
"Colored folk work on the Mississippi,
Colored folk work while the white folk play..."
It took me awhile to track down the evidence 'cause all I have is a cassette of the show (REALLY tough to find cd's of Hal prince's revival), and who has cassette players in their homes anymore, right? Finally realized my car (a 2004 model) still has a tape player so checked on the opening track just now. My heart sank to discover awesomedanny is right.
Danny Burstein sucking on Madrid's nipple.
Two from Flower Drum Song: first, from "I Enjoy Being a Girl":
When I hear the compliment'ry whistle
That greets my bikini by the sea,
I turn and I glower and I bristle,
But I'm happy to know the whistle's meant for me!
Change "I'm happy to" to "at least I" and have that last line sung in a cringing, embarrassed, slightly off-key manner and it works. It does not quite work the way Pat Suzuki sings it on the cast album. But the whole song's a bit, shall we say, self-conscious, which is why Phyllis Diller destroyed -- er, recorded it. And I do like the melody.
Second, two lines from that dummy lyric nonpareil "Chop Suey":
Harry Truman, Truman Ca-POAT and Deweeeeeeeey....
Hear that lovely "La Paloma"
Lullaby by Perry COMAAAAAAAAAAA....
No one can doubt Juanita Hall was one of the greats but this is exactly how they came out; maybe "Ockie" overlooked a bit too much. I wonder how (or if) he instructed her to sing them. And we can't excuse them because Hammerstein was ill during the show's creation. Oh well, as the other posts demonstrate, there are worse lyrics -- half of them from one show.
Updated On: 6/24/11 at 08:22 PM
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/27/05
I'm really bothered by "But the tigers come at night / with their voices soft as thunder / as they tear your hopes apart / as they turn your dream to shame"
I dunno, I just think it's such a crucial buildup in the song, and then she mentions... tigers. Out of absolutely nowhere. And she's not even in a country where tigers are native. Plus, why are they coming at night? Are they dream tigers that prey on other dreams, happy dreams? Is this just a really bad English translation?
I just... yeah.
Featured Actor Joined: 6/4/10
The entirety of "Birthday, B****" from Bare: a Pop Opera I find disgusting, and this is coming from someone who loves the Book of Mormon score.
Featured Actor Joined: 6/4/10
"Where I go when I go there,
No more shadows anymore-
Only men with golden fins;
The rhythm in them, rocking with them, to shore..."
Despite this being one of the few songs from Spring Awakening that I enjoy, the line "only men with golden fins" always takes me out of the song.
The whole of 'Contact'. I love RENT but this song just seems so out of place. Angel's just died and then they all start singing about sex. I know it's a metaphor but it kills the mood set by 'Without You'.
One of many cringe-worthy moments from Defying Gravity:
I'm through accepting limits, 'cuz someone says they're so.
While we understand that Elphie will no longer accept limits that are imposed on her by others, I'm sure she could have expressed it in a more coherent way.
The lyric always gives me a headache.
"It's the butcher's dear darling retarded wife, Fruma Sarah, Fruma Sarah!"
at least that's the way I always heard it as a kid listening to the OCR
Speaking of sexual revelations and You're the Top, how about those stories that Jerry Herman's lyrics frequently subtextualize a certain very kinky sex act:
"I Put My Hand in There..."
"Did He Need a Stronger Hand...."
and, my favorite:
"Life is a celebration with you on my arm!"
The one about killing the dog in Rent truly disgusts me
The one about killing the dog in Rent truly disgusts me
It doesn't disgust me any more than poisoning a parrot, which was the original situation in La Boheme. Schaunard, a musician, is hired by an English Lord to play for him until his parrot dies. After three days of this, Schaunard comes up with the idea to poison the parrot to collect the money more quickly.
Swing Joined: 1/4/11
"it's what we used to dream about, think twice before you poo-poo it" from Rent. that lyric just stands out like a sore thumb to me..
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/11/10
This has been discussed endlessly on other threads, but "Here's a pic of all of us" from Next to Normal. Dan would never say "pic".
"it's what we used to dream about, think twice before you poo-poo it" from Rent. that lyric just stands out like a sore thumb to me.."
I SO agree with this one, and I love Rent. Eery time I thread like this pops up, that has been my answer!
This has been discussed endlessly on other threads, but "Here's a pic of all of us" from Next to Normal. Dan would never say "pic".
I know, how DISGUSTING is that!?
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/11/10
chewy- I'd categorize it as odd.
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/11/10
Also, from Memphis- "Everybody wants to be black on a Saturday night", as well as the rhyme "Everybody wants to be black/everybody wants to jump back"
The whole of 'Contact'. I love RENT but this song just seems so out of place. Angel's just died and then they all start singing about sex. I know it's a metaphor but it kills the mood set by 'Without You'.
No, he hasn't. Angel dies at the end of "Contact," hence Collins saying, "It's over." The Broadway staging made this very clear. I'm guessing you've only seen the movie and heard the cast recording?
They discuss in the book how difficult it was for the actor to portray an orgasm and a death scene simultaneously.
From Jesus Christ Superstar:
"I couldn't cope, just couldn't cope." *Shoots myself*
I hate the whole "I Don't Know How to Love Him" song, but this one stands out as extra unbearable every time a singer gets to that part.
The lyric from "Defying Gravity" that really bothers me is right at the beginning of the body of the song:
Something has changed within me;
Something is not the same.
Duh. Redundancy Department of Redundancy on line one.
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