Misinterpreted Songs

[StageManager2]

Posted: 3/28/06 at 2:15am

I read an interview with Sondheim in which he stated that people misunderstand the true meaning of "No One Is Alone." It's not a "we'll be all right" number, but rather a warning that "we're not alone" therefore our actions affect someone else.

This made me think of starting this thread. Does anyone have any misunderstood songs? "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" comes to mind, because I just went to see a local production over the weekend. At the start of Act II, one of the people I was with commented, "I thought she sang that at the end." Taken out of context, the song does seem like Eva singing from the grave and recounting her life story. But within the basis of the show (during Peron's inauguration) Eva is assuring the people that even though she's risen to heights of glory and seems miles away, she remains a part of them. [The real Evita often reminded her followers that she still was working class, like them, despite her extravagant wealth.) The chorus puts this clearly:

Don't cry for me Argentina
The truth is I never left you
All through my wild days
My mad existence
I kept my promise
Don't keep your distance

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 3/28/06 at 2:21am

Sugar from tick, tick...BOOM!

But I think the misinterpretation is intentional.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 3/28/06 at 2:27am

"Broadway Baby"

[children&art]

Posted: 3/28/06 at 4:08am

um, hello? the first time "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" is heard in the show is during Eva's funeral at the beginning - so it's not a misinterpretation.

[blaxx]

Posted: 3/28/06 at 4:11am

I personally hate how a lot of performers treat Cabaret like some cheesy funy song, being that in its original context it couldn't come from a more painful place.

[blaxx]

Posted: 3/28/06 at 4:11am

I personally hate how a lot of performers treat Cabaret like some cheesy funy song, being that in its original context it couldn't come from a more painful place.

[Pippin]

Posted: 3/28/06 at 10:54am

people who don't know the context of "everything's coming up roses" have no idea what it is about.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 3/28/06 at 10:59am

LOL to Sugar from TTB.

Since the post began with a Sondheim song, I'll share something about one, as well. The first time I heard Not While I'm Around, it was a recording of a concert where the song was sung entirely out of context. It was so beautiful, I thought it was some sort of protective love song. Of course, after seeing Sweeney, I realized that it's not what I thought it was. After I saw the show again last week, I was talking with Manoel Felciano about it, and he said that it's very *often* interpreted as a "you're gonna be okay" love song, because it's just so beauitful, but that it's really a song about how dangerously doomed things are. It's a warning. Yes, he's saying that right now, everything will be okay, "but in time....." someone's going to get you. His interpretation reads the "but in time.... " fermata as an elipses -- so it's not that "but in time" things will still continue to be okay, it's that "but in time....." we don't know what, but something bad's going to happen.

[Sandy in Sable]

Posted: 3/28/06 at 11:04am

blaxx, I agree with you about Cabaret. But I think the best versions are when the pain wells from deep within, occasionally bursting through the cheery, upbeat veneer. The veneer is essential to the equation. When I saw Teri Hatcher play Sally, she sang Cabaret ALL subtext, like she beat the audience with every lyric.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 3/28/06 at 11:05am

I think Cabaret was best sung with a visibly wearing veneer. The song would start off, though still clearly being an act, with well-feigned happiness. As it went on, Sally would be unable to keep the farce, and break down. Things are falling apart around her at that moment, and so is she.

[Calvin]

Posted: 3/28/06 at 11:12am

Not a Broadway song, but Ruben Studdard butchered Superstar repeatedly. The song's supposed to be creepy, not a love ballad.

[Sandy in Sable]

Posted: 3/28/06 at 11:23am

Exactly luvtheEmcee.

IMHO, not even Loofuh came close to Karen Carpenter's Superstar. Her voice was so haunting.

Again, not a Broadway song, but I've seen many people butcher gospel in a similar fashion. Dorsey's most famous song "Precious Lord" (Mahalia Jackson sung it at Martin Luther King, Jr.'s funeral) is NOT an upbeat praise song.

[tomwing]

Posted: 3/28/06 at 12:53pm

Two songs come in my mind

the first is "my Funny Valentine" which is often sung on February the 14th although Valentine is not a "sweetheart" but the person's name.

the second is "I won't send roses" from Mack n Mabel that due to its witty and extremely original lyrics is thought to mean totally the oposite of what it really does.

[children&art]

Posted: 3/28/06 at 2:11pm

Tomwing: You are SO wrong about "My Funny Valentine". It was written for "Babes in Arms" by Rogers and Hart. The word "valentine" is not capitalized in the lyrics of the songbook I have, nor is any character in the show named Valentine. It has everything to do with "sweetheart".

[NCGuy]

Posted: 3/28/06 at 2:34pm

Children&art, "My Funny Valentine" is sung to the character "Valentine"/"Val" in Babes in Arms (and obviously the lyric also works for "sweetheart"…there’s a reason Rodgers & Hart didn’t write "My Funny Irving").

[children&art]

Posted: 3/28/06 at 3:05pm

oops, my bad.

[StageManager2]

Posted: 3/28/06 at 3:35pm

children&art, I was referring to the actual song, which is sung at Peron's inauguration. Eva is asking the people not to cry for her, not because she is dying ("Final Broadcast") or dead ("Requiem'), but because she hasn't deserted them, despite her opulence. This is the song from the show with which most people are familiar. (I just sounded like Ruth from "WONDERFUL TOWN" right there!) When taken out of context and sung at talent shows or what not, people assume Eva sings it as her farewell number, which in fact she does not. And each time she sings "Don't Cry For Me..." ("Requiem," "The Casa Rosada," "Final Broadcast") it has a different meaning. So there. :)

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 3/28/06 at 3:36pm

Before I knew anything about Evita, and they were playing the Madonna version the radio ALL THE GOD DAMNED TIME, I just figured she was taking a trip somewhere.

[StageManager2]

Posted: 3/28/06 at 4:02pm

luvtheEmcee, her "Rainbow Tour" perhaps?

[Calvin]

Posted: 3/28/06 at 4:07pm

I'm just waiting for the male chauvenist who requests "What's the Use of Wonderin'" to be sung at his wedding.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 3/28/06 at 4:41pm

What I Did For Love

It was the 1970's. It's about the casting couch.

[mrkringas]

Posted: 3/28/06 at 4:49pm

Oh dear! I had never thought of A Chorus Line in that way but now it makes perfect sense.

Not quite meaning but more style... why oh why do singers insist on performing I Dreamed a Dream and I'd Give My Life For You at level ten heightened emotion!!!!!!!! The songs are actually quite happy to begine with (sort of) and there should be a natural progression in intensity and emotion.

I sometimes feel a lot of people in the amateur or student world just think oh this song is about x+y and I need to hit the following notes. When really the song is actually about x+y+zx2! But hey I am getting old and cranky

Oh and if someone doesnt know what Songs for a New World material are about then they should back off. Some very complex emotions and characters but again people seem to think that cause JRB is the in thing they must butcher his great material with juvenille performaces.

[xxnewgirlxx]

Posted: 3/28/06 at 4:56pm

Another non-Broadway: I remember interviews with Sting in which he recalled people coming up to him and telling him "Every Breath You Take" was their wedding song.

He would just tell them "Good luck".

[Josh Freilich]

Posted: 3/28/06 at 5:15pm

"Cabaret"

[Ourtime992]

Posted: 3/28/06 at 6:01pm

xxnewgirlxx, that was the example I was just about to post. The prom committee my senior year wanted to use the song as our theme. I advised they pay a little more attention to the lyrics.

and I HATE it when young girls sing Broadway Baby with the sort of voice Eartha Kitt used for Santa Baby. Pet peeve, that one.