Salty Teardrops from Caroline, or Change...what does it mean?

[DougBrown]

Posted: 12/9/24 at 2:37pm

I'm directing a teen production of Caroline or Change, and this is the one song that I don't entirely get. "How long has this been going on?" What is the "this" in that question? What function is this song performing in the story? 

[GlindatheGood22]

Posted: 12/9/24 at 5:22pm

Practically, the song likely exists to give the actress playing Caroline a break immediately following Lot's Wife. Without it she'd be onstage until almost the very end of the show. Since it's performed by the Radio, I always assumed the song sits (mostly) outside the narrative and takes the form of a popular song of the day, in which case the "this" is likely a romantic affair.

 

[Kad]

Posted: 12/9/24 at 5:30pm

Yeah, this song doesn't really serve a story purpose- you could easily cut it and nothing would change in the plot- but it's a moment for the audience to breathe and it sets the mood and atmosphere going into the ending sequence. And since it's the Radio, which like all the anthropomorphized objects is a reflection of Caroline's mind and mental state, we are getting insight into Caroline's character here- in this case, her deep sorrow at her actions toward Noah and her lot in life. It also brings back the repeated imagery of being underwater, suggesting that Caroline feels that she is drowning.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 12/9/24 at 6:07pm

For me i just always took it as an “upbeat” song still evoking the sadness and sorrow (“I been spilling salty teardrops in the ocean / I been crying salty teardrops underwater” ) throughout the show. Does it MEAN anything? Maybe not but just for me i kind of always thought the imagery it evoked was so many tears, it filled the ocean or enough salt in the teardrops that it salted the entire ocean. If that makes sense. And like Kad said, it brings back the word “underwater” which in the next song, Noah will ask about his mother being buried under water followed by the gorgeous song, “Underwater”.

Updated On: 12/9/24 at 06:07 PM

[Kad]

Posted: 12/9/24 at 6:17pm

The “there is no underground, only underwater” motif that is repeated by Caroline (and the objects, on her behalf) is so movingly revised by Rose and then Emmy. 
Rose corrects Noah when he asks if his mother is underwater, assuring him she’s safely interred where nothing can enter. And in doing so, she unknowingly furthers the comparison between Noah’s mother and Caroline.

In the Epilogue, Emmy breaks down Caroline’s separation between underground and underwater completely - Caroline’s shutting out of the world has forced her send strength (symbolized by blood or water in the lyrics) underground, into the water cycle, and to her children to live on. 
 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 12/9/24 at 6:18pm

And now I’ll be listening to the show on repeat for at least the next month. 

[Ravenclaw]

Posted: 12/9/24 at 6:38pm

So fascinated by the choice to produce a teen production of Caroline, or Change and how the teens are responding to the material.

I agree with what others are saying that functionally it gives the show a lift and a break after the emotionally taxing "Lot's Wife" but I've thought there's more to it than that--beyond the water imagery, it seems to me that "salty" has to do with the "pillar of salt" as well.

In "Lot's Wife," Caroline asks god:

"Murder me God down in that basement,
murder my dreams so I stop wantin,
murder my hope of him returnin,
strangle the pride that make me crazy!
Make me forget so I stop grievin.
Scour my skin till I stop feelin.
Take Caroline away cause I cain't be her,
take her away I cain't afford her.
Tear out my heart
Strangle my soul
Turn my to salt
A pillar of salt"

She prays to be freed from the turmoil she is feeling and turned into salt, but instead, she cries salty teardrops. So then (through the radio, which verbalizes her subtext throughout the show), she turns to her god again and asks:

"I'm lookin for answers Lord,
high above, in the clouds.
Askin you tell me now
why I cry out loud?"

Asking why, when I asked you to take my feelings away from me so I can stop feeling, you're making me cry heavy, heavy sobs? Taken that way, "how long this been goin' on?" is a way of asking "why do you act in these mysterious ways?"

At least that's how I interpret it.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 12/9/24 at 7:16pm

Here’s the original 2004 Broadway cast: 

 

[chewy5000]

Posted: 12/9/24 at 10:42pm

Ravenclaw said: "So fascinated by the choice to produce a teen production of Caroline,or Change and how the teens are responding to the material."

Yeah we've definitely let that slip through the net. Wow.

 

[aburnedhill]

Posted: 12/10/24 at 12:17am

The only way Caroline can get her sadness out is if she blasts her radio. Serves the storytelling by having the girls wail out loud to reflect the weight of Caroline's emotion.

"How long has this been going on?" Is a question I am sure Caroline has asked herself many times.