Songs With Weirdest Subject Matter
Songs With Weirdest Subject Matter
#1Songs With Weirdest Subject Matter
Posted: 5/4/09 at 9:11pmThe great thing about musicals is that the songs have a story, so...have you ever listened to a cast album and gone, "...they wrote a song about THIS? What?"
In my pants, she has burst like the music of angels, the light of the sun! --Marius Pantsmercy
heo1128
Broadway Star Joined: 7/9/08
#2re: Songs With Weirdest Subject Matter
Posted: 5/4/09 at 9:13pmI'd say (way back when) electroshock therapy in "Feeling Electric" is out of the norm. And a variety of songs from Sweeny about making humans and other creatures into pies.
husk_charmer
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/19/06
#2re: Songs With Weirdest Subject Matter
Posted: 5/4/09 at 9:14pmI'm still confused about the song in Seesaw, where they teach Ken Howard "Spanglish"
http://www.youtube.com/huskcharmer
Shannon Bo Dannon
Broadway Star Joined: 8/19/08
#3re: Songs With Weirdest Subject Matter
Posted: 5/4/09 at 9:15pmWell, the first thing that came to my head were some of the Avenue Q songs, like "I'm Not Wearing Underwear Today" and "The Internet is For Porn," but those kind of songs make that show so real and hilarious.
goober1632
Understudy Joined: 7/29/07
#4re: Songs With Weirdest Subject Matter
Posted: 5/4/09 at 9:24pm
"Unfortunate Erection"
"Dance 10, Looks 3"
"Contact" - rent
"Sodomy" - hair
"The Rape of Miss Goldberg" - trousers
"Kesa" - See What I Wanna See
"Think of Meryl Streep" - Fame
"Internet is for Porn"
#5re: Songs With Weirdest Subject Matter
Posted: 5/4/09 at 9:33pm
A Little Priest - Sweeney Todd
Hominy Grits - Grey Gardens
Entering Grey Gardens - Grey Gardens
I know you.
I know you.
I know you.
#6re: Songs With Weirdest Subject Matter
Posted: 5/4/09 at 10:01pmListen to BAJOUR for a terrific song (really!)about African tribes and tse-tse flies.
2016 These Paper Bullets (1/02) Our Mother's Brief Affair (1/06), Dragon Boat Racing (1/08), Howard - reading (1/28), Shear Madness (2/10), Fun Home (2/17), Women Without Men (2/18), Trip Of Love (2/21), The First Gentleman -reading (2/22), Southern Comfort (2/23), The Robber Bridegroom (2/24), She Loves Me (3/11), Shuffle Along (4/12), Shear Madness (4/14), Dear Evan Hansen (4/16), American Psycho (4/23), Tuck Everlasting (5/10), Indian Summer (5/15), Peer Gynt (5/18), Broadway's Rising Stars (7/11), Trip of Love (7/27), CATS (7/31), The Layover (8/17), An Act Of God (8/31), The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (8/24), Heisenberg (10/12), Fiddler On The Roof (11/02), Othello (11/23), Dear Evan Hansen (11/26), Les Liaisons Dangereuses (12/21) 2017 In Transit (2/01), Groundhog Day (4/04), Ring Twice For Miranda (4/07), Church And State (4/10), The Lucky One (4/19), Ernest Shackleton Loves Me (5/16), Building The Wall (5/19), Indecent (6/01), Six Degrees of Separation (6/09), Marvin's Room (6/28), A Doll's House Pt 2 (7/25) Curvy Widow (8/01)
#7re: Songs With Weirdest Subject Matter
Posted: 5/4/09 at 10:18pm
"Genius" from Flight of the Lawnchair Man. Leonardo Da Vinci leads an enthusiastic dance number. It lives up to its title.
"Ruffhousin' Mit Shuffhausen" from Dirty Rotten Scoundrels comes to mind as well.
scaryclowns2232
Stand-by Joined: 6/18/08
#8re: Songs With Weirdest Subject Matter
Posted: 5/4/09 at 10:21pmEssentially any song from Assassins.
#9re: Songs With Weirdest Subject Matter
Posted: 5/4/09 at 10:25pm"The Sensitive Song"
"This thread reads like a series of White House memos." — Mister Matt
AndAllThatJazz22
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/8/08
#10re: Songs With Weirdest Subject Matter
Posted: 5/4/09 at 10:26pm
"Didn't I See This Movie?" -Next to Normal
"Feed Me" -Little Shop of Horrors
"There's nothing good on. The media hates Christmas. The media loves vampires, though. Maybe they will show a Twilight Christmas."
-Danmeg's 10 year old son.
-Danmeg's 10 year old son.
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#11re: Songs With Weirdest Subject Matter
Posted: 5/5/09 at 12:14amI would have to say nearly every song from Act II of Grey Gardens. I'm assuming that's the first showtune written about corn?
<-----Bernadette Peters and Alexander Hanson in A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC.
Send in the clowns...Send in the crowds!
"I prefer neurotic people. I like to hear rumblings beneath the surface."-Stephen Sondheim
Send in the clowns...Send in the crowds!
"I prefer neurotic people. I like to hear rumblings beneath the surface."-Stephen Sondheim
#12re: Songs With Weirdest Subject Matter
Posted: 5/5/09 at 12:18amNot from a show, but a song called "Poor Little Patty." It's about Patty Hearst. Random subject matter.
"Sing the words, Patti!!!!" Stephen Sondheim to Patti LuPone.
colorandlight2
Understudy Joined: 12/5/08
#13re: Songs With Weirdest Subject Matter
Posted: 5/5/09 at 12:54am"Hello, Little Girl" from INTO THE WOODS is a little sketchy out of context. Well, in context for that matter too.
#14re: Songs With Weirdest Subject Matter
Posted: 5/5/09 at 1:03amI immediately thought Coffee from See What I Wanna See.
You're reminding me of people you hear at the movies asking questions every ten seconds, "Who is that? Why is that guy walking down the street? Who's that lady coming up to him? Uh-oh, why did that car go by? Why is it so dark in this theater?" - FindingNamo on strummergirl
"If artists were machines, then I'm just a different kind of machine...I'd probably be a toaster. Actually, I'd be a toaster oven because they're more versatile. And I like making grilled cheese" -Regina Spektor
"That's, like, twelve shows! ...Or seven." -Crazy SA Fangirl
"They say that just being relaxed is the most important thing [in acting]. I take that to another level, I think kinda like yawning and...like being partially asleep onstage is also good, but whatever." - Sherie Rene Scott
"If artists were machines, then I'm just a different kind of machine...I'd probably be a toaster. Actually, I'd be a toaster oven because they're more versatile. And I like making grilled cheese" -Regina Spektor
"That's, like, twelve shows! ...Or seven." -Crazy SA Fangirl
"They say that just being relaxed is the most important thing [in acting]. I take that to another level, I think kinda like yawning and...like being partially asleep onstage is also good, but whatever." - Sherie Rene Scott
#15re: Songs With Weirdest Subject Matter
Posted: 5/5/09 at 1:21am"Fiddle About" from The Who's Tommy. A song about an uncle molesting his nephew. Yeah... awkward.
#16re: Songs With Weirdest Subject Matter
Posted: 5/5/09 at 6:45am'Wick' from The Secret Garden. Sure, it means something in the story, but it really didn't justify a song. I feel the same about 'This Was a Real Nice Clambake' from Carousel and loads from Hair.
#17re: Songs With Weirdest Subject Matter
Posted: 5/5/09 at 9:41amLots of the songs from URINETOWN, like 'It's a Privilege to Pee'
You don't go to the dragon without a present - Mark Rylance
#18re: Songs With Weirdest Subject Matter
Posted: 5/5/09 at 9:55amI'm Small from Dude
Marie: Don't be in such a hurry about that pretty little chippy in Frisco.
Tony: Eh, she's a no chip!
#19re: Songs With Weirdest Subject Matter
Posted: 5/5/09 at 10:02am
I don't know if these are weird, as such, but I know a whole bunch of songs about masturbation, such as 'Jack's Song' from Naked Boys Singing (which is also embarrassingly catchy) and half of Spring Awakening, and 'Come to Jesus' from Myths and Hymns is almost certainly about abortion. Although the closest I can find to premature ejaculation is 'My Unfortunate Erection' (actually, 'Contact' from Rent sounds like there might be some premature ejaculation in there somewhere... must investigate further).
Really, a GREAT MANY showtunes are about WTF subject matter. Hell, WHOPLE SHOWS are about WTF subject matter! Bearing that in mind, it's really not hard to find a song that makes you go O_O when it's out of context. Although the ones that invoke that reaction even when in context, those are the special ones. :)
EDIT: oh, and 'Big Ass Rock' from The Full Monty is about assisted suicide. David Yazbek seems to have written a few WTF songs. XD
Updated On: 5/5/09 at 10:02 AM
SporkGoddess
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/27/05
#20re: Songs With Weirdest Subject Matter
Posted: 5/5/09 at 12:12pmAwwww, "Wick" is one of my favorite songs from TSG.
Jimmy, what are you doing here in the middle of the night? It's almost 9 PM!
LadyDramaturg2
Featured Actor Joined: 8/21/08
#22re: Songs With Weirdest Subject Matter
Posted: 5/5/09 at 12:51pmI totally agree with "I'm Small". I was "Ed" in You Can't Take it With You" and I made my 'mazurka' the overture from Dude. So naturally I had the score stuck in my head and was singing offstage. And I got to the part of "I'm Small" where it's like "but not big enough for your big fat a++" and one of my friends only heard that part and was like "wtf" and made a huge deal about it's stupidity. We've quoted it ever since. Another WTF subject matter is "Boom Boom" from Little Me and "Out for Blood" from Carrie (surprised no one's mentioned it yet).
"There are only two worthwhile things to leave behind when we depart this world of ours: children and art."
-Sunday In The Park With George
SporkGoddess
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/27/05
#23re: Songs With Weirdest Subject Matter
Posted: 5/5/09 at 1:08pm
Okay, just thought of a few:
"My Psychopharmacologist and I" from N2N.
"The Call" from Floyd Collins - it's about... spelunking!
"The Factory Girls / Come Up to My Office" from Parade - about alleged sexual harassment in the workplace
Jimmy, what are you doing here in the middle of the night? It's almost 9 PM!
#24re: Songs With Weirdest Subject Matter
Posted: 5/6/09 at 2:17pmDonkey Pot Pie
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
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