Songs with hidden irony

#1

Songs with hidden irony

Posted: 10/9/06 at 5:43pm

Pretty much every song in Wicked

The Old Red Hills of Home from Parade: It sounds like a big, inspiring patriotic song about fighting for what you believe in, but then you remember that the South was fighting to preserve slavery and you realize that this is what they're singing about.

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Butters, go buy World of Warcraft, install it on your computer, and join the online sensation before we all murder you. --Cartman: South Park ATTENTION FANS: I will be played by James Barbour in the upcoming musical, "BroadwayWorld: The Musical."

Updated On: 10/9/06 at 05:43 PM

#2

re: Songs that have a double meaning

Posted: 10/9/06 at 5:50pm

hahahahahaha!

#3

re: Songs that have a double meaning

Posted: 10/9/06 at 5:59pm

"Push Da Button" from The Color Purple. That's almost as much innuendo as you can get.

#4

re: Songs that have a double meaning

Posted: 10/9/06 at 6:16pm

"Masquerade" in Phantom - "hide your face so the world will never find you"

and also "All I Ask of You" (love song, and Phantom's demands)

#5

re: Songs that have a double meaning

Posted: 10/9/06 at 6:19pm

"I Know Things Now" from Into the Woods

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BSoBW2: I punched Sondheim in the face after I saw Wicked and said, "Why couldn't you write like that!?"

#6

re: Songs that have a double meaning

Posted: 10/9/06 at 6:20pm

all of into the woods

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"Grease," the fourth revival of the season, is the worst show in the history of theater and represents an unparalleled assault on Western civilization and its values. - Michael Reidel

#7

re: Songs that have a double meaning

Posted: 10/9/06 at 6:23pm

Why do you say the songs in Wicked have double meanings? I'd just like to know an example.

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One time, Patti LuPone punched me in the face...


It was awesome. - theaterkid1015

#8

re: Songs that have a double meaning

Posted: 10/9/06 at 6:31pm

How do MOST of these songs listed have double meanings?

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"If you are going to do something, do it well. And leave something witchy." -Charlie Manson

#9

re: Songs that have a double meaning

Posted: 10/9/06 at 6:38pm

Not necessarily double meanings, but they sort of say one thing and mean another like my example of Parade.

SPOILER WARNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:

And with Wicked, every song has a kind of foreshadowing. Dear Old Shiz, "We will still retain the lessons learned." These students, except for Elphaba, Fiyero, and Glinda will basically learn that whatever their government says is what they should believe. With The Wizard and I, Elphaba is singing about dreams that will basically never come true.

You get what I'm saying?

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Butters, go buy World of Warcraft, install it on your computer, and join the online sensation before we all murder you. --Cartman: South Park ATTENTION FANS: I will be played by James Barbour in the upcoming musical, "BroadwayWorld: The Musical."

#10

re: Songs that have a double meaning

Posted: 10/9/06 at 6:39pm

The Tennis Song - City of Angels

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Poster Emeritus

#11

re: Songs that have a double meaning

Posted: 10/9/06 at 6:45pm

Yes. I got that.

I think. :]

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One time, Patti LuPone punched me in the face...


It was awesome. - theaterkid1015

#12

re: Songs that have a double meaning

Posted: 10/9/06 at 6:59pm

I don't get it. That's not a double meaning, it seems like irony.

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"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view - until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."
To Kill A Mockingbird

#13

re: Songs that have a double meaning

Posted: 10/9/06 at 7:02pm

With The Wizard and I, Elphaba is singing about dreams that will basically never come true.

I thought that the double meaning in that song was the fact that those dreams do come true ("a celebration throughout Oz that's all to do with me"; "when people see me they will scream"), just not in the way she means...

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"If there is going to be a restoration fee, there should also be a Renaissance fee, a Middle Ages fee and a Dark Ages fee. Someone must have men in the back room making up names, euphemisms for profit." (Emanuel Azenberg)

#14

re: Songs that have a double meaning

Posted: 10/9/06 at 7:44pm

One of the finest examples of a musical theatre song with a double meaning is IN BUDDY'S EYES in FOLLIES, when Sally is basically singing a lie - on the surface claiming that she is so content that Buddy adores her, while in reality she is still clinging on to the totally false hopes of her love for Ben.

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THEATRE 2020: CURTAINS**** LET'S HEAR IT FOR THE GIRLS***** WICKED***** KEITH RAMSAY TAKING NOTES WITH EDWARD SECKERSON***** KAYLEIGH MCKNIGHT CONCERT***** RAGS***** ON MCQUILLAN'S HILL** DEAR EVAN HANSEN***** THE JURY***

#15

re: Songs that have a double meaning

Posted: 10/9/06 at 8:00pm

Loveland. I don't know all the lyrics but despite the cheerful melody, those lyrics say something completely different.

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Butters, go buy World of Warcraft, install it on your computer, and join the online sensation before we all murder you. --Cartman: South Park ATTENTION FANS: I will be played by James Barbour in the upcoming musical, "BroadwayWorld: The Musical."

#16

re: Songs that have a double meaning

Posted: 10/9/06 at 8:20pm

The wizard and i- "someday they'll be/ a celebration throughout oz/ that all to do with me" and the similar line in "wonderful

well there is a celebration about her alright "no one mourns the wicked"

class from chicago is sublimely ironic being sung by a murderer and a corrupt prison matron

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"Grease," the fourth revival of the season, is the worst show in the history of theater and represents an unparalleled assault on Western civilization and its values. - Michael Reidel

#17

re: Songs that have a double meaning

Posted: 10/9/06 at 8:31pm

How about "One" from A Chorus Line:

The characters spend the whole show talking about their individual stories, asking "Who am I, anyway?" and all the time trying for a part in a chorus line where they are all the same, no individuality.

Also, maybe "Cabaret" from the Cabaret... It's a number about how fun life is when Sally's life is really falling apart.

I wouldn't clasify either of them as "double meanings" but it started off as an "ironic" thread, so I thought I would chime in.

Updated On: 10/10/06 at 08:31 PM

#18

re: Songs that have a double meaning

Posted: 10/9/06 at 8:36pm

Saying that the South was fighting to preserve slavery is a pretty huge simplification of the Civil War.

#19

re: Songs that have a double meaning

Posted: 10/10/06 at 5:35pm

Saying that the South was fighting to preserve slavery is a pretty huge simplification of the Civil War.

How so? I mean, I'm not supporting slavery. I don't mean to insult you but have you heard or seen the lyrics of "The Old Red Hills of Home?"

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Butters, go buy World of Warcraft, install it on your computer, and join the online sensation before we all murder you. --Cartman: South Park ATTENTION FANS: I will be played by James Barbour in the upcoming musical, "BroadwayWorld: The Musical."

#20

re: Songs that have a double meaning

Posted: 10/10/06 at 5:44pm

I enjoyed Wicked, but I don't think a lot of those songs even had a single meaning!

This might not be what you're after, but "Big Blonde and Beautiful" from Hairspray has all sorts of double entendres:

"Break off a piece of that hoghead cheese
And take a look inside my book of recipes
Now don't you look around for something fluffy and nice
I need a man who brings a man sized appetite"

etc. etc.

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"I have got to have some professional music!" - Big Edie

Updated On: 10/10/06 at 05:44 PM

#21

re: Songs that have a double meaning

Posted: 10/10/06 at 5:45pm

I prefer my irony out in the open

#22

re: Songs that have a double meaning

Posted: 10/10/06 at 9:42pm

To add to the Into the Woods comment, No One Is Alone probably has one of my favorite double meanings ever.