The Official 'What Do These Lyrics Mean?' Megathred- Page 2

[dramamama611]

Posted: 5/10/09 at 10:52am

OK.....But REALLY???


***WENDLA
Just too unreal, all this
Watching the words fall from my lips
*******

I can't believe I'm here with this boy, it's like an out of body experience.

******
MELCHIOR
Baiting some girl with hypotheses
*******

I can't believe THIS is how I'm flirting: with talk about progressive schools.

**************8
BOTH
Haven?t you heard the word of your body?
**************

Listen to want your body wants.

************
MELCHIOR
Don?t feel a thing, you wish
***********

For all my braggging; Im nervous as hell and this could be big.

*********
WENDLA
Grasping at pearls with my fingertips
***********

I'm just trying to not sound like an idiot talking to him

*********
MELCHIOR
Holding her hand like some little tease
*********

I know what a big deal this is, this is powerful stuff to her.
**********

BOTH
Haven?t you heard the word of my wanting?

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
***************

I want you. You want me.

Oh...we can't turn back now. You are going to be my first "big thing" and my heart is going to be broken.

*********
Just too unreal, all this?

WENDLA
Watching his world slip through my fist
*******

Still can't believe this is happeinging.
*******

MELCHIOR
Playing with her in your fantasies
**********

This is SO different than the way I thought it would happen.

*****************
BOTH
Haven?t you heard the word ? how I want you?

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

***************

Blah, blah....I want you and you are going to break my heart.


I always thought this was one of the more direct songs.

Updated On: 5/10/09 at 10:52 AM

[AndAllThatJazz22]

Posted: 5/10/09 at 11:10am

^ I'm not kidding. I always thought that "O I'm Gonna Bruise You Thing" was how they're having fantasies of domintrax-type erotic sex.

[Scripps2]

Posted: 5/10/09 at 11:56am

Weez: I'm posting in mock-innocence to satisfy my peurile schoolboy sense of humour, as well you know from the previous time we had this debate:

https://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?page=2&thread=992895&boardname=bway&boardid=3

Still it's nice to know that when it comes (no pun intended) to masturbation and ejaculation, the Brodaway and West End boards can at least agree on something.

[twitchy+bitchy+manic]

Posted: 5/10/09 at 12:29pm

I, for one, think that the spring awakening lyrics make total sense. I know that not a day goes by where I don't fondle the pearl of my distant dreams. don't you guys fondle the pearls of your distant dreams too?

I'm seriously looking forward to the release of the German language cast recording later this month...I wanna see if the lyrics make anymore sense in another language. :P Updated On: 5/10/09 at 12:29 PM

[dramamama611]

Posted: 5/10/09 at 12:36pm

Like I said -- I always thought that song was one of the easier, more direct lyrics. No harshness intended.

Does what I wrote up make more sense now?


LOL: hear it in German.

I freely admit, I am/was a big fan of SA. Saw it more times than I care to admit and am excited about seeing the tour in the upcoming weeks. That being said, I feel it is definitely one of those shows that either grabs you and sucks you in or that is preferable only to a faceplant.

To each his own. I will admit: I still wonder at Purple Summer's lyrics. It's pretty and all...but wtf??? I KNOW it simply refers to life continuing despite tragedy, but couldn't tell you much more.

[twitchy+bitchy+manic]

Posted: 5/10/09 at 12:43pm

you mean it's not about a super-powered child with a song in his heart who can bring around a romantic-style revival of nature where the entire world will be covered with waving corns and horses getting their freak on? damn, that changes the entire meaning of the show for me now...

[singtopher]

Posted: 5/10/09 at 12:44pm

I was going to say Purple Summer.

I used to think Send in the Clowns was odd, but then I realized what it referenced.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 5/10/09 at 12:59pm

I was taught by one of my directors of my youth to hate Send in the Clowns for so long because he always complained it was the most over done female audition song. It took until I was in college and saw a full production of ALNM that my heart embraced it!

[AndAllThatJazz22]

Posted: 5/10/09 at 5:56pm

twitchy+bitchy+manic

I laughed really hard at that!! LOLOLOLOL

Anywho, If you read closely to the lyrics of Elaborate Lives... they make no sense. I mean I get it, but when you actually listen to every single lyric you realize how poor they are.


We all lead such elaborate lives
wild ambitions in our sights
How an affair of the heart survives
days apart and hurried nights
Seems quite unbelievable to me
I don't want to live like that
seems quite unbelievable to me
I don't want to love like that
I just want our time to be
slower and gentler, wiser, free

We all live in extravagant times
playing games we can't all win
Unintended emotional crimes
Take some out, take others in

I'm so tired of all were going through
I don't want to live like that
I'm so tired of all were going through
I don't want to love like that
I just want to be with you
Now and forever , peaceful, true
This may not be the moment
to tell you face to face
But I could wait forever
for the perfect time and place

AIDA & RADAMES
We all lead such elaborate lives
We don't know whose words are true
Strangers, lovers, husbands, wives
Hard to know who's loving who

AIDA
Too many choices tear us apart
I don't want to live like that

RADAMES
Too many choices tear us apart
I don't want to love like that
I just want to touch your heart
May this confession

RADAMES & AIDA
Be the start

(They kiss. The lights fade out. When the lights come up they are in each
other's arms.)

RADAMES
Are you cold?

AIDA
You could have at least kept a blanket.

RADAMES
No. I could not. Man enters this world naked, without possessions. I want to
be a new man for you, Aida. Cleansed of my past sins.

(Drums sound from offstage.)

AIDA
What is it?

RADAMES
My armies have returned. Pharaoh will expect a victory celebration. Go back
to the palace. You'll be safe there.
(He gets up and puts his shirt back on. He begins to walk away and then
turns back.)
Wait, take my amulet. If anyone stops you, show them this and they'll let
you pass.

(He starts to leave again.)

AIDA
I love you.

RADAMES
I heard that. Say it again. I command you. I command...

(SOLDIER enters.)

SOLDIER
Captain!

(AIDA turns her face away from the SOLDIER.)

RADAMES
I heard the drums.

SOLDIER
But we have captured the Nubian King!

RADAMES
The king? You have taken him alive? Find out which men are responsible for
this. I'll see they receive the highest honors. Tell the others I'm on my way.

SOLDIER
Yes, Captain.

RADAMES
(He sees AIDA is upset by the news.)
Aida, our countries are at war. I can't change that.

AIDA
But he's my...He's my king.

(AIDA begins to cry as RADAMES exits.)

ACT ONE
Scene Twelve
THE NUBIAN SLAVE CAMP

She leaves him. RADAMES realizes what he's done - and hates himself for it.
A crowd of Nubians appear and circle AIDA. The light changes and we are at
the Nubian Slave Camp.

NEHEBKA
Princess - say it's not true!

MALE NUBIAN #1
I saw our king dragged through the streets with my own eyes.

FEMALE NUBIAN #1
I heard they've already executed him.

MALE NUBIAN #2
And they are carrying his head through the street on the end of a spike.

AIDA
No, No!

MEREB
Amonasro of Nubia is alive. I saw him taken to the prison.

NEHEBKA
But it's only a matter of time before the Egyptians slaughter him.

MALE NUBIAN #1
I always imagined that your father would march upon Egypt in triumph. But now
we have no hope. When the king dies - so does Nubia.

AIDA
Nubia will never die! Whether we are enslaved or whether we are far from our
native soil, Nubia lives in our hearts. And therefore, it lives.

[ZONEACE]

Posted: 5/10/09 at 6:32pm

It's pretty and all...but wtf???

That sums up the ENTIRETY of SA's lyrics. If you aren't paying attention, it sounds nice, but the moment you actually start listening it loses everything.

[withoutlovewithoutU]

Posted: 5/10/09 at 6:33pm

I think that Elaborate Lives makes a lot of sense... it saying how life is crazy complicated and love makes it even more complex. how we long to get away from the craziness and actually live the way we want.

[Byron Abens]

Posted: 5/10/09 at 6:41pm

I feel the problem with "Elaborate Lives" is the musical phrasing and delivery. If you look at it with the proper punctuation in place the lyrics themselves make a lot more sense, at least to me. It just feels like the scanning of it makes the punctuation ambiguous, leading to some confusion as to what is meant there.

[rjjn]

Posted: 5/10/09 at 6:49pm

"For happiness is anyone and anything at all that's loved by you." - You're a Good Man Charlie Brown

Is he saying that happiness itself is what one likes...?

[AndAllThatJazz22]

Posted: 5/10/09 at 7:06pm

^ To me, it sounds like that line is saying that the things you love are what gives happiness, but what do I know... I've never even seen that musical so don't take it from me.

[jeniferrenepatricia]

Posted: 5/11/09 at 4:54am

MrSweetNAwful- I think that Little Edie was referring to all the people that lived in or visited Grey Gardens through the years- Jerry, Gould, the people at the birthday party (can't remember their names.) On one hand, she dislikes them, but on the other, she wants everyone to know that they didn't "use" Big Edie. I don't remember any of those actual lines from the documentary, with the exception of the washing machine speech (Jerry really brought a washing machine to the house and Little Edie was pissed). Also, there was an "Around the World" poster in Little Edie's momentos. I recently saw the documentary for the first time- I saw the Broadway play before the documentary. I am simply amazed that they were able to make the documentary into a full length musical. What talent!!

[laura is broadway]

Posted: 5/11/09 at 5:05pm

I second Purple Summer making no sense. Do butterflies even sing or make any sound?

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 5/11/09 at 5:14pm

Yeah, SA's lyrics are just pretty-sounding words thrown together, I think.

"Elaborate Lives" makes sense I guess if you consider that Radames just gave away all of his possessions. I agree it has poor lyrics though.

As long as this thread is up: what the heck does Judas mean by "jaded mandarin" in "The Argument" from JCS?

[AndAllThatJazz22]

Posted: 5/11/09 at 5:14pm

^ It's an attempt to be poetic, but poetry only works when it has meaning... which 'Purple Summer' clearly has none of.

[StageManager2]

Posted: 5/11/09 at 5:23pm

ENOUGH WITH SPRING AWAKENING ALREADY!!!

Thank you.

I never really understood "Any Dream Will Do" from JOSEPH..., but particularly the first stanza:

I closed my eyes
Drew back the curtain
To see for certain
What I thought I knew
Far, far away
Someone was weeping
But the world was sleeping
Any dream will do

Updated On: 5/11/09 at 05:23 PM

[dramamama611]

Posted: 5/11/09 at 7:55pm

Sorry, can't help with that one. I just don't understand Joseph at all.

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 5/11/09 at 8:15pm

Elaborate Lives makes perfect sense to me (loving someone shouldn't be so hard and complicated and it shouldn't always have to hurt someone else with deception), but I have no idea what's going on with Joseph.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 5/11/09 at 8:52pm

JCS? Anyone? :/

[laura is broadway]

Posted: 5/11/09 at 9:09pm

SporkGoddess-

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070513104549AArkzko

Hopefully that helps.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 5/11/09 at 9:15pm

Oh, thank you!

Updated On: 5/11/09 at 09:15 PM

[laura is broadway]

Posted: 5/11/09 at 9:20pm

haha no problem... I've always wondered that too... I knew a mandarin was some sort of Chinese official in government, but I still didn't get how it's relevant... and honestly it still doesn't make much sense, but that is probably the best explanation out there