The Timelessness of "I'm Still Here"

[Mildred Plotka]

Posted: 1/28/11 at 3:32am

Time period specific lyrics and all, I relate to these lyrics more than any other Sondheim lyric. Why?

[Pippin]

Posted: 1/28/11 at 9:56am

I think the sentiment of the song is timeless, but the lyric's timelessness is running out. I mean, no kid under twenty, if randomly asked on the street would know who Brenda Frazier, J. Edgar Hoover, or wally (of Wally's affair) is.


The song is brilliant however if you are approching it with a 1970's time of reference.

I would love for Sondheim to recreate lyrics for a newer version, 40 years in the future from when the song originally took place, with all the current events that have happened since the song was written.

Posted: 1/28/11 at 10:14am

I'm Still Still Here? No offense, but that is the worst idea since Annie 2.

[Pippin]

Posted: 1/28/11 at 10:16am

I'm still here, whippin' ma her back 'n' forf.

It could totally work.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 1/28/11 at 11:05am

I'm tired of people saying "the new generation won't know..."

They have the internet to look these things up. When I first heard the song, there were several references that I didn't get, but I went and found out what they meant, and I didn't have the internet.

Does the new generation want everything handed to them on a plate or can art still ask them to "reach" a little bit?

[Pippin]

Posted: 1/28/11 at 11:08am

"Does the new generation want everything handed to them on a plate or can art still ask them to "reach" a little bit?"

have you MET the new generation?

[Gothampc]

Posted: 1/28/11 at 11:11am

"have you MET the new generation?"

Only to shake my fist and say "Get off my lawn. And get a job because my Social Security isn't going to pay for itself."

Posted: 1/28/11 at 11:17am

If you can understand Shakespeare you can follow "I'm Still Here."

[PalJoey]

Posted: 1/28/11 at 11:46am

I don't know about any of you, but somehow I felt like I'd been through Brenda Frazier the first time I heard the song.

"Beebe's Bathysphere" was another story.

Posted: 1/28/11 at 11:53am

Why'd ya have to post that picture PJ? It gives me the heebie-jeebies.

[Calvin]

Posted: 1/28/11 at 11:55am

The kiddies know Brenda Frazier. They loved her in George of the Jungle. And Wally's affair was with that floating white robot.

Posted: 1/28/11 at 1:47pm

The boyfriend and I flew into Reno and drove to Lake Tahoe. As we drove past yet another seedy casino, my boyfriend mused aloud "I've been through Reno, I've been through Beverly Hills....NOW I get it."

[logan0215]

Posted: 1/28/11 at 2:48pm

Sure, we have the internet and sure the intonation of the song is fairly evident without knowing all of the references (much like [title of show]'s ability to resonate with non-theater people) BUT I would venture to say that because the song is so reference heavy that even I (as a newer yet die-hard Follies fan) grew tired of being "out of the joke" so consistently throughout the song.
Updated On: 1/28/11 at 02:48 PM

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 1/28/11 at 2:59pm

I think people are making these lyrics more obscure than they actually are. With the exception of the verse that starts with "I've been through Ghandi," I would think the the other references in the song would land with just about anyone.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 1/28/11 at 3:36pm

My main objection is I don't think I've ever heard Wallis Simpson referred to as Wally except in this lyric.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 1/28/11 at 4:03pm

I'm pretty sure that you're not allowed to question Sondheim on this board. I know I'm not.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 1/28/11 at 4:18pm

OMG, someone just called and hung up! Is this how it starts?

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 1/28/11 at 4:21pm

The Sondheim Mafia is comin' for you!

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 1/28/11 at 4:24pm

They'll make me an offer I can't understand!

[darquegk]

Posted: 1/28/11 at 4:24pm

Better the Sondheim Mafia than the Fosse Police... although the Fosse Police are very easy to outrun.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 1/28/11 at 4:28pm

The Sondheim Mafia is pretty humorless, but at least they aren't violent like the Weill Vigilantes.

[logan0215]

Posted: 1/28/11 at 4:46pm

"I've been through Gandhi,
Windsor and Wally's affair
And I'm here
Amos and Andy,
Mahjong and platinum hair
And I'm here
I've been through Abie's Irish Rose,
Five Dionne Babies
Major Bowes
Had heebie-jeebies
For Beebe's bathysphere
I lived through Brenda Frazier
And I'm here.
I've gotten through Herbert and J. Edgar Hoover
Gee, that was fun and a half
When you've been through Herbert and J. Edgar Hoover
Anything else is a laugh."

I agree that this is definitely the verse in question. Although it's only one verse it should not take away from the song as a whole but the entire point of putting cultural references in to your song such as these is so that people WILL know what you're talking about and be reminded of all of these things that she has gone through. I'm sure that the 1970 audience were familiar with and laughed at almost all of these quips but 40+ years later they just sound like names being listed and I don't think that was the original intent.

That's not to say that it should be updated I suppose, but I would argue that this verse creates the flaw in this song that is the precise reason why it is NOT timeless.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 1/28/11 at 4:49pm

Did you hear that the R&H Organization shut down a high school rehearsal of The Sound of Music once because when Maria sang "High on a hill was a lonely goatherd" they read her mind and realized she was thinking that the goatherd was smoking marijuana.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 1/28/11 at 5:01pm

I guess I'm never going to believe that Herbert and J Edgar Hoover are that obscure.

The thing is, there's no real argument in this thread about the timelessness of the song in the first place. Mildred mentions it speaks to him more than any Sondheim song, but that has nothing to do with timelessness, it has to do with his personal reaction to the song.

Maybe the song isn't timeless, but it works in the context of the show, offending verse and all.
Updated On: 1/28/11 at 05:01 PM

[ljay889]

Posted: 1/28/11 at 5:02pm

In the context of the show, the song can never be updated. FOLLIES takes place in 1971, and always will. Carlotta in 1971 would not be singing about Barbara Walters, Bill Clinton, Britney Spears, and reality TV. I can see updating it for cabarets, etc.