Tomorrow- Annie Song Breakdown

[gstrus2]

Posted: 6/16/14 at 5:23pm

For our Chorus Final, we have to analyze the song Tomorrow from Annie and break it down into Chorus, Verse, Refrain, etc...
Can someone help? I cannot tell what is the chorus of the song, what may be a verse.
Thanks for the (hopeful) help!

LYRICS:
The sun'll come out tomorrow
Bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow
there'll be sun
Just thinkin' about tomorrow
Clears away the cobwebs and the sorrow till' there's none

When I'm stuck in the day that's grey and lonely
I just stick up my chin and grin and say…. oh

The sun'll come out tomorrow
So you got to hang on
till' tomorrow, come what may!
Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love you, tomorrow
You're only a day away!

When I'm stuck with a day that's gray and lonely
I just stick up my chin and grin and say.... oh

The sun'll come out tomorrow
So you got to hang on till' tomorrow, come what may!
Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love you tomorrow
You're only a day away!

[ClapYo'Hands]

Posted: 6/16/14 at 5:26pm

CHORUS:
The sun'll come out tomorrow
Bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow
there'll be sun
Just thinkin' about tomorrow
Clears away the cobwebs and the sorrow till' there's none

VERSE:
When I'm stuck in the day that's grey and lonely
I just stick up my chin and grin and say…. oh

CHORUS:
The sun'll come out tomorrow
So you got to hang on
till' tomorrow, come what may!
Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love you, tomorrow
You're only a day away!

VERSE:
When I'm stuck with a day that's gray and lonely
I just stick up my chin and grin and say.... oh

CHORUS:
The sun'll come out tomorrow
So you got to hang on till' tomorrow, come what may!
Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love you tomorrow
You're only a day away!

[gstrus2]

Posted: 6/16/14 at 5:28pm

Thank you, ClapYo'Hands!

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 6/16/14 at 8:18pm

So that was your final?

[gstrus2]

Posted: 6/16/14 at 8:29pm

Yeah, believe it or not. My teacher doesnt think we should get tested in Chorus, so she just gives us a song to analyze.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 6/16/14 at 11:51pm

I hope you took notes during class because the terms you were given have different meanings in different contexts and when used by different analysts.

ClapYo'Hands gave you one approach, one typical of contemporary pop music.

But the traditional Broadway musical would say "Tomorrow" has no verse (that I can recall) and the entire section from "THE SUN'LL COME OUT..." to "ONLY A DAY AWAY" is the chorus, the last four lines being a "false ending" because they vary from the first four.

"Verses" are introductory sections that are placed before and between such AABA choruses.

In "Popular", the verse is:

WHENEVER I SEE SOMEONE
LESS FORTUNATE THAN I
(AND LET'S FACE IT -- WHO ISN'T
LESS FORTUNATE THAN I?)
MY TENDER HEART
TENDS TO START TO BLEED
AND WHEN SOMEONE NEEDS A MAKEOVER
I SIMPLY HAVE TO TAKE OVER
I KNOW I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT THEY NEED
AND EVEN IN YOUR CASE
THO' IT'S THE TOUGHEST CASE I'VE YET TO FACE
DON'T WORRY -- I'M DETERMINED TO SUCCEED
FOLLOW MY LEAD
AND YES, INDEED
YOU WILL BE...

And chorus begins:

POPULAR,
YOU'RE GOING BE POPULAR..., etc.

If you look back at Jerome Kern songs of the 1920s, you'll find the chorus or refrain is usually 32 bars (AABA) interspersed with verses and repeated. Modern writers are less likely to repeat a chorus verbatim (because, IMO, doing so is dramatically inert: what is the character doing repeating herself over and over?).

***

Another system, used primarily in pop, would call "WHEN I'M STUCK WITH A DAY THAT'S GREY AND LONELY..." a "climb", so-called because it is often used to climb to a higher key when the refrain resumes.

***

Sorry if this seems complicated. Every time I work with a collaborator, I have to establish just how we are using these terms.

***

Long answer short: make sure you are using the terms as your teacher used them in class.

[ljay889]

Posted: 6/16/14 at 11:53pm

Please tell me this was for middle school.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 6/17/14 at 12:30am

No, I think it goes likes this:

Verse:

The sun'll come out tomorrow
Bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow
there'll be sun
Just thinkin' about tomorrow
Clears away the cobwebs and the sorrow till' there's none

When I'm stuck in the day that's grey and lonely
I just stick up my chin and grin and say…. oh


CHORUS:
The sun'll come out tomorrow
So you got to hang on
till' tomorrow, come what may!
Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love you, tomorrow
You're only a day away!

VERSE:

When I'm stuck with a day that's gray and lonely
I just stick up my chin and grin and say.... oh

REFRAIN:

The sun'll come out tomorrow
So you got to hang on till' tomorrow, come what may!
Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love you tomorrow
You're only a day away!

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 6/17/14 at 3:56am

Wow, I never noticed how repetitive that song is. It really is just the same thing repeated twice (with a slightly different ending the second time), not really a verse/chorus structure. As Gaveston said, there definitely isn't a verse in the traditional sense, but the "gray and lonely" part should definitely be differentiated somehow. It's almost like a bridge, but not quite.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 6/17/14 at 4:08am

The song is poorly structured and I'm only just now realizing it. It's always been slightly annoying but geeze.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 6/17/14 at 10:28am

"Wow, I never noticed how repetitive that song is. It really is just the same thing repeated twice (with a slightly different ending the second time)"

Possibly because they knew a little girl would have to sing it and they wanted to make it a bit easier for her? I don't know if that's why they did it, but I should think at some point the fact that a 10 year old girl would have to carry the show would be a factor.

[KathyNYC2]

Posted: 6/17/14 at 11:08am

Have you seen Matilda??? I am not sure that was the issue.

It was just a simple song that caught on..and the repeat makes sense in the context of the show as there is an entire scene that takes place between the first and second half.

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 6/17/14 at 11:20am

What grade are you in, gstrus2?

[tazber]

Posted: 6/17/14 at 11:30am

For what it's worth I think Gotham has it correct.

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 6/17/14 at 2:42pm

I had actually forgotten about the scene in between the two parts! I don't think the repetitiveness is necessarily a bad thing, since it's the tune, build and basic message that really matter in this song, not clever lyrics or anything like that.

"I Could Have Danced All Night" is another very repetitive but classic theater song. It's just the same thing repeated three times, with different sections for Mrs. Pearce.

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 6/17/14 at 2:57pm

^ True, but I Could Have Danced All Night actually DOES get a verse--
Bed, bed, I couldn't go to bed.
My head's too light to try to set it down.
Sleep, sleep, I couldn't sleep tonight,
Not for all the jewels in the crown...