Weirdest Lyrics in a Broadway Show...

[SingItOutLoud]

Posted: 4/7/09 at 7:32pm

IDK...Hmmm...

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 4/7/09 at 7:33pm

What song is that line from?

[philly03]

Posted: 4/7/09 at 7:37pm

Quite possibly the weirdest/most bizarre/strange lyric I've heard in a show comes from Leslie Bricusse and Frank Wildhorn (I don't know which one wrote it):

"To kill outside St. Paul's, requires a lot of balls."

-"Murder, Murder" - Jekyll & HYDE

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 4/7/09 at 7:59pm

"With condos on the top, whose rent keeps open our shop."

[morosco]

Posted: 4/7/09 at 8:02pm

Who do you think you are, barging in on me and my guitar?

[ifuweregay93]

Posted: 4/7/09 at 8:11pm

From my upcoming musical entitled "Anal Retentive Hobo"

"Why is that hobo's carboard box nicer than ours?
Atleast we don't bathe with rats under the stars"

[TimeSquare3]

Posted: 4/7/09 at 8:14pm

"Who. Do you. Think you are?"
By Patti LuPone in Gypsy

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 4/7/09 at 9:01pm

I'm always slightly weirded out in Les Miserables when Javert sings, "They will wet themselves with blood." Particularly when he's making the creepy-looking faces in my avatar...

[AndAllThatJazz22]

Posted: 4/10/09 at 7:25pm

[FRAULEIN SCHNEIDER]
Would you like a slice?

[SCHULTZ]
That might be nice,
But frankly, it would give me gas

-It couldn't please me more (Cabaret)

[TimesSquareRegular]

Posted: 4/10/09 at 8:31pm

"....goose never be a peacock" has always been a favorite of mine, along with "no garlic tonight".

(Yes, actually song titles, I know.)

[The Girl In Rubber]

Posted: 4/10/09 at 8:40pm

Elakanamanamanatunatu elakanama...

What does that even mean....?

Jk. I know it's a magic spell.

[Lottery Addict]

Posted: 4/10/09 at 8:50pm

"It's Turkey Lurkey Time. Tom Turkey ran away, but he just came home." What?


You've got to see Seth Rudetsky deconstructing Turkey Lurkey Time from Promises Promises.

[BroadwayBoy2]

Posted: 4/10/09 at 8:53pm

I agree 100% with Lottery Addict

[Byron Abens]

Posted: 4/10/09 at 9:14pm

Pick from any of the ensemble songs in Carrie.

"kill the pig, Billy"

"I think you're the victim of an active gland"

"Don't you know that boys are going blind?
We all need some one who'll lend a hand"

"Bought the clothes,
Did my nose"

[singtopher]

Posted: 4/10/09 at 9:22pm

Philly03 and I agree

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 4/10/09 at 9:55pm

"When I get free, you won't see me here for dust."

That one's always really confused me. I have about four different possible interpretations I keep alternating between, but all of them are weird. Then again, there are so many odd lyrics in that show anyway.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 4/10/09 at 10:03pm

Out of context all of thsoe lines quoted from Carrie make sense to me.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 4/10/09 at 10:21pm

"That one's always really confused me. I have about four different possible interpretations I keep alternating between, but all of them are weird."

The phrase "You won't see me for dust" didn't originate with Les Mis, schmerg and tobias. It means that you won't be seen to be leaving, because you're so anxious to be gone that the cloud of dust you create in your wake will obscure your exit, and you'll be long gone before it clears. So, literally, you won't be seen because of the dust.

I have never seen the show, so I can't speak to its lack of rhythm, but knowing the story, I'm pretty sure that's what it means. Sorry if I've misunderstood you and am stating the obvious.

eta: Evita's "A new Argentina, the chains of the masses untied" alway annoyed. Who ties chains?
Updated On: 4/10/09 at 10:21 PM

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 4/10/09 at 10:31pm

Ghostlight, thank you so much for the explanation. I was assuming he meant, by the time he got free, he'd be so covered with dust that no one would be able to see him... but obviously that makes no sense.

I agree about the Evita lyric-- I really never thought of that before. Actually, a lot of Tim Rice lyrics are like that... the one I always hated, although I know what Rice means by it, is "For I am ordinary, unimportant/ And undeserving of such attention/ Unless we all are/ I think we all are." It makes it sound as though she means that "we all are" undeserving rather than deserving.

Updated On: 4/11/09 at 10:31 PM

[raker]

Posted: 4/10/09 at 11:13pm

In Applause, She's No Longer A Gypsy mentions Truman Capote's balls.

[lightguy06222]

Posted: 4/10/09 at 11:26pm

think twice before you poo-poo it.

RENT.

[Byron Abens]

Posted: 4/11/09 at 12:13am

dramamama, I agree that in context the lyrics from Carrie make sense in terms of character, but that doesn't make them any less weird to hear such things actually being sung.

And I agree that Rent has a lot of odd lyrics, which makes me wonder what sort of shape the show would have been in had Larson lived and been able to continue with re-writes and adjustments. I may be wrong, but I have always gotten the impression that the show was for the most part frozen after his death.

[homeimp]

Posted: 4/11/09 at 9:52am

Spring Awakening - "Baiting some girl with hypotheses"

[AndAllThatJazz22]

Posted: 4/11/09 at 11:04am

"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"

The Word of Your Body (Spring Awakening)
I still to this day don't understand those lyrics. Not just the ones I posted, I don't understand ANY of the lyrics to that song.

[Yero my Hero]

Posted: 4/11/09 at 12:08pm

Aww. I've always really like that lyric, even though I can't stand the show. It's the perfect way to describe the fear of jumping into a new relationship: I'm going to end up getting hurt again, but I'm also afraid of hurting you.