What Musical has the Most 'Stand Alone' Songs?? — Page 2

Babes in Arms, and other Rodgers and Hart stuff. They have so many standards!

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for Good is a good one.

Actually AIDA has some great ones. My Strongest Suit doesn't need to be in context, it speaks for itself. I Know the Truth, Fourtune Favors the Brave, Written in the Star (without the dialogue) and especially Elaborate Lives.

Taking this in the direction of shows where the songs have actually broken out to become stand alone songs, here's a partial list of shows that have produced a high amount of breakout songs:

GIRL CRAZY
I Got Rhythm
But Not For Me
Embracable You

OH, KAY!
Someone to Watch Over Me
Do, Do, Do
Clap Yo' Hands
Dear Little Girl

SHOW BOAT
Make Believe
Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man
Ol' Man River
You Are Love
Why Do I Love You?
Life Upon the Wicked Stage

ANYTHING GOES
You're the Top
Blow Gabriel Blow
All Through the Night

PORGY AND BESS
Summertime
Bess, You Is My Woman Now
It Ain't Necessarily So
I Got Plenty of Nuttin'
There's a Boat Dat's Leaving Soon for New York

ON YOUR TOES
The Heart Is Quicker than the Eye
There's a Small Hotel
It's Got to Be Love
Glad to Be Unhappy
On Your Toes

THE BOYS FROM SYRACUSE
Falling In Love With Love
This Can't Be Love
Sing for Your Supper
The Shortest Day of the Year
You Have Cast Your Shadow on the Sea

PAL JOEY
You Mustn't Kick It Around
I Could Write a Book
Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered

OKLAHOMA!
Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'
The Surrey With the Fringe on Top
Many a New Day
People Will Say We're in Love
Out of My Dreams

CAROUSEL
Mr. Snow
If I Loved You
June Is Bustin' Out All Over
You'll Never Walk Alone
What's the Use in Wondrin'?

KISS ME KATE
Another Openin', Another Show
Why Can't You Behave?
So In Love
Too Darn Hot
Always True to You (In My Fashion)

GUYS AND DOLLS
I'll Know
Bushel and a Peck
I've Never Been In Love Before
If I Were a Bell
Guys & Dolls
Luck Be a Lady
Take Back Your Mink

FINIAN'S RAINBOW
How Are Things in Glocca Morra?
Old Devil Moon
If This Isn't Love
Look to the Rainbow
Something Sort of Grandish

SOUTH PACIFIC
Some Enchanted Evening
I'm Gonna Wash that Man Right Out Of My Hair
A Wonderful Guy
Happy Talk
Younger than Springtime
This Nearly Was Mine

THE KING & I
I Whistle a Happy Tune
Hello, Young Lovers
Getting to Know You
Something Wonderful
We Kiss In a Shadow
I Have Dreamed
Shall We Dance?

MY FAIR LADY
Wouldn't It Be Loverly?
With a Little Bit of Luck
I Could Have Danced All Night
On the Street Where You Live
Show Me
Get Me To the Church on Time
I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face

CAN CAN
C'est Magnifique
I Love Paris
It's Alright With Me
I Am In Love

THE SOUND OF MUSIC
The Sound of Music
Maria
Do-Re-Mi
My Favorite Things
Sixteen Going on Seventeen
Edelweiss
Climb Every Mountain

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I agree they are a bit trite, but I think they're fun. Nothing brilliant, but just pure, innocent fun!

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I love many of Rodger snd Hart's songs.

But he was no Hammerstein.
The difference being, with Hart, you were aware of a lyricist being present.
Good lyrics seem to flow as if they appeared out of thin air.
This was not the case with many of Hart's lyrics.

And I hate forced rhymes.

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Oh, I don't know about that... That's Sondheim's argument against Hart that you are postulating, SticktoPriest. Much as a lot of his work is terrific, Hammerstein was capable of a lot of phony-baloney "lark who is learning to pray" type imagery that would never have flown with an anti-sentimentalist like Hart. I find the forced rhyme in "Lady is a Tramp" quite charming, actually, as it goes along with the anti-sophisticate being characterized in the song itself...and it's a joke that Cole Porter saw fit to repeat in "Where Is The Life That Late I Led?"

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"That's Sondheim's argument against Hart that you are postulating, SticktoPriest"


Really? I didn't know that.


And, again, I like a lot of Hart's work. But I feel he is at times amateurish.

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I HAVE CONFIDENCE----Now there's a song where the lyrics mean nothing.

But he wrote decent lyrics for 'No Strings'. I love THE SWEETEST SOUNDS.

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how to succeed:
happy to keep his dinner warm
i believe in you
coffee break
been a long day
brotherhood of man
paris original

Thoroughly modern millie:
forget about the boy
they don't know
only in new york (i actually like this song)
what do i need with love
gimme gimme

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Gershwin musicals by nature have the most stand along songs. Cole Porter as well...

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yeah... j&h def, has a lot of them. also - last five years has a few. being alive from company is def. one. its amazing. elegies and infinite joy have quite a few too...

Mmmm...I'm not an ALW fan at all, but I've gotta say that my favorite "stand-alone" song is one of his. "Unexpected Song" from Song & Dance is one of the most amazing songs I know. I aboslutely adore it. I was shocked to find out that it was Andrew Lloyd Webber, actually. He and Don Black...they're a good pair. I've never seen Song & Dance, but from what I've heard it's pretty much just a showcase of songs in the first act and dancing in the second? Am I completely off here? Well, either way, I think it's easily the best music Webber's written.

And I do agree that Jekyll & Hyde has the most stand-alone songs...though I really hate the kind of songs that they turn into. They make "This is the Moment" into a really inspiring and joyful song...which it is, in a way. But it's also the most depressing and harrowing song in the show...and that's what makes it truly amazing. Because you see his pure hope and ecstasy...and then you just watch it get crushed. J&H is a tragedy. And, to me, ignoring the knowledge of what is to come when playing that song is like taking the balconey scene out of Romeo & Juliet and playing it solely as a sweet romance scene. Not that Frank Wildhorn is comparable to Shakespeare by any means (but then, who is?)...but (hopefully) you get my point. Plus, I think taking the song out of this context makes it painfully trite and rather annoying.