Which West Side Story Lyrics Did Sondheim Write?

Sorry for the other 2 threads. My computer freaked out.

I believe he wrote "I Feel Pretty" because he's spoken of always having regretted writing those lyrics -- that a poor, Puerto Rican teenage girl wouldn't express herself with such sophisticated wordplay ("it's alarming how charming I feel;" "I feel stunning and entrancing....")

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Yeah, I think Bernstein contributed more than just One Hand One Heart, if nothing else than in collaboration w/ Sondheim but again if the book I have provides further insight, I will post it.

Margo, yeah, that's how I knew he definitely wrote I Feel Pretty.

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Updated On: 11/20/05 at 05:09 PM

Does anyone know if the cut songs from West Side Story have been recorded anywhere? I know Like Everybody Else is on the first Lost in Boston CD, but are any of the others available on CD?

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Rentboy: WSS always says music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, though the story is it initially came out w/ lyrics by Bernstein and Sondheim but since Sondheim was virtually unknown many ppl just uncredited him and said music and lyrics by Bernstein, so he took his name out of lyrics so it just says Sondheim and he could have his rightful credit. Again, showing I know they both contributed, just not sure on what and to what degree.

Hrmph, this is pissing me off w/ my homework even more as I really want to read that book...maybe in a little bit I'll take a break and see if I can find a specific chapter on lyrics or something...

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Where did you hear that Billy? That's something I've never heard, I know Something's Coming was the last song written but from my understanding of it it was certainly collaborated and worked on by Sondheim and Bernstein. I can't say absolutely that Sondheim wrote the lyrics and Bernstein the music, but it was written pretty quickly, the two of them realized it had to be written and went into a room and I think it was done in a day or something. Never read anything to indicate it was written entirely by Sondheim...

In other news, I am beginning to agree that Sondheim did write the bulk of the West Side lyrics. In the beginning I think Bernstein was supposed to write half of them, but Sondheim when he was upset for not being credited said he wrote most of the lyrics, they talk about him writing A Boy Like That and America at least definitely. Though in a section describing the magic of Bernstein's score, they referred to the lyrics as part of "Bernstein's score" so maybe they were just misattributing or something? Maria, the Jet Song, and the Tonight Quintet were mentioned specifically in this section.

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Wait, I thought Bernstein's only lyrical contribution was in "Gee, Officer Krupke." He wrote "Krup you" in place of "@#$% you."

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Bernstein also wrote some lyrics for CANDIDE, most notably "I Am Easily Assimilated" - one of the funniest songs in the show.

Of course, CANDIDE in its current form has about five lyricists, including Sondheim.

I loved that show Score about composer Leonard Bernstein that was done this past year at NYTW, though the ending needed a chop.

Aww I wish I could have seen that show nondeplume, could you tell me more about it?

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Ourtime, not quite. Just reread this in the book to clarify. You're pretty much right, originally B&S were both gonna write lyrics, and each get 1/2 the rations of that, plus Bernstein would get for the music. And as far as Sondheim declining, to my knowledge that never happened. He was upset b/c he wasn't getting credited for the lyrics, he's quoted as saying he ended up writing most of it, so Bernstein offered to remove himself from lyrics, giving up 1/4 of rations he would have received and Sondheim accepted it.

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