"Wonderful Guy" lyric question

[marknyc]

Posted: 10/2/08 at 6:22pm

Just heard someone sing these alternate lyrics to this song - anyone know where they come from?

I've been known to share your satirical attitude,
Thinking that love could be kept in its place,
Till all of a sudden that lyrical platitude
Bounced up and hit me smack in the face.
That's how I turned out to be
The happy young woman you see!

[Unknown User]

Posted: 10/2/08 at 6:39pm

I Never Said I Love You from Dear World?

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 10/2/08 at 6:42pm

I believe they were written for the song by Hammerstein, but cut before it opened on Broadway. They probably were in early printings of the sheet music. In recent years, of course, Barbara Cook has sung them.

[marknyc]

Posted: 10/3/08 at 1:53am

So they were written by Hammerstein? Doris Day sings them in her recording of the song, but I've never heard them anywhere else.

[philcrosby]

Posted: 10/3/08 at 1:42pm

Back when Broadway music was synonymous with popular song (ie, the era of SOUTH PACIFIC), it was quite common for the versions of songs used by singers to have different or additional verses and bridges, so that they songs could better stand on their own.

Most recently done by Sondheim for Streisand and her recording of "Send in the Clowns." where he added the additional bridge that sums up the scene that happens on stage between Desiree and Frederick. Makes the ending of the song make more sense when sung solo.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 10/3/08 at 4:09pm

If anyone has heard the original lyrics for "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" in PAL JOEY, one realizes that they are far racier than the lyrics that are popularly sung in that song.

[marknyc]

Posted: 10/3/08 at 5:42pm

If anyone knows for sure who wrote these additional lyrics, please let me know. Thanks!

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 10/3/08 at 7:44pm

I didn't intend for there to be any doubt in my earlier response, but I can see why it sounded as if I wasn't sure, so to clarify: Those lines were written by Hammerstein. And when The Complete Lyrics of Oscar Hammerstein II is published in December, I can promise you they will be in the book.

[marknyc]

Posted: 10/7/08 at 7:20pm

Great! I will definitely look it up when it's published.

[wonkit]

Posted: 10/7/08 at 7:50pm

Lyrics also had to be toned down for movie versions of Broadway musicals - there were many differences in KISS ME, KATE, especially in "Too Darn Hot" and "True to You (in My Fashion)."