a wonderful guy from south pacific

so i started working on wonderful guy in voice lessons recently and i was suprised to find a difference in the lyrics from any of the recordings i'm familiar with

does anyone know when or why the change was made?

SAME
I expect everyone of my crowd to make fun
Of my proud protestations of faith in romance,
And they'll say I'm naïve as a babe to believe
Every fable I hear from a person in pants.

FIRST VERSION
Fearlessly I'll face them and argue their doubts away,
Loudly I'll sing about flowers in spring,
Flatly I'll stand on my little flat feet and say
Love is a grand and a beautiful thing!
I'm not ashamed to reveal
The world famous feelin' I feel.

SECOND VERSION (my sheet music)
I used to share your satirical attitude
thinking that love could be kept in its place
til 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 women you see


thanks in advance!

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Updated On: 10/12/05 at 09:50 PM

bump - anyone?

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the second version is so odd and awkward.

the first one is a million times better.

I'm not familiar with the second version at all. When I was in the show, Nellie sang the original (first) lyrics.

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I agree it's fascinating to read, but this second lyric is SO out-of-character for Nellie (who's corny as Kansas in August, at that very moment). She sings about her sudden emotions and gut feelings here, and this second lyric is way too self-analytical and sophisticated.

Basically, it sucks.

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redhotinnyc2---So would singing the bridge of the song in French.

I don't think drawing attention to a song is necessarily a good thing in an audition. You want them to watch you, not suddenly wonder where you got your lyrics from.

This is why it was always considered a no-no to sing Sondheim at an audition (back when I was pounding the pavements in New York).

You run the risk of the song outshining the singer.

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I think it was written for the sheet music. In the 40s/50s, it was pretty common for additional lyrics to be written for "single" sheets.