help identifying South Pacific lyrics

[PJMPirate]

Posted: 3/24/08 at 1:55pm

Hi folks. There's a piece of song in South Pacific that I know is in the show, but I can't find in my copy of the script or score. It goes like this:

I was cheated before
and I'm cheated again
by a mean little world
of mean little men.
And the one chance for me
is this life I know best,
to be here on an island
and to hell with the rest.
I will cling to this island
like a tree or a stone,
I will cling to this island
and be free and alone.

Can anyone remember where this is in the show, and does anyone know of a recording that has it?

Thanks very much!

[thetheatrekook]

Posted: 3/24/08 at 2:12pm

I'm not terribly familiar with South Pacific, but it sounds like it should be from Emile's song in the 2nd act? "This Nearly Was Mine?" Correct me if I'm wrong.

[philcrosby]

Posted: 3/24/08 at 2:25pm

Yes, it's part of "This Nearly Was Mine."

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 3/24/08 at 3:27pm

It's Emile's responce after "You've Got to Be Carefully Taught" right before "This Nearly Was Mine". It's on pretty much all the recordings except the RNT revival which has different lyrics and still comes after "You've Got to Be Carefully Taught", but is followed by "Now is the Time" as "This Nearly Was Mine" comes later in the show. Here are the alternate lyrics...

It will grow like a weed
On a mountain of stones;
You don't have to feed
Or put fat on its bones;
It can live on a smile
Or a note of a song;
It may starve for a while,
But it stumbles along,
Stumbles along with its banner unfurled,
The joy and the beauty, the hope of the world. Updated On: 3/24/08 at 03:27 PM

[[e-mail]]

Posted: 3/25/08 at 12:12am

what id the rnt revival?
who are those alternate lyrics credited to?

they seem so clumsy compared to the real ones.

[being.jeremiah]

Posted: 3/25/08 at 1:33am

That would be Royal National Theatre.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 3/25/08 at 2:43am

The lyrics are still by Oscar Hammerstein. I believe it's just an earlier draft. They was used because of the new placment of "This Nearly Was Mine". The same is true of "Now is the Time". The song was cut sometime prior to Broadway, and though I do enjoy it, it clearly does not fit well lyrically with the rest of the material.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 3/25/08 at 3:52am

The R&H Library will provide the music (it's a double-sidedpage which slips into the piano score and the orchestrations.

They sent them to us for my production in 1974.