More Sondheim lyrics fun
Robert DeLine
Since there hasn't been a thread about Sondheim lyrics here for
months now :) I thought I'd introduce one. One of my favorite things
about his lyrics are the occational rhymes which just make you groan.
For example, from "Do I hear a waltz?"
Such lovely "Blue Danube"-y music
How can you be still?
Or an internal rhyme example, from "Into the woods"
We've no time to sit an dither
While her withers wither with her
Anyone care to help me out with some other examples of these lovely
autrocities?
(Email is fine if you're a Bandwidth Concervationist.)
Cheers,
Rob DeLine
Computer Science, University of Virginia
del...@Virginia.EDU
adolphson
>
> Since there hasn't been a thread about Sondheim lyrics here for
> months now :) I thought I'd introduce one. One of my favorite things
> about his lyrics are the occational rhymes which just make you groan.
She sits at the Ritz
With her splits of Mumm's
And starts to pine for a stein
With her Village chums.
But with a Schlitz in her mits
Down at Fitzroy's bar
She thinks of the Ritz, oh
It's so schizo.
Arne
Mark Fontana
(Robert DeLine) writes:
>Since there hasn't been a thread about Sondheim lyrics here for
>months now :) I thought I'd introduce one. One of my favorite things
>about his lyrics are the occational rhymes which just make you groan.
>For example, from "Do I hear a waltz?"
>
> Such lovely "Blue Danube"-y music
> How can you be still?
...
>Anyone care to help me out with some other examples of these lovely
>autrocities?
Okay. This first one is the one that came to mind immediately.
Some lesser (but still delightful!) rhymes that stand out follow.
From A.L.N.M. "Every Day A Little Death"
He talks softly of his wars
And his horses and his whores
From Follies "I'm Still Here"
I've stuffed the dailies in my shoes
Strummed ukuleles, sung the blues
...
Had heebie jeebies for Beebe's Bathysphere
...
Then you career from career to career
From A.L.N.M "The Miller's Son"
It's a wink and a wiggle and a giggle in the grass
and I'll trip the light fandango
A pinch and a diddle in the middle of what passes by
...
It's a push and a fumble and a tumble in the sheets
amd I'll foot the highland fancy
A dip in the butter and a flutter with what meets my eye
...
It's a rip in the bustle and a rustle in the hay
and I'll pitch the quick fantastic
With flings of confetti and my petticoats way up high
From Sweeney Todd "By the Sea"
Every night in the kip when we're through our kippers
I'll be there slippin' off your slippers
Not to change the topic, but how about Sondheim's alliterations?
From Forum "Pretty Little Picture"
...the bong of the bell of the buoy in the bay
and the boat and the boy and the bride are away!
...There's just the shore where the lovers lie
The sand and the sea and the stars and the sky
and the sound of a soft little satisfied sigh...
From A.L.N.M. "The Miller's Son"
It's a very short road from the pinch and the punch
To the paunch and the pouch and the pension
Some favorite rhymes:
From Follies "Loveland"
Bells ring, fountains splash
Folks use kisses 'stead of cash
From Forum "The House of Marcus Lycus"
Wait until the day she's fully grown
She'll be useful on safari
You could purchase her for shade alone
And never be sorry
From A.L.N.M "Now, Later, Soon"
Even now, when you're close and we touch
And you're kissing my brow
I don't mind it too much
(These lines sum up Anne's initial character quite concisely :)
The use of "I don't _mind_ it" and "too" (as opposed to "very")
works nicely.
Mark
Jon Conrad
my favorites, of the "now that he's used them, no one else ever can"
sort.
From You Could Drive a Person Crazy, "Company"
When a person's personality is personable,
He shouldn't oughta sit like a lump;
It's harder than a matador coercin' a bull
To try to get you offa your rump!
[This whole lyric is also worth study for the meanings it wrings out of
the idiomatic phrase "a person," which Sondheim has noticed people use
to mean "you," "me," "anybody," etc.]
From the verse to Love Will See Us Through, "Follies"
Sally dear,
Now that we're
Man and wife,
I will do
Wonders to
Make your life
Soul-stirring
And free of care. [and Sally replies:]
If we fight
(and we might),
I'll concede;
Furthermore
Dear, should your
Ego need
Bolstering,
I'll do my share.
[The intricate internal rhymes are amazing enough, but the "bolstering"
/ "soul-stirring" bit is the mind-boggler, especially as he has created
a context in which both words arise naturally. But there's more at the
end of the verse:]
[He:]
I've some traits, I warn you,
To which you'll take exception.
[She:]
I too have a cornu-
Copia of imperfection.
But for internal rhyming, nothing can beat the Gilbert-and-Sullivan
parody from Please Hello, in "Pacific Overtures." Let's face it, this
surpasses anything that Gilbert (whom I much admire) ever did.
Hello, I've come
With letters from
Her Majesty Victoria,
Who, hearing how
You're trading now,
Said "Hallelujah, Gloria!"
And sent me to
Convey to you
Her positive euphoria
As well as lit-
Tle gifts from Brit-
Ain's various emporia.
An internal rhyme every four syllables, and a trisyllabic rhyme at the
end of each line. Verse after verse of this. Wow.
Jon Alan Conrad
Elaine Hubbard
>
> (Robert DeLine) writes:
>
>>Since there hasn't been a thread about Sondheim lyrics here for
>>months now :) I thought I'd introduce one. One of my favorite things
>>Anyone care to help me out with some other examples of these lovely
>>autrocities?
From Into The Woods - (witch to baker)
It's your father's fault
That the curse got placed
And the place got cursed
In the first place!
While we're on the subject of Sondheim, can anyone help me find
source to performing rights to the song "Our Little World" (witch, rapunzel)
from ITW in London production. MTI, from which our community theatre
production (US version) is licensed, was not helpful in locating same. BMG
owns copyright in US and UK. Has anyone out there performed the US
version and added (legally) this music from the UK production? We
would need the orchestration, too. Any suggestions appreciated.
E-mail or post. Thanks in advance!!
--
Elaine L. Hubbard
ingr!b10!cis15!hubbarde
"equity aids the vigilant and not those
who slumber on their rights..."
Thomas Murray
In article <Bus1t...@news.udel.edu> con...@brahms.udel.edu (Jon Conrad) writes:
> From You Could Drive a Person Crazy, "Company"
> When a person's personality is personable,
> He shouldn't oughta sit like a lump;
> It's harder than a matador coercin' a bull
> To try to get you offa your rump!
> [This whole lyric is also worth study for the meanings it wrings out of
> the idiomatic phrase "a person," which Sondheim has noticed people use
> to mean "you," "me," "anybody," etc.]
Interestingly enough, I saw Mandy Patinkin last night, and he did this
song. He changed all the "he"'s to "she"'s, etc. (interesting that
Sondheim didn't place any gender-specific lyrics in rhyming positions)
and the "Bobby" he was talking about was a woman named Roberta. The
line "...if a person was a fag" was changed to "...if a person was a
DRAG", and the vocal "pyramids" (i.e.
Woman 1: Doo-doo
Woman 2: Doo-doo
Woman 3: Doo!
) with replaced with "Maw-maw-maw-maw-maw-maw-maw". Wonder if
Sondheim provided these changes himself.
> From the verse to Love Will See Us Through, "Follies"
> [The intricate internal rhymes are amazing enough, but the "bolstering"
> / "soul-stirring" bit is the mind-boggler, especially as he has created
> a context in which both words arise naturally.
I remember thinking that the actual lyrics were "bowl stirring" for
the longest time, because of the way "-stirring" gets emphasized. I
couldn't why someone needed "bowl stirring". I guess I could have
just read the lyric sheet...
> Hello, I've come
> With letters from
> Her Majesty Victoria,
> Who, hearing how
> You're trading now,
> Said "Hallelujah, Gloria!"
> And sent me to
> Convey to you
> Her positive euphoria
> As well as lit-
> Tle gifts from Brit-
> Ain's various emporia.
This was also on my Sondheim-lyric-mistakes list for a long-time. I
used to think it *was* G&S. Only corrected my mistake after seeing a
video of the show a while back. How embarassing...
Wonder what else I have been goofing up?
-tom
Kirsten Starcher
>
>months now :) I thought I'd introduce one. One of my favorite things
>about his lyrics are the occational rhymes which just make you groan.
>Anyone care to help me out with some other examples of these lovely
>autrocities?
The first one that comes to my mind is from _Pacific Overtures_:
If the tea the Shogun drank will
help to keep the Shogun tranquil
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kirsten Starcher "All I want is that second of time
kir...@morgan.ucs.mun.ca and a few square inches inside of your mind."
- Joyful Noise
This post brought to you by the letters f, y, v, and the number i.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anita Hsiung
>Robert DeLine writes:
>>
>>Since there hasn't been a thread about Sondheim lyrics here for
>>months now :) I thought I'd introduce one. One of my favorite things
>>about his lyrics are the occational rhymes which just make you groan.
>...
>>Anyone care to help me out with some other examples of these lovely
>>autrocities?
>
How about, from A.L.N.M:
Perpetual sunset
Is rather an unsett-
ling thing.
-- Anita --
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Anita Hsiung | "See how easy life can be?" -- Johnathan Raven |
| ahs...@bbn.com | |
| BBN Canoga Park | "Someday we'll look back on this moment...and |
| California, USA | run smack into the car in front of us." -- Ski |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
adolphson
mur...@aristotle.ils.nwu.edu (Thomas Murray) writes about
"Please Hello" from _Pacific Overtures_:
> This was also on my Sondheim-lyric-mistakes list for a long-time. I
> used to think it *was* G&S. Only corrected my mistake after seeing a
> video of the show a while back. How embarassing...
There's a video of _Pacific Overtures_? I remember thinking the
Broadway production was fabulous, particularly what Harold Prince
did with "Pretty Lady", but really all of it was theatrically
exciting. What production is on video?
Arne
Mathemagician
>How about, from A.L.N.M:
> Perpetual sunset
> Is rather an unsett-
> ling thing.
I thought it was "upsetting thing," but that's picking nits.
From "Love Is In the Air"
Some are hasty, some are halting
Some are simply somersaulting.
From "The House of Marcus Lycus"
One is ecstasy,
One is mystery,
One is six foot three,
Two is company--
From "There's Something About a War"
One-two, one-two!
We not only fought but we won, too!
One-two! One-two!
Left-right, left-right!
There's none of the enemey left, right?
Right! Left...right...uh...halt!
...
Oh, it's tread, tread, tread
Through the mud, mud, mud
And it's shed, shed, shed
All the blood, blood, yich!
There's something about a war.
Oh, it's plunge, plunge, plunge
Through the dust, dust, dust
And it's lunge, lunge, lunge
And it's thrust, thrust, oooh!
...
Houses to destroy -- hey! [as in, "Hey! That's great!]
Women to enjoy -- hey!
Statues to deface -- hey!
Mothers to debase -- hey!
Virgins to assault -- hey!
Halt!
Hey! [as in, "Hey! We were just getting to the good part!]
...
There's never time for reading, yet there's something about a war.
The elephants keep breeding, but there's something about a war.
You frequently feel lonely when the enemy has gone,
Still there's something about a war
That goes on!
And on!
And on!
...
It isn't just the glory or
The groaning or the gorier
Details that cause a warrior to smirk.
From "Pour le Sport" [a song about golf]
I feel like crying--
I got a birdie!
I wasn't trying.
So who could know?
Never occurred
To me the bird
Was flying
So low!
From "Invocation and Instructions to the Audience"
And please--
No grass.
This is a classic, not a class.
...
When we are waxing humorous,
Please don't wane.
From "Beautiful Girls"
Beauty celestial
The best, you'll agree
From "Uptown, Downtown"
Hyphenated Harriet, the nouveau from New Rochelle.
From "The Story of Lucy and Jessie"
Lucy wants to be dressy
Jessie wants to be juicy
Lucy wants to be Jessie
And Jessie, Lucy.
From "Could I Leave You?"
Not to give those dinners for ten
Elderly men
From the UN?
From "Broadway Baby"
Gee
I'd like to be
On some marquee
All twinkling lights
A spark
To pierce the dark
From Battery park
To Washington Heights.
...
At
My tiny flat
There's just my cat
A bed and a chair
Still
I'll stick it till
I'm on a bill
All over Times Square.
...
Working for a nice man
Like a Ziegfeld or a Weismann
From "Can That Boy Foxtrot!"
But when he starts to move,
He aims to please,
Which only goes to prove
That sometimes in a clerk
You find a Hercules.
...
A false alarm
A broken arm
An imitation Hitler
And with littler charm
But oh, Can that boy foxtrot!
His mouth is mean,
he's not too clean,
What makes him look reptilian
Is the brilliantine
But oh, can that boy foxtrot!
...
As dumbbells go,
He's rather slow,
And as for being saintly,
Even faintly, no.
But who needs Albert Schweitzer
When the lights are low?
...
Look, she's givin' us the eye,
Strictly on the sly,
Hey, I think she's trying to vamp us...
See ya 'round the campus.
...
Maybe I could take a chance,
Grab her for a dance,
Make a few advances later...
See ya, alligator.
...
His jokes are quaint
And fairly faint.
He may be full of hokum,
But I've no complaint.
He often is a bore,
But on the floor he aint
From "Two Fairy Tales"
Anne: Henrik:
She was beset on every side
On every side it was beset
...
Then to the west
She got her wizard to suggest
The knight set off upon his quest
A sort of test
He bore his crest
At her behest
As if possessed
The princely suitors did their
best Nor did he rest!
And who'd have guessed?
He was obsessed
All three were tested and they
passed He found a priest
She was depressed
He made a fast and was confessed
To say the leaset
He never ceased
But she got dressed
Until at last he had laid waste
And served a feast where she
was faced And turned to dust
...
To his dismay he also found
He also found to his dismay
From "A Weekend in the Country"
Look, ma'am, an invitation
Here, ma'am, delivered by hand.
And, ma'am, I notice the station-
Ery's engraved and very grand.
Carl-Magnus Charlotte
Go and pack my suits
I won't!
My boots!
Pack everything I own that shoots!
From "Liaisons"
I had ladies in attendance
Fire opal pendants...
...
Where is style?
Where is skill?
Where is forethought?
Where's discretion of the heart,
Where's passion in the art,
Where's craft?
With a smile
And a will
But with more thought,
I acquired a chateau
Extravagantly o-
Verstaffed.
...
Who, when things got rather touchy
Deedy me a duchy
From "Please Hello"
Emperor read our letter? If no,
CommodorePerry very sad.
Emeror like our letter? If so,
Commodore Perry very merry,
President Fillmore still more glad.
...
American Admiral Abe
Kerosene
And cement
And a grain
Elevator.
A machine
You can rent
Called a "train"--
--Maybe later--
...
Commodore getting letter letting,
Coucillor getting fancy pen!
[Anything the British Ambassador has]
...
I bring word, I bring word
From Napoleon ze Third.
'E 'ad 'eard what 'ave occurred 'ere
From ze little bird!
Undeterred, we conferred,
Though we felt zat we'd been slurred,
And ze verdict was he spurred
Me here to bring ze word!
Would you like to know ze word
From Napoleon ze Third?
From "It's a Hit!"
Will their faces be stony
When they see on their Sony
Someone handing the phony
The Tony
Award!
From "Children and Art"
It's not so much do what you like
As it is that you like what you do.
-----------
At any rate, the trick of having a line rhyme with the first syllable
of a word and having the rest overflow was one that Tom Lehrer played
to perfection:
Smut!
I love smut and nothing but!
A dirty novel I can't shut
If it's uncut
And unsubt-
Tle!
--
Brian Evans | "Bad mood, bad mood...Sure I'm in a bad mood!
bev...@carina.unm.edu | I haven't had sex...*EVER!*" -- Virgin Mary
Betsy Perry
from "Liaisons", but misses my favorite "Only Sondheim could possibly
get away with this one..." rhyme:
...is now figs.
No, not even figs -- raisins!
Liaisons....
>Who, when things got touchy
>Deedy me a duchy
That's "Deeded me a duchy". I.e. handed her another
nice piece of property.
By the way, is Sondheim a Midwesterner by rearing?
--
Betsy Hanes Perry (note P in userid) bet...@apollo.hp.com
Hewlett-Packard Company
"It seems to us that the readers who want fiction to be like life are
considerably outnumbered by those who would like life to be like fiction."
Mathemagician
>In article <zk6...@lynx.unm.edu> bev...@carina.unm.edu (Mathemagician) quotes
>>Deedy me a duchy
>That's "Deeded me a duchy". I.e. handed her another
>nice piece of property.
Typos, typos...there were quite a few in there and I take
responsibility for all of them.
But, the biggest one, I couldn't believe. The Tom Lehrer quote should
read "Give me smut and nothing but" instead of "I love smut and
nothing but." Don't know what on earth was going through my head....
>By the way, is Sondheim a Midwesterner by rearing?
No...he's from New England...he lived down the street from Oscar
Hammerstein (if memory serves correctly....)
Mark Fontana
>>By the way, is Sondheim a Midwesterner by rearing?
>No...he's from New England...he lived down the street from Oscar
>Hammerstein (if memory serves correctly....)
I've got Sondheim's address in New York; a friend of mine has been
writing to him (and Sondheim's actually writing back!). I've
sent Christmas cards for the past few years.
Mark
Kirsten Starcher
>I've got Sondheim's address in New York; a friend of mine has been
>writing to him (and Sondheim's actually writing back!). I've
>sent Christmas cards for the past few years.
When I was in grade 7 I did a project on him and his work. I wrote to him,
asking a bunch of questions, and he wrote back & answered them. I sent off
another letter thanking him and asking what he'd be doing next, and he answered
that, too (he was in the early stages of _Into the Woods_).
Quite a thrill. I keep meaning to write again, but haven't gotten around to
it...oh well, one of these years.
Steve Scher
>
>>By the way, is Sondheim a Midwesterner by rearing?
And bev...@carina.unm.edu (Mathemagician) writes:>
>No...he's from New England...he lived down the street from Oscar
>Hammerstein (if memory serves correctly....)
Actually, I think your memory is serving you incorrectly. He did indeed
live near Hammerstein (the second, of course). But if MY memory serves,
it was on the Main Line in Pennsylvania. (Or maybe it was Bucks County??)
But not New England.
--
*******************************************************************************
Steven J. Scher -- Department of Psychology, UCC, Kamloops, BC V2C 5N3
ssc...@cariboo.bc.ca -- sc...@chilko.ucs.ubc.ca
*******************************************************************************
Mathemagician
>Someone asked (attribution disaster here):
>>>By the way, is Sondheim a Midwesterner by rearing?
>And bev...@carina.unm.edu (Mathemagician) writes:>
>>No...he's from New England...he lived down the street from Oscar
>>Hammerstein (if memory serves correctly....)
>Actually, I think your memory is serving you incorrectly. He did indeed
>live near Hammerstein (the second, of course). But if MY memory serves,
>it was on the Main Line in Pennsylvania. (Or maybe it was Bucks County??)
>But not New England.
Actually, I had Pennsylvania in mind but couldn't recall the exact state.
Call it a difference in personal geography, but I consider "New
England" to go from Maine to about Pennsylvania and New York.
Whether or not this is the "commonly accepted" designation of New
England is immaterial. ;-)
And, if I recall correctly, isn't he presently living next door to
Kathryn Hepburn somewhere in Massachussetts?
Alex Patison
We want four,
We had none.
We've got three.
We need one.
It takes two.
from It Takes Two, Into The Woods.
regards,
-m------- Alex Patison al...@pta.pyramid.com.au
---mmm----- Pyramid Technology Corporation Pty Ltd
-----mmmmm--- 403 Pacific Highway Artarmon 2064 voice +61 2 901 5333
-------mmmmmmm- Sydney Australia fax +61 2 906 4353
"Gynotilcolobomassophile"
Max Stern 310-524-6152
>
>[...]
>
>Call it a difference in personal geography, but I consider "New
>England" to go from Maine to about Pennsylvania and New York.
>
>Whether or not this is the "commonly accepted" designation of New
>England is immaterial. ;-)
>
The immaterial fact is that New England is (today) defined as these six
states: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Masachusetts, Rhode Island, and
Connecticut.
(:>)
--
|\/| /_\ \/
| | / \ /\ Max....@TorreyPinesCA.ncr.com
Rod Williams
>> bev...@carina.unm.edu (Mathemagician) writes:
>
>>And, if I recall correctly, isn't he presently living next door to
>>Kathryn Hepburn somewhere in Massachussetts?
>
>their townhouses in Manhattan that are adjacent. They both, of course,
>being proper well-off New Yorkers, have country places as well, which
>are probably widely separated.
Yes. Miss Hepburn's retreat is, I understand, in Connecticut,
on Long Island Sound. Mr. Sondheim's, I believe, is in Bucks
County, Pennsylvania. And those rumors about the two of them
are *completely* untrue. (:-))
--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
rod williams -=- pacific bell -=- san francisco -=- rjw...@pacbell.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Jon Conrad
>Call it a difference in personal geography, but I consider "New
>England" to go from Maine to about Pennsylvania and New York.
You're free of course to consider it anything you want, but you are at
odds with everyone else's usage on this. The standard meaning of "New
England" is the 6 states east of New York state (and separated by it
from the rest of the US). But I kind of like the imperial attiude which
you share with Carroll's Humpty Dumpty: "When I use a word, it means
what I say it means, no more or less." :-)
>And, if I recall correctly, isn't he presently living next door to
>Kathryn Hepburn somewhere in Massachussetts?
He does indeed live next door (or nearly) to KATHARINE Hepburn. But it
their townhouses in Manhattan that are adjacent. They both, of course,
being proper well-off New Yorkers, have country places as well, which
are probably widely separated.
Jon Alan Conrad
Mathemagician
>In article <0=9n...@lynx.unm.edu> bev...@carina.unm.edu (Mathemagician) writes:
>>Call it a difference in personal geography, but I consider "New
>>England" to go from Maine to about Pennsylvania and New York.
>You're free of course to consider it anything you want, but you are at
>odds with everyone else's usage on this. The standard meaning of "New
>England" is the 6 states east of New York state (and separated by it
>from the rest of the US). But I kind of like the imperial attiude which
>you share with Carroll's Humpty Dumpty: "When I use a word, it means
>what I say it means, no more or less." :-)
Well, yes, I know that the rest of the world considers "New England"
to be everything north of New York, but somewhere, somehow, when I was
studying American History, "New England" came to mean everything north
of New Jersey...don't ask me why...it just did.
And as for Carroll, I must admit that I come to that attitude via a
slightly circuitous route: my Systems Engineering professor, A.
Bright. He wrote a play: BC (Before Carnot): A Tragicomical History
of Thermodynamics. It's heavily based upon _Through the Looking
Glass._ I played Laplace (Tweedledee) and Carnot (Humpty Dumpty). We
end up with lines like:
When I use the words Second Law, they mean just what I choose them to
mean - neither more nor less.
And, or course, when I make a phrase (New England) do a lot of work
like that I always pay it extra.
>>And, if I recall correctly, isn't he presently living next door to
>>Kathryn Hepburn somewhere in Massachussetts?
>He does indeed live next door (or nearly) to KATHARINE Hepburn. But it
>their townhouses in Manhattan that are adjacent. They both, of course,
>being proper well-off New Yorkers, have country places as well, which
>are probably widely separated.
Ah, well, the rumour I had heard was that Ms. Hepburn had complained
once of the very loud sexual antics that occurred in Mr. Sondheim's
residence...and that such residence was of the country manor type
somewhere out of the city.
And, as usual, I take responsibility for any and all typos in my posts
(assuming that I was the one typing, of course).