Theater Masks

Theater Masks

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Lyrics

I don't pretend to any knowledge of music outside of knowing what I like and what I don't. Still, I feel I have a pretty solid grasp on what makes for good lyric writing and I definitely know when something hits my ear like a brick.

I was listening to the recent concert of Chess, and though I've always known the book was a mess, I hadn't thought about just how horrible some of Tim Rice's lyrics are. Don't get me wrong, some of it is beautiful and brilliant (especially "Pity the Child" - what's more heartbreaking than a grown man craving his mother's approval and singing "I never called a crazy thing to do/Just in case she said "who?"

I want to go over two examples that really stuck out to me. The first was in "Nobody's on Nobody's Side." The character singing the song is lamenting the fact that her partner hasn't been entirely loyal and everyone needs to watch out for themselves. Then, in the middle of the song, we get this couplet:

"Never leave a moment too soon
Never waste a hot afternoon"

Excuse me, what??? OK, so maybe Rice wanted that first line, but that second line makes no sense at all! I mean, without even thinking about it I can come up with "Never leave a moment too fast, never need to regret what's past." I'm not a professional lyric writer, and that's not as strong as it could be for sure, but SURELY Rice could have come up with something better than "Never waste a hot afternoon!"

The other lyric is "I Know Him So Well." The lyric goes like this:

"Isn't it madness he won't be mine
But in the end he needs a little bit more than ___ _______ security
He needs his fantasy and freedom
I know him so well."

Now, I've been listening to different variations of Chess for nearly two decades now. I have NEVER been able to understand just what is said in those blanks in ANY version. I always went with "before" because A)that's what it sounds like and B)I just had no idea what fit there and it was the closest I could figure out. Well, Caitie and I were listening today and thank goodness either Idina Menzel or Kerry Ellis (I can't remember which was singing the line at this point) clearly ennunciated because Caitie finally got it. The lyric goes

"But in the end he needs a little bit more than me for, security."

Ahhh! We got it --- and what a let down! The problem is, the lyric doesn't scan at all! I've thought it was "before" for so long because the emphasis is on the second syllable, not the first as it SHOULD be when the line is said (I had a prof. who once said that even though a song is sung, false emphases can make a lyric unlistenable). Read that line twice - once with the me emphasized, once with the "for" emphasized. Which sounds correct to you?

I implore ANYONE who writes lyrics, please please please listen for emphasis so I don't have to spend another two decades trying to interpret a poor line!

2 comments:

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  2. In "Chess", one of Florence's major conflicts is strung between her duty (to America, to her partner, her career), and her heart (which wants what it wants, come what may). She seems like she wants to prioritize her career and destiny ("There must be more I could achieve") over her heart/emotional life.

    In "Nobody's Side," Florence recites a litany of hard rules and observations that she has developed, a set of mantras and trusims - sprinkled with cautionary and presumably hard-won cynicism - with which she lyrically surrounds herself at a time of stress; rules which she can repeat to herself for guidance, or just as likely (especially for those of us who have dealt with anxiety) to berate herself for perceived failures. The mantras cycle between:

    - love ("I don't want to let that go", "Take a little love where you can")
    - action ("Never stay too long in your bed")
    - enlightened self-interest ("Never make a promise or plan", "Never be the last to deceive")
    - suspicion ("Never be the first to believe")
    - dignity ("Never stay a minute too long")
    - trust ("Never take a stranger's advice")
    - independence ("Better learn to go it alone")

    and counsel resilience in the face of:
    - betrayal ("Never let a friend fool you twice", "how the cracks begin to show", "No lover's ever faithful")
    - opposition ("Everybody's playing the game/ But nobody's rules are the same")
    - misfortune ("Don't forget the best will go wrong")
    - uncertainty ("There's nothing certain left to know")
    - and temptation ("The one I should not think of").

    Prioritizing her individual accomplishment and independence, Florence navigates between two competing drives, her heart, and her head (both of which are explicitly named and set in opposition to each other, per the line "Never lose your heart, use your head"), and aims to come out on top ("I've still a lot to prove").

    From this critical perspective, "Never waste a hot afternoon" complements the line "Take a little love where you can", both of which are counter to "work/career", and more evocative of emotion and freedom. "Never waste a hot afternoon" is a sensory mantra, an appeal that evokes a sunny day of freedom, which one could easily "waste," either by staying indoors, doing unfulfilling work, or simply being lazy ("Never stay too long in your bed"). It's one of the few comforts she is allowing herself in this minefield of cautions and warnings; a reminder that one's work is not one's life, and that there must be some things one insists on keeping for oneself. Even if she nobody is on nobody's side, she tries not to forget that she should, above all, be on her own side, even if it means focusing on something besides her career from time to time.

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