Favorite Sondheim lyrics? (Please try to be brief--no whole songs, please.)

The choice may have been mistaken, the choosing was not.

Please, don't fart. There's very little air and this is art.

The Ben I'll never be/Who remembers him?

And one for Mahler!

Little bear, little bear, you sit on my right, right there.

Wear your hair down and a flower-

Don't use makeup, dress in white-

She'll grow older by the hour,

and be hopelessly shattered by Saturday night!

We've no time to sit and dither

While her withers wither with her

That Puerto Rican punk'll go down / And when he's hollered Uncle, we'll tear up the town.

In the middle of the world we float

In the middle of the sea.

The realities remain remote

In the middle of the sea.

We'll get Leontyne Price to sing her medley from [Die] Meistersinger

City on fire! City on fire!

Is there no other way?

And though I'll think of you, I guess

Until the day I die

I think I miss you less and less

As everyday goes by

Johanna

Nice is different than good.

Think of it as thrift, as a gift

If you get my drift

Seems and awful waste

I mean... with the price of meat wot it is

When you get it, if you get it

Ah...

Good you got it

This is piss! Piss with ink!

Putting thoughts of you aside, in the south of France. Would I think of suicide? -Darling, shall we dance?

Everybody's got the right to be happy

Don't stay mad, life's not as bad as it seems

If you keep your goal in sight

You can climb to any height

Everybody's got the right to their dreams

Once I was a schlepper, Now I'm Miss Mazeppa

You're more than just a mimic/when you got a gimmick

Send in the clowns.

Don’t bother - they’re here.

Nobody knows in America

Puerto Rico's in America

In the tea, my lord, the chrysanthemum tea! An informal variation on the normal recipe.

In the USA you can work your way to the head of the line! (Bang)

Long afternoons doing every little chore

The thought of you stays bright

Sometimes I stand in the middle of the floor

Not going left, not doing right

But Alone is Alone,

Not Alive!

To rhyme a word like silver,

Or any rhymeless rhyme,

Requires only Will, Ver-

Bosity, and Time.

Thank you all

For the gifts and the flowers

Thank you all

Now it's back to the showers

Don't tell Paul

But I'm not getting married today

Tomorrow's what you're gonna have a lifetime of with me

He specifically wrote the lyric for "Losing My Mind" to be "spend sleepless nights *to think about you" rather than "spend sleepless nights *and think about you."

A small change but so much more resonance.

Maybe you could show me

How to let go,

Lower my guard,

Learn to be free.

Maybe if you whistle,

Whistle for me.

When you're in a tizzy, dizzy, wiz ze mutual detente!

I’m giving you my finest hour. The one I spent watching you shower. I’m giving you my finest hour.

With all around things growing in the ground/Where birds that make a sound are birds

I love your paintings. I think I'm fainting.

If you’re gonna bump it, bump it with a trumpet!

Sometimes people leave, halfway through the wood.

I have seen the ruins of Rome

I have been to the igloos of Nome

I've gone to Moscow

It's very gay

Well, anyway

On the first of May!

In the depths of her interior

Were fears she was inferior,

And something even eerier...

But no one dared to query her

Superior exterior.

Gee

I'd like to be

On some marquee

All twinkling lights

A spark

To pierce the dark

From Battery Park

To Washington Heights!

Why can't you throw 'em a crumb?

What's wrong with letting 'em tap their toes a bit?

I'll let you know when Stravinsky has a hit.

Give me some melody!

I've been to Nice and the Isle of Greece.

This is how Samson was shorn;

Each in her style a

Delilah Reborn,

Each a gem -

A beautiful

Diadem of beautiful -

Welcome them-

These beautiful Girls!

Knock, knock! A zombie's in my arms...

Dressy Tessie Tura/ Is so much more demurah

Ordinary mothers, thrive on being quiet

And ordinary mothers somehow can survive it

But ordinary mothers, never know they’re just standing still

With the kettles to fill

While they’re missing the thrill

Of the glamorous life.

Wouldn't you like a wooden shoe?

As dumbbells go, he’s rather slow

And as far as being saintly, even faintly, no

But who needs Albert Schweitzer when the lights are low?

And oh boy, oh boy can that boy foxtrot

No one’s gonna hurt you, no one’s gonna dare

Others can desert you, not to worry

Whistle, I’ll be there.

Demons will charm you with a smile

For a while, but in time

Nothing’s gonna harm you

Not while I’m around.

His trousers a vermillion.

And any I.O.U. I owe, you owe!

Every word of The Miller's Son

Careful the tale you tell...

Been called a pinko commie tool

got through it stinko by my pool

Oh dear, R34. PAINTING.

Adding the S means both that it doesn't rhyme and it isn't what she means.

It's not so much do what you like

As it is that you like what you do.

Somebody hold me too close Somebody hurt me too deep Somebody sit in my chair and ruin my sleep And make me aware of being alive

Tall and tender, like an Apollo,

He goes walking by, and I have to follow him,

The Boy From

R29, so true, so true. I've heard versions of Losing My Mind with "to" swapped for "and" - that changes the so much and for the better.

"Spend sleepless nights to think about you" - the only way the lyric should be sung.

They didn't wanna have me, but somehow I was had Leapin' lizards, that's why I'm so bad.

No fits. No fights. No feuds. And no egos. Amigos!

Life is often so unpleasant

You must know that, as a peasant

Best to take the moment present

as a present

for the moment.

Everyone there will give big cheer! Everyone there will have moved here

Everything free in America -

For a small fee in America.

R14. Except, grammatically, it should be “Nice is different FROM good” (or TO, if you’re British). THANK YOU requires comparison of quantity.

R64 here: THANK YOU not THANK YOU!

Damn autocorrect

Some people sit on their butts.

Got the dream, yeah, but NOT the guts!

Gee, Officer Krupke,

We're down on our knees,

'Cause no one wants a fellow with a social disease.

Being sure enough of you, makes me sure enough of me.

All this happiness, Coming when there's so little time.

[quote]For a small fee in America.

In his book, he really regretted that line. He said, more or less, that no matter how good a singer you are, it still comes out "for a smafee in America"

[quote]He said, more or less, that no matter how good a singer you are, it still comes out "for a smafee in America"

Worship Sondheims's genius though I do, I think his perfectionism could be over-punctilious. I posted the lines because their wit is always in my head, and it was audible from first hearing. No ambiguity.

I'm electrifyin' and I'm not even tryin'!

I loved you even as I saw you

Even as it does not matter

Thank I still don't know your name

Now's your inning--

Stand the world on its ear!

Set it spinning--

That'll be just the beginning!

It's fop, finest in the shop

It's intolerable/Being tolerated

If the tea the Shogun drank will

Serve to keep the Shogun tranquil

Just remembering you've had an 'and" When you're back to "or" Makes the "or" mean more Than it did before

Go and pack my suits!/ My boots!/ Pack everything I own that shoots.

"Just when I stopped opening doors, Finally knowing the one that I wanted was yours. Making my entrance again with my usual flair. Sure of my lines. No one was there."

R38, thanks for including those lyrics from "Ah, But Underneath." I love that song, think it's a perfect description of Phyllis, I've always preferred it to "Lucy and Jessie."