Sondheim: Lyrics

by Stephen Sondheim, Peter Gethers (Introduction)

A beautiful Pocket Poets hardcover selection of the most memorable and beloved lyrics of Stephen Sondheim.

Legendary composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim made his Broadway debut with West Side Story in 1957 at the age of twenty-seven. His remarkable and wide-ranging career has spanned more than six decades since then, and he has accumulated accolades that include eight Tony Awards, an Academy Award, eight Grammy Awards, six Laurence Olivier Awards, a Pulitzer Prize, the Kennedy Center Honors, and a Presidential Medal of Freedom. Sondheim redefined musical theater with his groundbreaking work, combining words and music in ways that are by turns challenging, moving, witty, profound, and never less than exhilarating.

This volume includes a selection of lyrics from across his career, drawn from shows including West Side Story, Gypsy, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods, and more. The result is a delightful pocket-sized treasury of the very best of Sondheim.

Genres: Poetry, Music, Nonfiction, Theatre

224 pages, Hardcover

Published March 3, 2020

About the author

Stephen Joshua Sondheim was an American musical and film composer and lyricist, winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards (seven, more than any other composer), multiple Grammy Awards, and a Pulitzer Prize. He has been described as the Titan of the American Musical.

His most famous scores include (as composer/lyricist) A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods, and Assassins, as well as the lyrics for West Side Story and Gypsy. He was president of the Dramatists Guild from 1973 to 1981.

Reviews

[ALLEN · Rating 5 out of 5]

The front cover of this modestly-priced Everyman's edition shows a recent photo of Stephen Sondheim; the back cover was taken when the composer was much younger. With a composer this prolific, a full selection of his works can't be possible, but expect to find such lyrics as "Maria" from WEST SIDE STORY, "Comedy Tonight" from A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE FORUM, "The Little Things You Do Together" and "The Ladies Who Lunch" (from COMPANY), and starting with FOLLIES, the tunes get too numerous to count. With the Holiday season approaching, this little (224 pp.) book would make an excellent present.

Photo: Stephen Sondheim, ca. 1965

[Tom Evans · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mama he made things
Mama they’re good.

[Eva B.]

I'm not giving this a star rating since unlike the Hat Books, this is just a collection of lyrics with no commentary. While I'm glad that this collection had songs from every show (with the exception of Wise Guys and Road Show, although there were two from Bounce so I guess it evens out), as well as Marry Me a Little, Evening Primrose, and Dick Tracy, I felt like the song selection was lacking, to say the least. Too much of it was devoted to A Little Night Music and Into the Woods and there were some glaring omissions of songs, namely Someone in a Tree from Pacific Overtures, which was Sondheim's self-proclaimed favorite of his songs. Some of my favorites that I would have liked to see included were Another National Anthem, Unworthy of Your Love, Gun Song, Everybody's Got the Right (Reprise), Something Just Broke, You Could Drive a Person Crazy, Live Laugh Love, Franklin Shepherd Inc., Opening Doors, Everything's Coming Up Roses, Maria, Something's Coming, Please Hello, and--most egregiously--Happily Ever After from Marry Me a Little, which I find to be a much better song than Uptown/Downtown. However, of course, my personal song preferences can't dictate the entire collection and I know a lot of my favorites are ensemble numbers that would be a pain to add, but come on: you chose The Ballad of Czolgosz over Something Just Broke for what is essentially a Sondheim poetry collection?
I annotated my edition and there's copious amounts of underlining (including the entirety of Being Alive, which...probably says something about me as a person). Here's some favorites:
- Well, someone tell me, when is it my turn?/Don't I get a dream for myself? (Rose's Turn)
- It's not talk of God and the decade ahead that/allows you to go through the worst/it's "I do" and "you don't" and "nobody said that"/and "who brought the subject up first?" (The Little Things You Do Together)
- So here's to the girls on the go/everybody tries/look into their eyes/and you'll see what they know/everybody dies (The Ladies Who Lunch)
- Somebody need me too much/somebody know me too well/somebody pull me up short/and put me through hell/and give me support/for being alive (Being Alive)
- Make me confused/mock me with praise/let me be used/vary my days (Being Alive)
- Somebody crowd me with love/somebody force me to care/somebody let me come through/I'll always be there/as frightened as you/to help us survive/being alive, being alive/being alive! (Being Alive)
- We'll go not too deep/we'll look not too far/we won't have to give up a thing/we'll stay who we are (Marry Me a Little)
- Marry me a little/body, heart, and soul/passionate as hell/but always in control (Marry Me a Little)
- The choice you didn't make/never was defined/was it?/Dreams you didn't dare/are dead/were they ever there? (The Road You Didn't Take)
- Could I leave you?/Sweetheart I have to confess:/could I leave you?/Yes./Will I leave you? Will I leave you? /Guess! (Could I Leave You?)
- You said you loved me/or were you just being kind?/Or am I losing my mind? (Losing My Mind)
- It's man devouring man, my dear/and who are we to deny it in here? (A Little Priest)
- Here's to us/Who's like us?/Damn few (Like It Was--I like this line so much I have part of it on a bracelet)
- I don't know who we are anymore/and I'm starting not to care (Like It Was)
- That's what everyone does:/blame it on the way that it is/on the way it was/on the way it never ever was...(Like It Was)
- Pretty isn't beautiful, Mother/pretty is when it changes/when the eye arranges/is what is beautiful (Beautiful)
- Finishing the hat/how you have to finish the hat/how you have to watch the rest of the world/from a window/where you finish the hat. (Finishing the Hat)
- ...however you live/there's a part of you always standing by/mapping out the sky/finishing a hat/starting on a hat/finishing a hat...look, I made a hat/where there never was a hat. (Finishing the Hat)
- A vision's just a vision/if it's only in your head/if no one gets to share it/it's as good as dead./It has to come to life! (Putting It Together)
- Art isn't easy/Every minor detail is a major decision (Putting It Together)
- The art of making art/is putting it together (Putting It Together)
- I chose, and my world was shaken--so what?/The choice may have been mistaken/the choosing was not./You have to move on./Look at what you want/not at where you are/not at what you'll be. (Move On)
- I want to explore the light/I want to know how to get through/through to something new/something of my own/move on, move on/stop worrying if your vision/is new/let others make that decision--/they usually do (Move On)
- Anything you do/let it come from you/then it will be new (Move On)
- Sometimes people leave you/halfway through the wood./Others may deceive you/you decide what's good./You decide alone./But no one is alone. (No One Is Alone)
- You move just a finger/say the slightest word/something's bound to linger/be heard (No One Is Alone)
- Honor their mistakes/fight for their mistakes (No One Is Alone)
- Hunt me down, smear my name/say I did it for the fame/what I did was kill the man who killed my country/now the southland will mend/now this bloody war can end/because someone slew the tyrant/just as Brutus slew the tyrant- (The Ballad of Booth)
- Damn my soul if you must/let my body turn to dust/let it mingle with the ashes of my country/let them curse me to hell/leave it to history to tell:/what I did, I did well/and I did it for my country./Let them cry "dirty traitor!"/they will understand it later... (The Ballad of Booth)
- How could you do it, Johnny,/calling it a cause?/You left a legacy/of butchery/and treason we/took eagerly/and thought you'd get applause/but traitors just get cheers and boos/not visits to their graves (The Ballad of Booth)
- Damn you, Johnny!/You paved the way/for other madmen/to make us pay/lots of madmen/have had their say--/but only for a day./Listen to the stories/hear it in the songs/angry men don't write the rules/and guns don't right the wrongs/Hurts a while, but soon the country's/back where it belongs/and that's the truth. (The Ballad of Booth)
- Wrapped him a handkerchief 'round his gun/said "nothing wrong about what I've done/some men have everything and some have none--/that's by design/the idea wasn't mine along but mine/and that's the sign:/in the USA/you can have your say/you can set your goals/and seize the day/you've been given the freedom/to work your way/to the head of the line--to the head of the line!" (The Ballad of Czolgosz)
- Charlie said "hell/if I am guilty/then God is as well."/But God was acquitted/and Charlie committed/until he should hang (The Ballad of Guiteau)
- Look on the bright side/not on the bad side/inside the bad side/something's good!/This is your golden opportunity:/you've been a preacher?/Yes, I have!/You've been an author?/ Yes, I have!/You've been a killer?/Yes, I have!/You could be an angel--/Yes, I could! (The Ballad of Guiteau)
- And though I cannot love you/I wish that I could love you (I Wish I Could Forget You)
- And should you die tomorrow/another thing I see:/your love will live in me (I Wish I Could Forget You)
- The fact remains, when all is said and done/the fun is in the winning/not what's won (The Game, Version 2)

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading the lyrics of Stephen Sondheim is a delight. It's a great way to see his talent shine in the ingenuity of these rhymes, with the very clever word choices and interesting flows. I have always had an appreciation for Sondheim and how his musicals can be quite dark and insightful, and this just makes me want to read some of his books collecting the lyrics as well as a discussion of the musicals. What I really craved, while reading these, was more insight into his process and the musicals themselves.

[Richard Carilo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Critical Score: 5
Personal Score: 5
Total Score: 10

[Marisha Murphy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve always been a fan of Stephen Sondheim’s work since westside story and into the woods. I picked up the book for three reasons if I’m being honest.

1. I played “extra kid #3” in Westside story at a community theater when I was 10. I didn’t have any lines so it was easy to remember everyone else’s ...lyrics included.

2. I loved Into the Woods as a play more than a movie but the music remained awesome in both (in my opinion).

3. I’m only 1 behind schedule for my books read this year goal so it was the perfect pocket book to put me back on schedule 😂

Overall, if you enjoy the works of Sondheim then of course you will be singing every part in your head with the different voices. However, if you aren’t familiar with the author just know this is a literal book of lyrics. Nothing more, nothing less.

[Nyred Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I were more of a Sondheim nerd I would carry it around with me all the time, but instead I made a playlist of all the songs. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4dl...