An A to Z of Cut Sondheim Lyrics
Cut, maybe—but still a cut above
From matters of moment to weighty matters that wait, from brilliantine to milkable ducks, Stephen Sondheim’s cut lyrics are—perhaps unsurprisingly—treasure troves of wit, wisdom, and wordplay. Let’s take a moment to explore some of these lyrics—and in so doing, let’s remind ourselves of (or perhaps discover for the first time) some of Sondheim’s more hidden gems…
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A: “Two Fairy Tales” (A Little Night Music)
And there’s
Probably a moral
To be pointedly discussed,
But it’s always been my favorite,
And I read it when I’m gloomy,
And though fairy tales are foolish,
That’s a fairy tale to trust.
These are the final lines of this exquisitely constructed number. It was cut from A Little Night Music, writes Sondheim in Finishing the Hat, because it “interrupted the flow of the story.” If you’re not familiar with this one, it’s well worth checking out. There’s a very nice recording of it available as part of Marry Me a Little, the 1980 revue made up entirely of cut numbers and songs from the then-unproduced Saturday Night.
B: “Bang!” (A Little Night Music)
Bang!
The battle rages.
Whatever ground I gain
I fortify remorselessly.
Bang! Bang!
The foe engages
By shifting the terrain
How pitiful to be a woman.
“Bang!” was originally written as a duet between Count Carl-Magnus and Desirée. Hal Prince wanted Desirée removed from this number—but without her, it still did not work. The number was cut from A Little Night Music during out-of-town tryouts, and replaced by “In Praise of Women.”
C: “A Hero Is Coming” (Anyone Can Whistle)
‘Cause a hero is coming,
Coming quietly with no
Trumpets.
But he’ll be here any mo-
Ment, so fly, boys,
Fly!
“A Hero Is Coming,” cut from Anyone Can Whistle, is an earlier version of Nurse Fay Apple’s number, “There Won’t Be Trumpets” (about which more later). You can hear Sondheim himself singing these words on Sondheim Sings, Vol. 1.
D: “In Someone’s Eyes” (Follies)
Did I make you laugh?
Did we do things
Just to do them?
I don’t remember now, thank God.
And if we did,
We soon outgrew them all.
As the title might suggest, this number would soon become “In Buddy’s Eyes.” In this earlier version, we see that “I” was once “we.” Sally originally sang “we’re young, we’re beautiful,” “we can’t get older,” and so on. But these particular lyrics come from a part of the number that will be less familiar to those who know the extant Follies. There is a beautiful performance of “In Someone’s Eyes” available on Mandy Patinkin Sings Sondheim.
E: “Honey” (Merrily We Roll Along)
Everyone in the world
Can go milk a duck!
What a brilliant lyric this is. “Honey” was to be a number shared by Beth and Frank in Merrily We Roll Along. It appears on Lost in Boston, Vol. 3, sung by the wonderful Liz Callaway and Jason Graae.
F: “Forget War” (A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum)
Forget war, forget woe,
Forget matters weighty and great.
Allow matters weighty to wait
For a while.
The weighty/wait wordplay here is very satisfying indeed. “Forget War” was the original opening of Forum, when it was to be directed by Jerome Robbins. Robbins was replaced by George Abbott, who didn’t like the song. He couldn’t hum it, he said. (Merrily’s Joe Josephson, anyone?) “Comedy Tonight,” of course, was Sondheim’s eventual solution.
G: “Numbers” (A Little Night Music)
Grandmother says numbers are matters of moment
To people whose moments don’t matter enough.
Grandmother says numbers are food for the foolish
Who take all the minutiae of life on a cuff.
(Grandmother says lots of inscrutable stuff.)
A Little Night Music originally began not with a night waltz, but with “Numbers,” sung by Fredrika (Desirée’s daughter), sitting at the spinet, practicing her Clementi exercises. In this first conception of Night Music, we would have seen the whole story through Fredrika’s eyes. Perhaps we still do.
H: “All Things Bright and Beautiful” (Follies)
Here, kid—
Look, I brought you flowers:
Green, red, blue.
All things
Permanent and perfect for you, kid, you.
If you know the overture of Follies, you already know the tune to which these words are set. You can find this number on the Marry Me A Little original cast recording, sung by Craig Lucas and Suzanne Henry, and in a solo version on Mandy Patinkin’s Mandy Patinkin Sings Sondheim disc.
I: “Ah, But Underneath” (Follies)
In the depths of her interior
Were fears she was inferior
And something even eerier,
But no one dared to query her
Superior
Exterior.
Are these the most famous Sondheim lyrics that don’t feature in the original version of one of his shows? While strictly speaking not a “cut” song, “Ah, But Underneath” was written as a replacement for “The Story of Lucy and Jessie” for the London production of Follies—specifically for Diana Rigg, who was less comfortable with the original’s dance requirements. It’s a brilliant example of Sondheim rewriting to serve both performer and character. And god, who else could have written those lines?
J: “Boom, Crunch” (Into the Woods)
Just a small upheaval—
Evil.
Evil! Evil! Evil!
“This lyric may not seem significantly different from "Last Midnight,"” writes Sondheim in Finishing the Hat, “but it sounded discursive when performed.” Sondheim realized that this version spent too much time cataloguing the various lies, about which we already know—and too little time on the central idea, which in this version is articulated as “Want to know what’s evil? Nice people’s lies.” Rhyming “evil” with “upheaval” is delightful, though.
K: “In No Time At All” (Saturday Night)
Keep it lighthearted.
Kiss and run.
“In No Time At All,” cut from Saturday Night, was written to be sung in counterpoint with “A Moment With You” (which, of course, did survive). You can hear Sondheim himself sing the lines above on Sondheim Sings, Vol. 2.
L: “Rich and Happy” (Merrily We Roll Along)
Life is swinging,
Skies are blue and bells are ringing.
Every day I wake up singing,
“Look at me, I’m rich and happy!”
If you only know Merrily in its current form, you will nonetheless know the tune to which these lyrics are set, because it appears in the show’s overture. “Rich and Happy,” described by Sondheim as “a kid’s idea of a Hollywood party,” was replaced by “That Frank.” In our recent interview with Ann Morrison, who originated the role of Mary, she revealed that her own preference is for the earlier song.
M: “The Hills of Tomorrow” (Merrily We Roll Along)
May we come to trust
The dreams we must
Fulfill!
Merrily originally opened with “The Hills of Tomorrow,” a school song. In the original version of this show, we first meet Franklin Shepard at his high school, where he has returned to deliver a commencement address.
N: “Happily Ever After” (Company)
No one you have to know well,
No one you have to show how,
No one you have to allow
The things you’d never allow—
That’s happily ever after.
Ever, ever, ever after
For now!
This is one of the best-known cut Sondheim numbers: the final number of Company that would have seen Bobby resolve to remain alone, to embrace (or claim to embrace) a life of aimless hedonism. Again, you can hear this number in full as part of Marry Me A Little. It also features in Sondheim on Sondheim, which allows you to sample all three of Company’s potential endings (the others being “Multitudes of Amy” and “Being Alive”).
O: “Your Eyes Are Blue” (A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum)
Once upon a time,
It happened, there lived a boy
Who loved a girl.
Your eyes are blue...
This was written as a number for Philia and Hero. When the original actors playing these roles were fired during New Haven tryouts, all their songs were dropped, including this one. This number also features in Marry Me A Little, and there’s a lovely version available on Sondheim Unplugged, Vol. 1, too.
P: “It Wasn’t Meant to Happen” (Follies)
Pleasant dreams...
I’ll write...
It wasn't meant to happen.
In Follies, there was originally a scene in which Buddy “tries to soften Sally’s resolve to leave him by charming her into dancing with him,” as Sondheim describes it in Finishing the Hat. This exchange would have taken place in a dressing room, in which there was a pianola. Buddy’s number (also cut) was “That Old Piano Roll,” and Sally’s response was “It Wasn’t Meant to Happen.” Sondheim describes Sally in this number as “wistful, seductive,” and “drawing on his guilt.” This number also features in Marry Me A Little, and on Melissa Errico’s wonderful disc, Sondheim in the City.
Q: “Beggar Woman’s Lullaby” (Sweeney Todd)
Quickly to sleep then, my jo, my jing,
He’ll bring you a shoe and a wedding ring.
Sing here again, home again,
Come again spring.
Not strictly a cut song, but these are cut lyrics—and Q is a tricky letter to work with. The Beggar Woman was given a more extended moment in the spotlight during the final sequence of Sweeney Todd when the show first played in Sweeney’s hometown: this “Beggar Woman’s Lullaby” was added for the original London production.
R: “Have to Keep Them Humming” (Sunday in the Park with George)
Remember why you’re here, George.
You know now you’re a fraud, George.
So smile when they applaud, George.
Start mapping out the year, George.
The first version of “Putting It Together,” the one performed at Playwrights Horizons, was markedly less extended affair than what we know today. It was originally a solo song for George called “Have to Keep Them Humming,” which did not incorporate any action. You will recognize the shape of these lines, if not the specific words, from the final version.
S: “Uptown/Downtown” (Follies)
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 mitts
Down in Fitz-
Roy’s Bar,
She thinks of the Ritz—oh,
It’s so
Schizo.
A lyric that deserves to be savored every time you come across it. “Uptown/Downtown” was the first song Sondheim wrote as Phyllis’s “Follies” number—replaced by “The Story of Lucy and Jessie.” You can listen to this number as part of Marry Me A Little, and there are fantastic versions sung by Mandy Patinkin and Melissa Errico as well.
T: “Flag Song” (Assassins)
There’s this thing you can’t deny,
This idea:
That it’s fixable tomorrow,
We’ve a chance,
There’s a choice.
We can change ourselves tomorrow,
We’re in charge,
We’ve a voice,
An idea about tomorrow
To remember
When the flag has gone by.
This powerful meditation on American idealism was cut from Assassins during its development. Sondheim, in an exceedingly rare move (he did this only twice in his career), reused the music for this number in Road Show. It became “It’s in Your Hands Now.” There’s a great recording of “Flag Song” available as part of Sondheim Unplugged, Vol. 3, performed by Claybourne Elder.
U: “Uptown/Downtown” (Follies)
Uptown, it’s Harry Winston she needs.
Downtown, it’s strictly zircons and beads.
Ask her, should she be Uptown or Down?
She’s two of the most miserable girls in town.
Another section of the cut number referenced earlier, these lyrics further develop the theme of social duality and a character’s split identity—a major theme in Follies that is richly explored elsewhere in the show.
V: “Silly People” (A Little Night Music)
Voices glide by, let them pass.
Let them float in their words
Till they slowly drown.
Don’t they know, don’t they,
What they want?
Silly, silly people,
Patient and polite,
Crying in their teacups,
Shying from the night.
This was a number sung by Frid, a character that Sondheim conceded “the audience neither knew nor cared about.” This was one reason the number was cut during tryouts in Boston; the other was that, in Sondheim’s words, “it impeded the flow of the story.” It’s a beautiful song, though, and features as part of Marry Me A Little.
W: “Can That Boy Foxtrot!” (Follies)
What makes him look reptilian is the brilliantine.
But oh, can that boy fff—oxtrot!
Brilliantine, a scented oily liquid used on men’s hair to make it look glossy, has another conspicuous appearance in the musical theatre canon. In Hello, Dolly!, “Put On Your Sunday Clothes” features the line, “Get out the brilliantine and dime cigars.” It is clear that Carlotta (who sings this number) did not share Cornelius Hackl’s enthusiasm for the stuff.
Y: “There Won’t Be Trumpets” (Anyone Can Whistle)
You won’t need trumpets!
There are no trumpets!
Who needs trumpets?
“There Won’t Be Trumpets” is an interesting case, because it was cut from the original production of Anyone Can Whistle, but nonetheless features on that show’s original cast album. Not only that, but the number has regularly been performed as part of the show since that ill-fated original production, and is now reinstated in the officially licensed script and score.
You might have noticed that we don’t have entries for the letters X or Z (sticking strictly to the rule that each letter must begin a line of text). If anyone has an epiphany about either of these letters, suggestions are warmly welcomed below…
🚨 ALSO: Next month, we will be publishing another “They Are Your Words” community piece, featuring your reflections on particular aspects of Sondheim’s work. This time, we’re asking: what lesser-known lyric or song deserves more recognition, and why? To take part, please email your recommendation & a brief explanation to thesondheimhub@gmail.com.
If you find The Sondheim Hub valuable, consider a one-off $5 donation to support our work!