“The Street Where You Live” – My
Fair Lady
I usually try not to pick outright
favorites in my top ten lists, but to be perfectly honest, My Fair Lady is unquestionably my favorite musical. The whole film
is snappy and clever, and the music is phenomenal. There are so many great
songs to choose from: “Get Me to the Church on Time” is a hilarious song about
impending marriage, and it’s got lyrics like “girls, come and kiss me/show how
you’ll miss me/but get me to the church on time!” However, my favorite song
from My Fair Lady has to be “The
Street Where You Live.” It’s a sweet little song about a man who is smitten
with Eliza Doolittle, though she refuses to see him. He sings about even though
she is not with him, he is happy just knowing that she is near. I’m not big on
love songs, but this is just adorable: “people stop and stare; they don’t
bother me/for there’s nowhere else on earth that I would rather be/let the time
go by; I don’t care if I/can be here on the street where you live.”
“Hot Patootie” – The Rocky Horror
Picture Show
There’s so much to love about The Rocky Horror. The costumes (fishnets and
stilettos, mostly) and the cast fit so perfectly, and the audience
participation is hysterical! Every Halloween, I do my
best to make it to the midnight showing; who can resist a movie where they
actually encourage you to throw toast when a character proposes a toast? Choosing
my favorite song from this movie was incredibly difficult; “Dammit Janet” is
fantastic, and who doesn’t love dancing along with “The Time Warp”? But just
because I have a soft spot for Meatloaf, “Hot Patootie” remains my favorite
song. Plus, he plays a mean tenor sax and rides around a laboratory on his
motorcycle.
“Edelweiss” – The Sound of Music
The Sound of Music was the first musical I ever saw, and I’m sure
it was thanks to my Grandma Lorraine. I watched it countless times over summer
days spent at my grandparents’ house in Brookings, and I was just enthralled.
As I got older, my tastes in musicals expanded, but I’ve never forgotten the
one that started it all. “Edelweiss” is probably not the first song you think
of when you think of this movie, but it’s my favorite. It is the national
anthem of Austria, and it’s poignantly sung by a proud Austrian (Captain Von Trapp)
who is about to be forced to leave his beloved homeland.
“It Sucks to Be Me” – Avenue Q
“What do you do with a BA in
English?” asks the first line of this song. As a holder of a BA in English,
I’ve found myself asking the very same question. Avenue Q is about a recent college graduate trying to find his
place in the world. As a rather recent college graduate myself, I feel his
pain. “It Sucks to Be Me” addresses the abrupt switch from the optimism of
college (“somehow I can’t shake/the feeling I might make/a difference to the
human race”) to the cruel reality of life after graduation (“I can’t pay the
bills yet/cause I have no skills yet”). Don’t worry, though: it’s got a happy
ending! That means there’s hope for the rest of us, right?
“Good Morning Baltimore” – Hairspray
In case it wasn’t clear from Rocky Horror, I should mention that I
enjoy a good drag queen. Divine was fantastic in the original Hairspray, and John Travolta was even
ok. Hairspray is about how being
different is just fine, as Tracy Turnblad will gladly tell you. “Good Morning Baltimore” contains Tracy’s never-ending optimism, even when the “rats on the
street/all dance around [her] feet.” I’ve never been to Baltimore, but I’d like
to think that its citizens begin their days by singing this song.
“Singin’ in the Rain” – Singin’
in the Rain
Even if you’ve never seen the
movie, you’ve almost certainly heard the song. The song is sung by a man who
has just fallen in love, and even the pouring rain can’t dampen his spirits. The
movie is from 1952, and it’s really quite funny. Singin’ in the Rain is set in the 1920s, just before the dawn of
the talking movie. It focuses on a group of silent actors and the zany (yes,
zany) ways they make the transition from silent movies into “talkies.”
“Defying Gravity” – Wicked
This is pretty pathetic, but the
first time I heard this song was on Glee,
back when Glee was still good.
Last summer, I finally saw a live production of Wicked in Minneapolis with my mom, and it was outstanding. The sets
were stunning, and the voices on the performers probably could shake buildings.
“Defying Gravity” is, as the title might suggest, accomplishing the impossible.
Wicked is the story of the Wicked
Witch of the West as told from her point of view, and she’s got a lot of
gravity to defy.
“One Song Glory” – Rent
Honestly, I’m Rent-ed out. I (like most teenagers and young adults) was obsessed
with the soundtrack, and then obsessed with the movie. I listened to the whole
rock-opera soundtrack SO many times when I would drive back and forth from
college, and I watched the movie SO many times. I did finally see the play two
years ago in Denver, and it was great. Since then, though, I’ve been more or
less Rent-free. I’m sure I overdosed;
it was way too much of a good thing. “One Song Glory,” though, was always my
favorite song. It’s about a more-or-less washed-up rock star who is questioning
his mortality, and he desperately wants to leave behind something for people to
remember him by. It’s a sad thought, but no one ever called Rent a feel-good story.
“I’ve Got a Golden Ticket” – Willy
Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
I covered this movie already in my
childhood movies article, and I also mentioned how much I love this song. It’s
so happy and cheerful, and Grandpa Joe can magically walk again because of a
golden ticket to a chocolate factory. According to Grandpa Joe, that golden
ticket doesn’t just allow them into the factory, but oh so much more: “suddenly
half the world is mine/what an amazing thing!”
“Pretty Women” – Sweeney Todd:
The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
I had never heard of this musical
until my mom took me to it when I was a young highschooler. The production was
at a nearby college, and my very own cousin played the role of Antony Hope. We
went to see him, of course, but I just loved the play. I had never seen a
musical that dark, and I have yet to see one that quite compares. It’s about a
barber who was wrongly imprisoned many years ago, and he returns to seek his
revenge on the corrupt judge who ruined his life. “Pretty Women” is a duet that
Sweeney Todd sings while shaving the judge’s face with a straight-edge razor – the
judge does not recognize that Sweeney Todd is the man he wronged so many years
ago. Sweeney Todd just plays with the judge, and “Pretty Women” just builds and
builds suspense – you don’t know when Sweeney Todd is going to make his move,
but you’re completely on edge while waiting for it. Also: super catchy.
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So there you have it: my top ten
songs from my top ten musicals. I skipped the musicals where I loved the music
but didn’t love the rest of if (West Side
Story, Tommy, Mamma Mia!) and the films that involve plenty of singing, but
usually aren’t categorized as musicals (The
Muppet Movie, This Is Spinal Tap). I was left with the best of the best, in
my humble opinion. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to figure out how to get
all of these songs out of my head.
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