Broadway Songs with twist endings
Broadway Songs with twist endings
daveinlaca
Swing Joined: 3/16/18
#1Broadway Songs with twist endings
Posted: 4/5/20 at 9:44am
Wondering if anyone can think of musical theatre songs that have twist endings in their lyrics. Where the meaning of the words change as the song goes on or it becomes clear at the end that the character was singing about something or someone else. A few examples that come to mind are “Someone Else’s Story” from Chess and “If You Could See Her” from Cabaret. Even the ending of the song “I’ll be Here” from Ordinary Days, where the lyrics don’t change but the words “I’ll be here” take on a different context at the end. Thank you!
#2Broadway Songs with twist endings
Posted: 4/5/20 at 11:50am
While it isn’t a “twist,” the first thing that came to mind was Days and Days from Fun Home.
Helen sings, “don’t you come back here” and as an audience member, you think it is because she is disapproving of Allison’s homosexuality. There is a pause and she says “I didn’t raise you to give away your days like me.” What a heartbreaking, gorgeous moment.
#3Broadway Songs with twist endings
Posted: 4/5/20 at 12:01pm
What's the twist in "Someone Else's Story"?
amaklo
Stand-by Joined: 5/2/15
#5Broadway Songs with twist endings
Posted: 4/5/20 at 12:20pm“Could I Leave You” from Fillies! First time I heard it I thought she was going to say “yes!” but she doesn’t.
Alex Kulak2
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/11/16
#6Broadway Songs with twist endings
Posted: 4/5/20 at 12:30pm
I think there's a lot more mid-song twists, where the double entendre of a lyric is given away. Like "You and Me... but Mostly Me" from Book of Mormon or "We're Just Friends... With Benefits" from I Love You Because.
Withonelook2
Chorus Member Joined: 7/20/17
#7Broadway Songs with twist endings
Posted: 4/5/20 at 12:52pm
Ms Marmelstein from I Can Get It for You Wholsale
MollyJeanneMusic
Broadway Star Joined: 3/10/19
#8Broadway Songs with twist endings
Posted: 4/5/20 at 12:52pm
"All You Wanna Do" from Six came to mind - the words don't change that much, but the character's outlook about them sure does. Also, "You Don't Know - Reprise" from Next to Normal ends with the sudden realization about how much Dan and Diana are really sharing with each other.
"I think that when a movie says it was 'based on a true story,' oh, it happened - just with uglier people." - Peanut Walker, Shucked
GlenCoco
Stand-by Joined: 5/4/19
#9Broadway Songs with twist endings
Posted: 4/5/20 at 1:30pm
Me and the sky from come from away for sure
end tugs at your heart strings
#10Broadway Songs with twist endings
Posted: 4/5/20 at 2:11pm
Would “Popular” from WICKED count? Glinda builds up Elphaba’s confidence through the song but ends with “Just not quite as popular as me.”
superiska123
Understudy Joined: 12/21/17
#11Broadway Songs with twist endings
Posted: 4/5/20 at 4:40pm
PatrickDC said: "Would “Popular” from WICKED count? Glinda builds up Elphaba’s confidence through the song but ends with “Just not quite as popular as me.” "
This is interesting, because I always thought that was just a tongue-in-cheek line intended for the audience. I didn't consider it to have any meaning beyond that. But this is an interesting way to look at it, thanks for mentioning it!
#12Broadway Songs with twist endings
Posted: 4/5/20 at 4:52pmI feel like “Nothing” from Chorus Line is the prototype for this.
-There's the muddle in the middle. There's the puddle where the poodle did the piddle."
#13Broadway Songs with twist endings
Posted: 4/5/20 at 6:44pm
Brigadoon's "The Love of My Life" is very different from what the title would suggest.
"For Forever" in DEH takes on a different meaning once you find out what really happened with Evan and the tree.
chrishuyen
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/12/14
#14Broadway Songs with twist endings
Posted: 4/5/20 at 7:18pm
A recent one that comes to mind is "Why I Love Football" from Scotland, PA. "Nobody Needs to Know" from Last Five Years has a bit of a twist at the beginning since you assume he's talking to Cathy. "Simple" from Anyone Can Whistle" is just a bonkers song that has a number of twists and turns. "Gussie's Opening Number" also has a bit of a twist at the end that reveals the actual setting for that number.
ajh
Broadway Star Joined: 5/6/11
#15Broadway Songs with twist endings
Posted: 4/5/20 at 10:37pm
Technically an Off-Broadway song, but ‘Stars And The Moon’ from Jason Robert Brown’s SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD has a great, heartcatching twist. She sings throughout about all the trappings of an affluent, jet-setting life, only to come to the realisation that “my God, I’ll never have the moon.”
Gets me every time, but especially when it’s Audra.
another sloe eyed vamp
Stand-by Joined: 8/18/04
#16Broadway Songs with twist endings
Posted: 4/6/20 at 9:39am
Oklahoma, from Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. The twist is not entirely at the end; the whole song goes gradually in an unexpected direction, but the last line really makes it.
To some extent, Great Big Stuff has a twist right after the intro - you think it's going to be a lovely Robert Goulet-type ballad, and then it turns into a pretty vulgar rap.
Given the plot of the show, those make so much sense.
#17Broadway Songs with twist endings
Posted: 4/6/20 at 9:45am
You're all really going to skip a 13 minute song where a rough n tumble leading man sings about having a boy...only 11 minutes in does he realize it could be a girl....
#18Broadway Songs with twist endings
Posted: 4/6/20 at 10:12amGlenn Close modulating down in “With One Look.”
goodlead
Stand-by Joined: 3/30/18
#19Broadway Songs with twist endings
Posted: 4/6/20 at 12:08pm
"Chrysanthemum Tea" from "Pacific Overtures."
#20Broadway Songs with twist endings
Posted: 4/6/20 at 6:16pm
Off-broadway but "Starsong" from ONE WAY TICKET TO BROADWAY. A completely earnest song about wishing on a star, with these final lines:
"In this city on the clearest of nights
I search the skies in vain
cause no matter what you do
your wishes won't come true
when you wish upon.. a plane"
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