SWEENEY TODD lyric question

[morosco]

Posted: 10/27/20 at 7:48pm

LOVETT:
Lawyer's rather nice.
TODD:
If it's for a price.
LOVETT:
Order something else, though, to follow,
Since no one should swallow it twice!

Is the lyric "since no one should swallow it twice" a joke referring to lawyers? Could someone explain the joke? This is one I don't get.

[EthelMae]

Posted: 10/27/20 at 8:32pm

I saw the show 27 times and I always thought that lyric was, indeed, referring to lawyers and how one should never believe what a lawyer says once, much less twice. Other thoughts?

 

Updated On: 10/27/20 at 08:32 PM

[morosco]

Posted: 10/27/20 at 9:17pm

Thanks EthelMae.

I was just doing some research and found the phrase "hard pill to swallow" and one of the definitions from Cambridge Dictionary says "difficult to believe or accept". Perhaps the joke is that what a lawyer says can't always be believed and thus what they say cannot always be accepted? Updated On: 10/27/20 at 09:17 PM

[justoldbill]

Posted: 2/16/21 at 11:36am

This is why Sondheim says lyrics are not poetry.  It's a joke, to be appreciated, and let go of for the next one.

[¿Macavity?]

Posted: 2/17/21 at 8:54am

justoldbill said: "This is why Sondheim says lyrics are not poetry. It's a joke, to be appreciated, and let go of for the next one."

 

I don't think anyone was trying to deeply analyze the lyric as if it were poetry. I think they simply meant they don't get the joke, which is fair. I'm not sure I fully get it either.