The Schmuel Song
The Schmuel Song
#0The Schmuel Song
Posted: 4/26/05 at 2:53am
My wife and I both love this song, but we have very different ideas about what actually happens in the song. You can help us clear this up.
First, though, I should mention that I actually went to the trouble of using the search feature to make sure this hasn't come up before. All I could find were posts by people saying the song is waste of 6 minutes or asserting the opposite. That's not the point of this thread. We want to know what you think happens to Schmuel in the story.
One opinion (I won't say which is which) is that Schmuel goes back in time to the day before his wedding day. He gives his bride-to-be the dress he has made her and then mysteriously vanishes, back to the present day perhaps.
The other opinion is that Schmuel ages backward through the night he sews and returns to marry the girl all over again and share his life with her once more. Another variant of this is that Schmuel goes back in time, wins the heart of the girl that he lost as a young man, and then marries her.
What do YOU think happens to Schmuel?
manders
Stand-by Joined: 5/8/04
#1re: The Schmuel Song
Posted: 4/26/05 at 3:03amMy impression was that Schmuel feels old and alone and remembers a girl he loved from when he was young, so when he starts making her a dress he ages backwards (if that's the right term...) and marries her as a young man.
But the secret ingredient is love. Dammit.
Stand-by Joined: 12/31/69
#2re: The Schmuel Song
Posted: 4/26/05 at 3:10amhaha this thread is making me laugh, I have tried so hard to follow the lyrics. Ive never been successful. I dunno why! I love the song. It goes on and on a bit though. I saw a production, and the tempo was rediculously slow. I honestly wanted to shout out "DAMNIT WE GET IT! LET THE GIRL SING NOW!? JEEEEZ"
DTBG2
Featured Actor Joined: 3/15/05
#3re: The Schmuel Song
Posted: 4/26/05 at 3:19am
This song is awesome. it would be great if PIXAR took it and made a short film/music video of it. my thoughts..
Updated On: 4/26/05 at 03:19 AM
eslgr8
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/20/04
#4re: The Schmuel Song
Posted: 4/26/05 at 3:33amI like opinion #2! (I'll have to pay closer attention the next time I listen.)
#5re: The Schmuel Song
Posted: 4/26/05 at 4:45amI always thought that it was the last one - he'd spent all his life working away and never married, but then got the chance to turn back the clock (as he sews) and win the girl he lost as a young man the first time.
ashley0139
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/3/05
#6re: The Schmuel Song
Posted: 4/26/05 at 6:32amYou know, I never actually understood the song. It is actually the only song in the whole show I do not like. I don't know why. Maybe if I payed more attention, I would get it and like it. And now that I have been incredibly unhelpful...
"This table, he is over one hundred years old. If I could, I would take an old gramophone needle and run it along the surface of the wood. To hear the music of the voices. All that was said." - Doug Wright, I Am My Own Wife
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
#7re: The Schmuel Song
Posted: 4/26/05 at 11:44am
Schmuel is given the chance to live his life over again-- this time with a beautiful bride. I never picked up that the girl was someone he had a history with, but that makes it even sweeter. I think the point in the show is that you don't want to be old and unhappy that things never worked out. He's giving Cathy time to follow her dream.
It's one of two songs that, when watching Norbert perform them I couldn't help but think, "Funny, he doesn't look Jewish..."
GirlfriendFromCanada
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/7/03
#8re: The Schmuel Song
Posted: 4/26/05 at 12:03pmI always got the idea that Schmuel had had a chance when he was younger to court a young woman but for some reason was unable to, which is kind of hinted towards by the dress he always wanted to make, but didn't have time to attend to because he was so busy with the regular sewing. When he finally allows himself to go back in time, he goes back 41 years to give this woman the dress that he continued to dream of making all the way to the present. She then marries in Schmuel while wearing the dress he made for her. We know he marries the girl, that part is in the lyrics!
#9re: The Schmuel Song
Posted: 4/26/05 at 1:35pm
I just saw the show Saturay night, I'm giving a POSSIBLE SPOILER WARNING!!!
Don't say I didn't warn you...
OK, The Schmuel song is a story that Jamie is writing. As far as what the song is actually saying I'd say person #2 just about hits the nail on the head. However, the song has more meaning in the show. Cathy is ready to give up on her career and Jamie reads her the story to encourage her not to give up.
I'm editing to add: I don't think Schmuel was ever married to the girl he makes the dress for before that night.
maybe that helps?
Idina: Somehow I got myself to the stage, came out at the end of the show, and I had some kind of closure.
Some guy: You looked great!
Idina: Thanks...I WAS SO HIGH! 8/21/05
Updated On: 4/26/05 at 01:35 PM
Some guy: You looked great!
Idina: Thanks...I WAS SO HIGH! 8/21/05
Jamie Hat
Broadway Star Joined: 4/5/04
#11re: The Schmuel Song
Posted: 4/26/05 at 1:58pmAnd on "Take your time" (one of the last lines) Jamie gives her a watch as a present.
#12re: The Schmuel Song
Posted: 4/26/05 at 3:01pmright...and obviously a large theme of the show is time. cathy going backward and jamie going forward. so the schmuel song is just another example of jrb's brilliance as it relates to the rest of the show. and i agree with everybody who said opinion #2.
Be the change you wish to see in the world.
#13re: The Schmuel Song
Posted: 4/26/05 at 3:24pm
some great ideas here about the song. I feel very validated that pretty much all of you think it's the second option, which is what I think it means. I win the bet!
the one place we get hung up in discussing this is that the "promises forever more to love a young man named Schmuel, who only one day before had knocked at her kitchen door." So if he goes back in time to marry her, did he show up with this amazing dress, propose, and get married the next day?
#14re: The Schmuel Song
Posted: 4/26/05 at 4:33pm
I think so...
but the main point of the song was Jamie relating the story to Cathy...not the actual story of schmuel. If you're anywhere near NJ you should check out the production at the George Street Playhouse, it was very well done and both Colin and Sara were great!
Idina: Somehow I got myself to the stage, came out at the end of the show, and I had some kind of closure.
Some guy: You looked great!
Idina: Thanks...I WAS SO HIGH! 8/21/05
Some guy: You looked great!
Idina: Thanks...I WAS SO HIGH! 8/21/05
#15re: The Schmuel Song
Posted: 4/26/05 at 5:58pmthats my hebrew name...
"Picture "The View," with the wisecracking, sympathetic sweethearts of that ABC television show replaced by a panel of embittered, suffering or enraged Arab women" -the Times review of Black Eyed
Yankeefan007
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/20/04
manders
Stand-by Joined: 5/8/04
#17re: The Schmuel Song
Posted: 4/26/05 at 6:04pmThe Last 5 Years
But the secret ingredient is love. Dammit.
Sporti2005
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/13/04
#18re: The Schmuel Song
Posted: 4/26/05 at 6:46pm
i love it, it's so cute!! i think #2 makes sense, aww i love this show. i just saw norbert and sherie in DRS, and they have such an adorable chemistry on stage, it rocks!!
i love at the end, when jamie gets kind of quiet and says "have i mentioned today how lucky i am to be in love with you." you would just never expect the song to go there if you listened to the beginning....awwww. :)
"grace, you're stuffed in a box getting rid of ass plaque. let's face it, this evening is a bust."
#19re: The Schmuel Song
Posted: 4/26/05 at 11:23pmthat sweet ending is a big part of the reason my wife and I end up listening to it in the car so often, and then being us, we can't just listen without debating little points like what happens to Schmuel...
