"I Am There" - William Finn

[VonTussleGirl]

Posted: 3/26/06 at 6:51pm

Anyone know what show this song was cut from? I just saw a clip of Donna Lynne Champlin performing it at some event and it's a lovely song, but what show was it originally in? Any help at all would be great. Thanks.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 3/26/06 at 6:52pm

It's not a cut song. It's from the show Elegies.

[magic8ball]

Posted: 3/26/06 at 6:53pm

The song is called "Anytime", and it is from Finn's song cycle Elegies. I agree that it's fabulous. You should hear Carolee Carmello's version.

[keatonbynumbers]

Posted: 3/26/06 at 6:54pm

I don't know that it was actually "cut" from anything, but the song --which is called "Anytime (I Am There)"--is featured on Finn's "Elegies: A Song Cycle" and the "Infinite Joy" album...

I thought it was strange that it was sang at Cutz because I always assumed he wrote it for Elegies and it wasn't cut...

[VonTussleGirl]

Posted: 3/26/06 at 6:56pm

Oh, thanks! Agreed, that's odd.

Ooh, Carolee's version would be fab.

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 3/26/06 at 6:57pm

It was actually cut from A NEW BRAIN, because they felt it caused the show to dramatically peak too early.

[mrkringas]

Posted: 3/26/06 at 6:57pm

It was cut from A New Brain. It caused the emotional ark to peak to early or something along those lines. Norm Lewis performs it like the god he is on Infintite Joy.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 3/26/06 at 7:00pm

WHat character did it belong to in A New Brain?

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 3/26/06 at 7:01pm

Gordon

[bare_nakedlady]

Posted: 3/26/06 at 7:07pm

Wasn't this the song he wrote about his mom??

I remember there is one song on INFINITE JOY that he says was about his mom. I thought this was it, but I've been wrong before. If anyone knows please correct me.

[apdarcey]

Posted: 3/26/06 at 7:14pm

the song he wrote about his mom was "when the world stopped turning." also "14 dwight ave, natick, massachusetts," but that's only on elegies, not infinite joy.


as said, anytime was cut from a new brain. unfortunately i have to correct my dear mef as the song was written for roger, not gordon.

definitely though the sheet music for this baby needs to be published.

[mrkringas]

Posted: 3/26/06 at 7:19pm

It was def written for Rodger. Thats part of the reason Norm Lewis sang it having taken over the role.

I have the music if anyone wants to be nice to me and PM me

[jasonf]

Posted: 3/26/06 at 7:25pm

I'm a HUGE Norm Lewis fan, but I have to say I prefer Carolee's version of this song. I never would have thought I'd say that, but there it is.

[keatonbynumbers]

Posted: 3/26/06 at 8:06pm

Wow. It was cut from A New Brain? That is crazy. I love love love ANB and "Anytime" is easily my favorite William Finn song but I'm really glad it was cut because I cannot see it fitting in with the score at all. It might've worked, but I'm thinking about it and it seems like a really great decision to cut it.

And yes, I adore Norm Lewis but Carolee's version of this is the most beautiful, breathtaking song ever. I'll never get tired of it.

Oh wait! Actually. I've always thought that the beginnings of "Anytime" and "Time" (from ANB) sounded the same... and I thought that was just Bill Finn being repetitive. But now that I know they were initially a part of the same score, it all makes a lot more sense.

[aspiringguy715]

Posted: 3/26/06 at 8:07pm

I love Michael Arden's version.

It's beautiful.

[keatonbynumbers]

Posted: 3/26/06 at 8:11pm

Sorry this thread keeps blowing my mind, but:

Michael Arden has done this song? Where?! When?!

[kidmanboy]

Posted: 3/26/06 at 8:13pm

Although it is true Anytime was at one time put into A New Brain, the song was written as an elegy to be sung a friend's funeral. This back story is told in Elegies.

[LostLeander]

Posted: 3/26/06 at 8:22pm

You can actually hear the opening notes of "Anytime" in "Time" and a couple of other places.

The song is so unabashedly emotional and sappy (in the best sense of the word), so it doesn't quite fit into the sardonic, quirky score, but it is beautiful. I'm a bit tired of people singing it though.

Ah, well.

[apdarcey]

Posted: 3/26/06 at 9:14pm

yes, there are definite leitmotifs used in the piece, one of the reasons i think the score is so brilliant.

kidmanboy, are you sure that that story is true? i was always under the impression that it was a story because everyone had said it was created for a new brain.

[bjivie2]

Posted: 3/26/06 at 9:53pm

He reveals in the intro to "Anytime" in ELEGIES that it was written for a friend that passed away to be sung at her funeral. He then put it into A NEW BRAIN as one of Gordo's songs that were never finished/written. Then, as people have said, it was taken out because the show then peaked to early. (it still peaks too early, IMO, there needs to be less deneument) Great song, I love singing it.

[actormcfamous]

Posted: 3/26/06 at 11:48pm

I have this song in my "audition book" and did some character research on it back when I got it a few months ago.

I googled it, and every site I found said it was actually written for the mother of his godchildren... they were obviously vary close (she did choose him as the godfather for her kids) and she had always wanted him to write a song for her. She was diagnosed with some terminal disease, and so he wrote "Anytime" for her to sing to her kids.

[magic8ball]

Posted: 3/26/06 at 11:52pm

"Michael Arden has done this song? Where?! When?!"

He sang it at his concert at Opia.

Arden's version is actually not so good when you compare it with Lewis's or Carmello's.

Updated On: 3/26/06 at 11:52 PM

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 3/27/06 at 6:13am

The woman for whom "Anytime" was written for was named Monica Andres. If you read the liner notes to the cast album of ELEGIES, I think it explains the story fully, but the Cliff's Notes version is that Finn was the godfather of her children and when she was diagnosed with cancer, she asked him to write a song for her funeral.

The song "Monica and Mark" from ELEGIES was written to explain the writing of "Anytime". Listen to that and it will tell you the whole story.

[apdarcey]

Posted: 3/27/06 at 9:48am

i know all that about monica from the song, obviously. i just didn't know it was true. ha. sorry.

[bjivie2]

Posted: 3/27/06 at 12:31pm

All of the songs in Elegies are true, based on real people. They even have in the liner notes who allt he people are.