Over the past few months I have been reading quite a bit about different perspectives concerning writing musical theater lyrics. There is a large body of text out there on the subject as well as actual lyrics to be studied and dissected. One concept that is harped on over and over again is the idea of simplicity.
Perhaps it goes without saying, but theater lyrics exist within a show – they are heard once and often in quick rhythm. Therefore it is important not to overload the lyric with too many words or words that are difficult to understand when sung. In other words, keep it simple…stupid.
The first time I heard this I got pretty defensive.
“Musical lyrics aren’t simple. They are… good.. and stuff…” And then after my pride had subsided a little, I started to reflect on the idea. Think about this Cole Porter lyric:
And that’s why birds do it, bees do it,
even educated fleas do it.
Let’s do it, let’s fall in love.
It is pretty simple and beautiful, and amazing, and I wish I had written it…..But the reality I was reminded of is that genius is not making things complex and complicated.
“The definition of genius is taking the complex and making it simple.”
-Albert Einstein
Unlike poetry, lyrics stream by and you don’t have time to tear them apart and delve into the meaning. There are so many different aspects to theater lyrics, but one of the cornerstones seems to be finding simple ways to connect and communicate emotions in the human condition. Their beauty and depth come from their ability to convey conditions of the human condition with sparsity and grace.
I thought that this text was very insightful; it gave me a new perspective on the way I sing musical theatre songs now. A teacher once told me, that when I sing, don’t think about what action to do with the each word, just do what comes naturally through out the song. I never understood what she meant until now. Musical theatre lyrics all have a certain simplicity to it, and if it’s over done then people won’t get the message. All in all, what I took from reading this article was: keep the performance as simple as the lyrics.
I think this is shows how lyrics don’t have to be filled with huge vocabulary. Lyrics should come from your feelings, they should be passionate and have tons of feelings. It’s showing that you need to sing and write lyrics with your heart.
I like how in this article, they explain how something doesn’t had to be complicated, or filled with long words to be full of feeling or intelligence. Musical theater songs aren’t meant to be torn apart and studied word for word like a poem. The important part is that whatever feeling or story goes along with the song is portrayed to the audience.
We discussed something similar in AP World history. About how all simple things cam be complex and all complex things can be simple. Good lyrics in a song are Simple enough to sing and be understood but complex enough to convey emotion and character. (and then there is supercalifragilicious)
Very well put.
The thing about song lyrics is that you don’t have to use a bunch of complex vocabulary to get the message across to the audience! It’s all about perspective and how the singer or song writer perceives the story behind the song! The lyrics can be simplistic and beautiful to convey the audience of the emotions of the character/song! Sometimes less is more.
I like the thought. What about the loaded vocabulary of Stephen Sondheim?
I think this article tells you that songs dont have to be filled with huge vocabulary and be complicated to have emotion and a meaning. They can be simple and sweet so the audience can understand what you are saying and what you are feeling. This really helps people who right lyrics because sometimes they think that in order to get their point across they need to make it complicated.
This text explains that not all smart things have to seem like a genius wrote them. The most simple lyrics can be the perfect fit for the song you are performing. The goal is to get your message to the audience and using words that are too complex may confuse them. It is more important to clearly portray the meaning of the song and what your character is feeling at that moment in time. Keeping the lyrics basic and understandable can help with this. This text has shown me that genius doesn’t have to be hard and complex. Just comprehendible and simple.
To me this article is saying not to overthink when it comes to writing musical theater lyrics. Just get the point across. Yes the song has to tell a story but that does not mean we have to be big words that would impress people. The audience is not looking to closely at each word they are looking for the overall big picture.
I think that what makes a good musical theater song is the emotion the audience feels when hearing it. If the musical has a happy theme then the song should be happy or comedic. If the song matches the theme of the musical and the script than it is a good musical theater song. The song doesn’t have to be a complex song for it to create complex feelings. For example, the song “Maybe” from the musical Annie is an emotional song that has a very basic use of words. Also a song can be emotional and complex but still a great musical theater song. For example, the song “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” is an emotional song from the Lion King. This song is also very complex.
I believe that there is a wide variety of people who enjoy musical theatre, and that different people soak up different levels of vocabulary and different levels of wit. I think that good lyrics in a musical are simple enough so that a vast majority can understand, but they should not lack meaning or cleverness. There is a lot that can be done with little words, but if not enough is done they become boring for those who process on a higher level.
good thought
I can really agree with what is stated here. To further your point, Conley, about how lyrics should be simple, they are there to do the story telling as well as move the plot along. To emphasize this, the tone of the music also conveys the mood, making the song have a point or purpose for the musical. I enjoy the article because of it’s nod to the purpose for lyrics.
I think what this article is trying to tell us, is that musical theater lyrics can really be anything. You don’t have to be a genius with an amazing vocabulary to write one song for a show. In fact, it’s probably better to keep things simple so the audience can understand it easier in a quick way. If you use big words, from a big vocabulary, it probably won’t have as good of an effect on the audience. Because most songs are so quick, it’s important to keep the song simple so they actually understand the story line and don’t sit through the entire show trying to figure it out.
This article can’t be stated in a more simplistic way. There are many lyrics that are very simple, but are written in such a beautiful manner. Many people are capable to write lyrics, but what makes it difficult for them is when they over-analyze the writing. The lyrics can be sweet and simple, but can always have a more meaningful story behind them. And sometimes, not everyone is able to see the truth and emotion behind it.
I found this article cool because recently in one of my other classes, we were speaking on the authenticity of real writing. Authors or lyricists should write what makes sense and gets their point across, when they start making it more complex, it loses its appeal. I liked this because it showed that to truly explain what you’re feeling, you should explain it simply and relatably.
I think that especially now a days people don’t see the beauty in simplicity, and I like how this article highlights that. I think it is important to know that making something more complicated to understand doesn’t mean there was any more emotion put into it. I think that simplifying the emotion down to its core, and writing like that, shows that you have more of an understanding and deeper connection to it.
I think the article is trying to get the idea across that sometimes less is more. We don’t always have to use big words and a large vocabulary to get the message across. Like the writer of this article said, lyrics just stream by and we usually don’t have time to delve into them unlike writing pieces or poems. When it’s simple in meaning when you first hear a song it makes it seem more relateable and may even cause you to like a song more. Sometimes being simple is better than being complex.
Musical theater lyrics are simple and complicated at the same time. the example that the writer gave is by Cole Porter: “And that’s why birds do it, bees do it,even educated fleas do it.Let’s do it, let’s fall in love.” This lyric had to have thought in to it but they made it sound easy. If this lyric was truly “simple” than it would not flow so gracefully. I think that the key to writing musical theater lyrics is making them sound easy.
I like the idea of both complexity and simplicity existing paradoxically at the same time.
I feel this passage is trying to tell us that lyrics don’t have to be complex but simple, short, and sweet. If you listen to most songs these days there aren’t a lot of big words but short line that are easy to get in your head and understand. In the musical lyrics above there are only three lines but they get the point across any way. musical lyrics should be simple.
Well, I think that while this article does gift us with the idea that ‘simplicity’ allows us to, for ourselves, decide what moral code, a certain song is trying to convey- I think that it also tells us that when we as actors decide to work on a piece, we begin by drilling ourselves with pitches and breath marks and I think that maybe, we should give a little more time to what the song is trying to tell us. Characters are so interesting because I like to believe that every one of them comes to existence because of the creator’s belief in a certain concept, and I think one of the main channels of communication for the character and the audience is defiantly song. So next time I pick up sheet of music, I think I might give the lyrics a little more attention than the notes, at first anyway, because simply knowing what a song is trying to say can change it’s entire meaning to yourself and the audience.
Musical theatre lyrics must be both complicated and simple. They must be complicated so that there is a depth of character in the words but they also have to be simple so that people can understand them. I think that taking this into consideration shows why all musical theatre songs don’t need to have complicated words and a huge vocabulary. As long as the lyricist has done his job of portraying a character and a story through the lyrics then the lyrics can be very simple.
This article to me explains a lot. It shows how even the simplest of thoughts can mean the most extraordinary things. When we get the sheet music for songs we just gaze over the words to memorize then and we don’t take time to understand them and try to connect with them so our performance is more believable. When we get sheet music we should act as though we are the person and put ourselves in their shoes. Yes, lyrics need to be simple but if you delve deep enough into and study the lyrics you truly see how amazing and complex they are.
I really liked this article. It showed me that music doesn’t have to be complex at all, it just has to be meaningful enough for it to stick in your mind. Musical theatre lyrics just have to be complex enough to portray the character perfectly. The lyrics can’t be too confusing or else the audience won’t get it. They just need to be short simple and exact with no extra fluff covering it.
Reading this article, it made me think a lot about what makes us connect and feel attached to a Theater song. After reading, I agree in that sometimes simple is better… however, connecting it to our emotions in a way we didn’t think possible is even more important. I feel this way because if we feel an emotional pull towards a song, that’s what makes the song amazing. And I realized that in order to make us feel attached, we need to be able to understand the lyrics and what they are trying to tell us… therefore, the theater song needs to be ‘simple’ and smooth-flowing, yet interesting enough to connect.
Basically, what this text meant to me is that a song should be simple and that when it’s sung and when it’s listened to, people should just be able to listen and understand fast and easy and not have to think back to the lyrics and say, “What does that mean or what on earth did they just say?” So in conclusion the article means to me that musical theater lyrics don’t need to be full on poetry, just something sweet and simple that has a meaning and is easy to understand.
I really enjoyed this article, it made me think about other songs from musicals that i love and how simple they really are. In the article it talks about how the lyrics are simple, and i think that if they weren’t simple the people listening to the song would be confused and wouldn’t know whats going on. so i realized that even though they are simple they still have a meaning.
This article speaks volumes to any artist. Many times we over-think every little thought looking for a deeper meaning when all the while it could be staring us in the face. Breaking a song down for acting purposes helps here because majority of the time we get wrapped up in the music, but lose sight of what the song is really about, THE LYRICS.
How this article spoke to me was that although the music can be quite beautiful and really catch the singer and audiences ear, if the singer were to actually practice and read the lyrics carefully they could connect with the audience and make the performance so much more exciting and really catch some a lot of attention from the audience.
I agree that musical lyrics (especially musical theatre) should be simple, because that doesn’t take away the meaning of the words or the emotional signal it sends to the audience. By reading this I now see that I don’t have to make my theatre songs so complicated when I sing them, I should just let the simplicity of the song come out, and the song will still be beautiful.
After reading this article and thinking about various musical lyrics in shows, I did realize that the majority of the lyrics are quite simple and easy to take in to understand the situation. I agree with what the article said about it not being like poetry, where one has time to analyze the lyrics and depict what the true meaning is, because there is only so much time during the song to take in the situation before the show moves on to the next number. In this way I think that making the lyrics simple also helps bring out the music in the piece to the audience and the lyrics or performer not being the only thing that stands out, because music can help convey an emotion too, which only effects the audience more.
I agree with the text that the lyrics don’t have to be very complex as long as the actor can convey the meaning in the song and give the overall message. As an actor/actress it’s out job to take the lyrics and turn them into something no matter what they say or how simple or complex the song is.
I agree with the article. lyrics most of the time have to be simple enough to understand yet be complex enough to be worth listening to. and as an actor I have to make the lyrics interesting to listen to improve the performance even farther .
I found this article interesting because it is saying that musical theater lyrics should be written much simpler. I believe that this is true because you don’t want the listener to have to think it over too much, you simply want them to enjoy it. If they are thinking about the lyrics too hard- and I admit that I do study lyrics too hard sometimes- they would not enjoy it as much as if the lyrics were simply and beautiful.
I really identify with this article. In order for the audience to truly be in the moment and believe what’s being performed on stage in their hearts, there must be a shared understanding of what is being said. Sondheim remains my favorite composer because of the brilliant way he uses the words and the music to guide the audience through the thought processes of the characters with room for interpretation while still ensuring that everyone comes to the same emotional and mental understanding. In Lesson #8 from Sunday in the Park with George, Sondheim blends third person speaking and vague dialogue with a clear overall message and manages to pull off a brilliant song that lets you see into the mind of this lonely artist. Although Sondheim’s lyrics may sometimes be laden with double meanings and require a little more thought, they can still be understood by the audience and they bring a beautiful sophistication to his pieces without laboring the audience down with a flurry of SAT words and obscure metaphors.
A complex song filled with large vocabulary doesn’t always clearly get the message across to the audience. A simple song can have just as much meaning. As long as you put some thought into it, feelings can be shown through simple context.
I think this article shows how simple but gracefull a song could be, i especially liked the part where you said “it is important not to overload the lyric with too many words… In other words keep it simple stupid.” The article also talked about how the song that you are singing/writing needs to be from the heart and not just filled with gibberish.
Sometimes in choral music I find It hard to relate, ad musicality, and portray a piece if I don’t have a full understanding of the lyrics. Often we have to translate, break down, and analyze the text. In this respect I agree whole heartedly that musical theater lyrics should be simple and to the point. In a medium where you have onl a couple minutes to divulge a plot it important to be able to quickly comprehend the emotions you need and be able to get the point out clearly to the audience.
Sorry for the typos edsby mobile doesn’t let you correct
I like the connection there.
I completely agree with the idea of musical songs having symple lyrics since it gives the audience the ability to quickly process them. Musical theater is entertainment, i fell if my mind in constantly trying to figure complex lyrics then I wouldn’t be as entertained as if I could just sit back and watch the performance
I agree with the article that a lot of musical theater music can have silly delivery of the message that the song is portraying,but when you look beyond the silliness of the song you can understand what it’s saying
As the performer, the attention to form could open up many approaches. Even a man as flawless as myself has made the mistake of not putting his full attention on the ‘structure’ of a peice. When that happens, you are really unable to reach the full potential of a peice. The perfect presentation of a peice would require a full/complete understanding of the ‘structure’ as well as getting all of the smaller details on point.
Lyrics have to be simple enough to understand, but they also have to mean something. You want to make sure a song is worth listening to, and you can do this by getting your point across quickly and simply. Take for example the song “Happy”, he is able to convey his message of being happy in a simple lyric, but this song also shows us about a deeper meaning as well. It tells us that we need to be strong no matter what life throws at us. The lyrics might be simple, but it is still able to convey a message with a catchy tune and simple lyrics.
This makes a lot of sence to me. When people read the direct lyrics of a song all they see is words. Simple words that make sence but have rarely any exquisite vocabulary. When writing a song i feel that the listener most of the time shouldn’t overwhelmed with highly intellectual words, as if your writing an insightful response to an article your amazing teacher writes. What makes up for the missing lack of high vocabulary is the composed music itself. When writing a song your wringing lyrics to a song,not poetry.
Lyrics mean a lot more then we really think. They all have a meaning that you have to figure out by listening very closely to the meaning in them