Hi-Ho The Lyrical Life

I was taking part in a class the other week and we were doing one of those "getting to know you" exercises. The particular exercise was that you had to name two truths and one lie about yourself and others in the class had to guess which was the lie. After pondering what I could possibly say which would be interesting and enlightening about myself I picked the following, stating in my best voice that they were all true: I can juggle, I failed Phys Ed in college, and I can tell you the lyrics of at least 25 musicals--all of the songs in that musical--all the lyrics.

The last of course, for anyone who knows me even a little is the truest of all truths I could tell about myself. I am not going to tell you the lie above...it's not relevant, really. Okay, I can't juggle. Well, I can juggle several tasks at once, but not the 3 different balls in air kind of thing. Anyway, why is it that I know so many lyrics? Why do musicals fascinate me so much? I know more musical music than any other kind of music, including the kind I grew up with (either rock and roll or 40's--take your pick, I grew up with both). I cannot read music. My hearing is such that I'm never really sure what I'm listening to when I hear a melody. But put the words to the melody and I can pick it up and run with the rest of the song, the rest of the story-line, the rest of the entire musical until the dramatic-usually happy-but not always-ending. I think it's because my singer of choice from an early age was Barbra Streisand and she always sang quirky things from musicals. Or the first entire score I memorized was Oklahoma from my uncle's albums stashed at my grandmother's house. The lyrics for me speak what I cannot say. They tell universal human truths, sometimes while being witty, sometimes while being wise-ass, and sometimes so poetically you almost miss the point. I picked up a book about Sondheim lyrics the other day entitled, "Finishing The Hat." I felt so smug because I knew where that title came from and could, almost, but not quite finish the lyrics of that song. There are some musicals with which I cannot do my "magic finishing act" like Sunday in the Park With George. The lyrics are intense, scatter point and I haven't listened to them enough to commit to memory. But for the most part, I can do the lyrics and tell you a little of the back story. The problem with this "talent" if you will, is that nobody actually considers it a talent. And now that my children are grown, no one really cares that I can do this. There was a time when I had a captive, yet young audience in my children. This is definitely no longer the case.

And so I listen to my musicals on my iTunes, hum the songs when I catch a phrase someone throws out and even belt out a few verses when no one else is listening. I think I was meant to be on stage, or maybe I was in another life? Who know? Not me I'm sure. I'm just sitting here in my own little corner, all alone in my own little chair.