Burr's own "Wait For It" is also an extraordinary song. I love how it just stops - the words, the music, everything - making the audience wait it, wait for the crescendo. It's the sort of move that only a great artist would see and pull off, inevitable and perfect rather (or as well as) predictable and obvious.
I also love the repetition of the things that don't discriminate, but take and take and take - love, death, life - and squirming into the middle is Hamilton, who takes and takes and takes but (by omission of the "doesn't discriminate") just takes for himself, the personal thorn in Burr's side that he could maybe do something about rather than a vast, impersonal force that you can do nothing but wait for.
I see a lot of Sondheim influence in that song. He's also a master of repetition, using the same phrase in different contexts until it suddenly punches you in the gut.
One that immediately comes to mind is "The Ladies Who Lunch."
Here's to the… starting off each verse, with its variations getting darker and darker:
Here's to the ladies who lunch.
And the first line that's going to repeat with variations… but he's going to make you wait for it:
Everybody laugh. Lounging in their caftans and planning a brunch. On their own behalf.
Caft/behalf is one of those all-time genius rhymes. It's almost too clever, but that suits the character. She's always the smartest in the room, and it got her absolutely nowhere.
And then the next toast:
And here's to the girls who play smart- Aren't they a gas?
This time, no command to everybody, though the audience might be waiting for it; the first verse set up an expectation that it would be repeated. But it isn't.
Third toast:
And here's to the girls who play wife- Aren't they too much?
Again, no "everybody." I think at this point the audience decides that's not going to repeat and forgets about it.
Fourth toast, the most bitter:
And here's to the girls who just watch- Aren't they the best? When they get depressed It's a bottle of scotch, Plus a little jest.
Final toast:
So here's to the girls on the go- Everybody tries.
And the "everybody" is repeating at last, just so it can do this:
Look into their eyes and you'll see what they know. Everybody dies.
There's the huge, unstoppable forces beneath all the trendy, surface-y things the ladies are clutching, trying to hide behind, trying to cover their eyes with. And it concludes:
A toast to that invincible bunch. The dinosaur surviving the crunch. Let's hear it for the ladies who lunch- Everybody rise! Rise! Rise! Rise! Rise! Rise! Rise! Rise! Rise! Rise!
…I need a Hamilton icon. I already have lots of Sondheim icons. Anyone want to make me an icon of "I wrote my way out?"
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Date: 2016-02-08 03:23 am (UTC)I also love the repetition of the things that don't discriminate, but take and take and take - love, death, life - and squirming into the middle is Hamilton, who takes and takes and takes but (by omission of the "doesn't discriminate") just takes for himself, the personal thorn in Burr's side that he could maybe do something about rather than a vast, impersonal force that you can do nothing but wait for.
I see a lot of Sondheim influence in that song. He's also a master of repetition, using the same phrase in different contexts until it suddenly punches you in the gut.
One that immediately comes to mind is "The Ladies Who Lunch."
Here's to the… starting off each verse, with its variations getting darker and darker:
Here's to the ladies who lunch.
And the first line that's going to repeat with variations… but he's going to make you wait for it:
Everybody laugh.
Lounging in their caftans and planning a brunch.
On their own behalf.
Caft/behalf is one of those all-time genius rhymes. It's almost too clever, but that suits the character. She's always the smartest in the room, and it got her absolutely nowhere.
And then the next toast:
And here's to the girls who play smart-
Aren't they a gas?
This time, no command to everybody, though the audience might be waiting for it; the first verse set up an expectation that it would be repeated. But it isn't.
Third toast:
And here's to the girls who play wife-
Aren't they too much?
Again, no "everybody." I think at this point the audience decides that's not going to repeat and forgets about it.
Fourth toast, the most bitter:
And here's to the girls who just watch-
Aren't they the best?
When they get depressed
It's a bottle of scotch,
Plus a little jest.
Final toast:
So here's to the girls on the go-
Everybody tries.
And the "everybody" is repeating at last, just so it can do this:
Look into their eyes and you'll see what they know.
Everybody dies.
There's the huge, unstoppable forces beneath all the trendy, surface-y things the ladies are clutching, trying to hide behind, trying to cover their eyes with. And it concludes:
A toast to that invincible bunch.
The dinosaur surviving the crunch.
Let's hear it for the ladies who lunch-
Everybody rise!
Rise!
Rise! Rise! Rise! Rise! Rise! Rise! Rise!
Rise!
…I need a Hamilton icon. I already have lots of Sondheim icons. Anyone want to make me an icon of "I wrote my way out?"