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god - stephen sondheim lyrics

[stephen sondheim, spoken]
this is my studio. i work lying down, for obvious reasons: it allows you to take a nap whenever you want to. and i also use very soft lead pencils, they’re called blackwings, and it means that they wear out very quickly, so you spend a lot of time…

(pencil sharpener whirs.)

…sharpening. these pencils are very hard to find

[company]
god!
i mean the man’s a god!
wrote the score to sweeney todd
with a nod
to de sade
well, he’s odd
well, he’s god

[sondheim, spoken]
i write on yellow pads. i prefer the kind that have exactly 32 lines on them, because it means that you can make alternate choices of words in between two lines. if there are too many lines, there isn’t enough sp-ce

[company]
smart!

[sondheim, spoken]
if there are too few lines, there’s too much sp-ce

[company]
the lyrics are so smart
and the music has such heart
it has heart
well, in part–
let’s not start
call it art
no, call it god

[sondheim, spoken]
i do use a computer to write on occasionally, but mostly to transcribe lyrics. and to make things look professional

[company]
well, you have to have something to believe in
something you can celebrate
elevate
venerate
something like venetian pottery
old movies
b-tterflies
politics
wine
pic-sso
skiing
stamps
musicals!
it might as well be musicals!
and when it comes to musicals…

(spoken)
i like the score of rent!

shh, later!

me too!

not now

really, rent?

[sondheim, spoken]
the hardest thing about writing, for me, is getting started. it’s the first words on the yellow pad. you have to lose your inhibition so that you can afford to say something, perhaps corny or cliched. i use–i’ve often used, anyway–alcohol to help me lose the inhibitions. i sip out of a, out of a shot gl-ss, because once you’re through an ounce and a half of liquor, if you want more, you have to get up and more

[company]
nice smile
sweet face
real style
such grace

that wit
that’s it

(sondheim knocks over a gl-ss.)

[sondheim, spoken]
oh, sh-t

[company]
and does he know how to rhyme?
sublime
he’ll surprise you every time

you never know just where the chords are going next
just like the lyrics–no, the text
you think the tune is going up it’s going down
you think the tune is going on it stops
it doesn’t finish it just stops

(spoken)
you know what i like best? his flops

(sung)
anyone can whistle, that’s what they say

(spoken)
later

(sung)
still you have to have something to believe in
some things you appropriate
emulate
overrate
might as well be stephen

[sondheim, spoken]
and this box contains my fingernail clippings. i’m thinking of sending them to the smithsonian

[company]
or, to use his nickname, god
we’ve got god
look who’s god
he’s still–

(spoken)
turn him off and let’s just sing the d-mn songs

amen!

- stephen sondheim lyrics

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