JASON DANIELEY - I MISS THE MUSIC

I MISS THE MUSIC

JASON DANIELEY

SONGWRITER: JOHN KANDER

COUNTRY: U.S.A.

THEATER: MUSICAL CURTAINS

ALBUM: CURTAINS

LABEL: ANGEL RECORDS

GENRE: plaintive ballad

YEAR: 2007

Near the end of Act One of the new Broadway musical Curtains — the show about theatre people trying to work out the kinks of a new musical while a cop seeks to solve a backstage murder — there comes what fans and cast members alike have been calling "the song."

Sung by Jason Danieley, who plays a Broadway composer, "I Miss the Music," a plaintive ballad, speaks of the character's creative and emotional frustration since losing his lyricist and wife, played by Karen Ziemba.

He sings:

I miss the music

I miss the song.

Since she's not with me

It comes out wrong.

It doesn't matter

How hard I try

I've lost the music.

I don't know why.

Not only does Curtains composer John Kander manage to explore character and plot in the number, he unknowingly paid tribute to his late, longtime lyricist Fred Ebb, who did not live to see Curtains come to commercial fruition at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre.

Cioffi (spoken):

You see what I'm saying? The song itself is kind of lackluster. It lacks ..

Chris:

Yes?

Cioffi:

Luster.

Chris:

I agree. We need a completely new composition, one that's catchier than pink eye. I'll leave you to it.

Cioffi:

Well, at least now you'll have a few minutes alone with your piano.

Aaron:

Alone, yeah.

Cioffi:

Could I ask, only because I've wondered this my entire life--which would normally come first, the music or the lyric?

Aaron:

Same answer as the chicken or the egg.

Cioffi:

Ah, so it's the lyric.

Aaron:

No. It can start with a note. Which can become a phrase. And then you try hanging words off each branch, like trimming a

tree.

Cioffi:

Sounds easy enough.

Aaron:

Really? Well don't talk about Love

Or you'll have to say "fits like a glove"

Or "As certain as push comes to shove"

You will pine for the woman you're constantly thinking of

You see the problem.

Cioffi:

Dangling participle. So you suggest staying away from love?

Aaron:

At all costs. And don't mention your life

Or you'll have to say "cuts like a knife"

Or refer to the heartbreak and strife

When you find that you're missing your ...

Cioffi:

Missing?

Aaron:

What?

Cioffi:

You were saying what you miss.

Aaron:

No I meant that, well ...

(sung)I miss the music

I miss the song

Since she’s not with me

It comes out wrong

It doesn’t matter

How hard I try

I’ve lost the music

I don’t know why

You may have known

Before I met her

I wrote alone

But if you ask me

What I prefer

I’d say the music

I wrote with her

When you’re writing a song

And you’ve a partner

The room is filled with jokes and chatter

She says something

You say something

She writes a line

You play a vamp

But when you’re writing a song

Without a partner

That’s a completely different matter

No one tells you

That’s not funny

No one says

Let’s cut that bar

No one makes you better than you are

I can’t pretend

I miss the music

I miss my friend

No need to ask me

What I prefer

I choose the music

I wrote with her

I liked the music

I made with

Georgia (spoken):

Aaron, I forgot my lyric. Can you believe it? Me.

Aaron:

Well youre not the lyricist now, youre the star.

Georgia? Break a leg.

Georgia:

Thanks. You can finish the song without me?

Aaron:

Im a one-man band.

(sung)

I miss the music

I miss my friend

No need to ask me

What I prefer

I choose the music

I wrote with her

I loved the music

I made with her.