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:
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.