The song is sort of a takeoff on "Twin Soliloquies" from Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific, except instead of soliloquizing, the two leads actually sing their thoughts directly to each other -- uneasily trying to find some common ground between their different worldviews: she's a fake-cynical American who's afraid to give an inch emotionally; he's a Latin Lover who wants her to kick back and have fun with him. The lyrics are a beautiful distillation of character, with the differences between the characters perfectly summed up while also hinting that they're drawing closer together. (One device used to hint at this involves having them sing the same lines, but in a different order: "I am thinking, this is very awkward"; "This is very awkward, I am thinking.") And like many good musical theatre songs, it's not static: the characters are in a different situation when the song ends than they were when it began.
The music uses an interesting device, which obviously I can't really reproduce here, of inserting long pauses between various sections: every time Leona responds to something Di Rossi says, or vice versa, there's a long, awkward pause before someone tries to start up the conversation again.
Refrain 1
DI ROSSI
I was thinking,
All of that Puccini
Going to waste.
LEONA
I was thinking,
Coffee and Puccini
Isn't my taste.
DI ROSSI
I keep thinking,
Such a fine beginning,
Such a lovely evening we could spend.
LEONA
Such a fine beginning,
I keep thinking
More about the end.
I was thinking,
Wonder what he's thinking?
Not what he should.
DI ROSSI
I was thinking,
All this heavy thinking,
This is not good.
But think of coffee cups clinking
To a duet,
We could sit drinking,
See the sun set.
What are you thinking?
LEONA
I was just thinking,
What you are thinking, forget!
Refrain 2
LEONA
I was thinking,
Tête-à-têtes for two
So often fall flat.
DI ROSSI
I was thinking,
Tête-à-têtes for one
Are flatter than that.
I am thinking,
This is very awkward,
Frankly, you prefer that I should go?
LEONA
This is very awkward,
I am thinking,
Very frankly, no!
I was thinking,
Why is it I I get
So easily hurt?
DI ROSSI
I was thinking,
Has she noticed yet
The spot on my shirt?
But think of two of us linking
Arms in the square,
Sit as stars, winking,
Fill the night air.
What are you thinking?
LEONA
I was just thinking,
What am I going to wear?
Coda
DI ROSSI
And as the sun begins sinking,
Night starts to fall.
LEONA
Stars appear blinking,
Gondoliers call.
BOTH
What am I thinking?
I should be thinking
Not what I'm thinking at all!
1 comment:
I admit that I have no affinity for Stephen Sondheim; the thoughts and feelings of his characters are alien to me. But this lyric (the music I don't know) is formally pleasing and hasn't a syllable out of place, as far as I can tell.
Reading it in cold blood, I'd say that the "spot on the shirt" bit is a rather glaring seam, and that, on the whole, I prefer the 5:00 o'clock trio from "How to Succeed in Business." De gustibus, I daresay.
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