Thanks to James Kaufman, Jenny Costuros, and Sherman Chen for help on compiling this list!
Aspects, more twisted than we thought?
Here's an interesting observation from my friend Jenny Costuros:
Recall the one-night fling between Rose and Alex, after Alex found her to be living with George. At this point, George was roughly 65 years old. Jenny was born that year, roughly nine months later. Do the math. =)
Strange, possibly random coincidence department..
How cynical is Love Changes Everything?
Others who sing Love Changes Everything..
Love changes lyrics, too..
Hands and faces, earth and sky
Was changes in recent productions to:
Each beginning, each goodbye
Why? I don't know.. I liked the original way better. Also, the line:
Love can make the summer fly
apparently comes from Shakespeare. Anyone with information or
confirmation of this is encouraged to write me.
Other lyrical changes..
Some interesting information about "Chanson d'enfance"..
The Original London Cast of Aspects features a french version of
Chanson. The words are as follows:
Being the fine English literature scholar I am, *subtle laughter*, I noticed that poet Rupert Brooke bears an uncanny physical
resemblence to Michael Ball. It doesn't stop there, however.
Love Changes everything was originally staged in a train station set in a time after Alex
and Rose had parted in the end of the musical. Recent touring productions of the show have a
casket containing the dead body of George with the funeral happening in the background, adding a
rather cynical shade to the song.
The line in "Love Changes Everything":
Or a night seem like a lifetime
The pre-performance version of Aspects had many differences in the
lyrics. One notable change came at the end of Act One. Where the current
part begins "News, takes time to reach us here," the original lyrics
were:
I was shocked to hear the news
Congratulations, I grant you well
I still can't forgive myself
For what I did to you
When my little cousin's born,
I hope you let me see him
Newer versions of Aspects, notably the American touring version, have an added part after the train scene, where Rose has just left Alex. To the tune of "Chanson d'Enfance", she laments,
Why does my head say: be strong, be wise,
Walk away, dry your eyes?
Why does my heart say: you told a lie.
He will haunt you, Rose,
Until the day you...
Thanks, Jenny! :-)
Originally, Chanson d'enfance was in english:
Nothing's as hard as what I must do
Leaving here, leaving you.
Nothing's as deep as the pain I'll know
Taking one last look before I turn to go.
Song of my childhood
You call me back to these hills
What could be sweeter?
Nothing is sweeter.
The English part was not originally sung by Rose, but instead by a passing shepherd boy walking through the Pyreness.
"Pas de tendresse
et pas de joie,
Loin d'ici,
Loin de toi.
Rien de plus triste
Que mes soupirs.
Lorsque vient le jour
Ou il me faut partir.
Chanson d'enfance,
Tu vis toujours dans mon coeur.
Toi, la plus douce!
Toi, la plus tendre!"
A translation to English, thanks to Lauren...
no tenderness
no joy
far from here
far from you
nothing is sadder
than my sighs
when, come the day
where i must leave him
song of my childhood
you live every day in my heart
you, the most sweet
you, the most tender