telling lyrics

People who know me know that one of my favourite musicals is The Music Man. I love the catchy tunes and clever lyrics. I also love the moments where Meredith Wilson (she wrote the music) drops some of the silliness and deals with interesting issues (she retains the word-play, though).

Marian (the librarian) sings My White Knight, a song I could have sung not that long ago (with some details changed). She sings that dreaming of falling in love is not enough, someone you love must fall in love with you (or you must fall in love with someone who is already in love with you). This sounds awfully complicated but thankfully things like this seem to be worked out every day (what are our chances without God's help?!). I also like the lines starting with "all I want is a plain man..." (just forget that Professor Hill is a con-man for a minute!).

My White Knight

Being in love used to be my fav'rite dream.
Oh, yes.
I've been in love more than anybody else has.
I guess.
My first love heroic'ly ran the streetcar.
I tingled at ev'ry clang clang.
Next I fell for the principal
But, oh that teacher who sang "In the Gloamin'."
Knee-deep in love--what a lovely dream!
And yet, somehow,
Me deep in love's only half of what I'm longing for now.
I still love my being in love with someone,
But tell me, why couldn't there be
Somebody being in love with me?
All I want is a plain man.
All I want is a modest man.
A quiet man, a gentle man
A straightforward and honest man
To sit with me in a cottage somewhere in the state of Iowa...
And I would like him to be more interested in me
Than he's in himself and more interested in us than in me...
And if occasionally he'd ponder
What makes Shakespeare and Beethoven great.
Him I could love 'til I die.
Him I could love 'til I die!
Being in love--what a lovely dream!
And yet, somehow,
Being in love's only half of what I'm longing for now.
And so then,
Tonight I'll be in there dreaming
And hoping that someday there'll be
Just once!
Somebody being in love with me...