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re: terrible

Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 02:47 pm EDT 03/28/14
In reply to: re: terrible - sf 02:32 pm EDT 03/28/14
Well, I don't completely disagree, but I largely disagree. I think a lot of the lyrics for the actual songs are quite good -- especially seeing how Kretzmer not only had to set all of the lyrics to pre-existing music, rather than writing with the composer, but also he had to radically reconceive every song (or almost every song) to function in a different way as part of the plot.

I think there's literally no comparison between the English and the original French lyrics, because the songs function in completely different ways. LES MISERABLES was originally written as more or less a song cycle inspired by the novel, and for the most part, the lyrics of the songs on the original French recording are very non-specific and general, rather than relating to specific plot points.

For example, here's a rough translation of the original French lyrics to the melody that was eventually used for "Come to me, Cosette the night is fading" and ALSO for "On My Own":

"Misery is mother to no one,
Yet misery is the sister of all men.
But no one on earth wants misery as his daughter,
For she is like a bastard child born in a dungeon at the Bastille."

!!!!!!


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