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re: Isn't there emotionally leaving someone that is still physically there

Posted by:	ashleylm 03:49 pm EDT 08/07/14
In reply to:	re: Isn't there emotionally leaving someone that is still physically there - JohnPopa 03:20 pm EDT 08/07/14

The characters are oblivious to the double meaning which should be obvious to them too. I think it makes it a bit sillier. I don't think the people here poking fun at the lyric really think it's meant literally Indeed. Speaking as someone who couldn't get past that lyric in the original production (which, at the time, I only knew through the OCR), it's not that I think it's meant literally (one sister explaining to the other what is crashingly obvious), it's that it could be taken literally, since it's also completely true, and it's gut-bustingly funny the moment your mind goes there. Which, for many of us, is almost instantly. Even worse, not only is the literal meaning true, the literal meaning is the central problem of the show! That uncomfortable juxtaposition is what bothers me most--I enjoy a good double entendre, but not when the meanings are at odds with each other. So it's good that I will never leave you, but it's extraordinarily unfortunate that I will never leave you. How wonderful that I will remain by your side, but how dreadful that I will remain by your side. Over, and over again throughout the entire song ... cognitive dissonance! Compare to Wicked, where the multiple meanings of "for good" are consistently appropriate. The same sentiment could have been conveyed with something like: "I will always love you, every hour of every day, we were meant to share each moment, beside you I'll be glad to stay" or some such thing. Not immortal words, but it avoids the hilarity.

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