| Obscure ANYA Lyric Question | |
| Posted by: | Whistler 09:51 pm EDT 08/16/14 |
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| Yeah, I know: few people know ANYA or its recording, but if you happen to, I'm trying to puzzle out a lyric. It's the same as sung either by Irra Petina the first time or by the chorus the second. The song: Homeward Late in either section: "... A bass guitar plays a melancholy strain, AND ALL THE THINGS THAT I WAIT TO KNOW I NEVER THOUGHT CAN BE, Homeward. Homeward..." It's the part in caps. That's an approximation and some of the right words, but THINGS is probably wrong and BE is probably wrong. If you can figure it out, please let me know. Thanks. Also, while searching online for the lyrics, I discovered that Irra Petina was the daughter of General Stephen Petin, Czar Nicholas II's personal escort, and a goddaughter of the Dowager Empress Marie Feodorovna. And the proper pronunciation of Petina's last name is PEH-ti-na, something else I've had wrong for 50 years. | |
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| re: Obscure ANYA Lyric Question | |
| Posted by: | AlanScott 10:40 pm EDT 08/16/14 |
| In reply to: | Obscure ANYA Lyric Question - Whistler 09:51 pm EDT 08/16/14 |
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| I have now listened to the song as sung by Petina and by Willi Burke on the recording of The Anastasia Affaire (aka Anastasia, the Musical). Listening to Burke helped, but she also sings it with a thick accent and . . . well, this is my best guess. A faint guitar plays a melancholy strain And through the pain, as I wait to know, I nevermore can turn Homeward, homeward . . . Although it may be "And though the pain." Neither seems to make that much sense. | |
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| Thanks | |
| Posted by: | Whistler 12:42 am EDT 08/17/14 |
| In reply to: | re: Obscure ANYA Lyric Question - AlanScott 10:40 pm EDT 08/16/14 |
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| TURN makes sense in terms of rhyme. I think it has to rhyme with BURN. And turning homeward makes more sense than anything I've considered: yearn, learn, spurn. FAINT also makes more sense to describe the guitar. I pulled a number of lyrics more from the chorus than from Petina. I'm not sure about THROUGH THE PAIN and NEVERMORE, but I'll listen to the recording tomorrow through a headset. I had it in the car with me today for a road trip. I just don't sense that the character's in pain. There's more a feeling of longing. But some of the lyrics seem less precise than Wright and Forrest's work on other shows. My memory of A QUIET LAND is better than the actuality. And I forgot there was a second recording though I think one in my life is enough. And I'm in LA, so inter-library loan is a bit extreme on several levels. Again, thanks. | |
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| re: Thanks | |
| Posted by: | AlanScott 01:31 am EDT 08/17/14 |
| In reply to: | Thanks - Whistler 12:42 am EDT 08/17/14 |
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| It's definitely "nevermore." Or "never more." ;) I listened to the Anastasia Affaire recording of the song again. I'd forgotten that "Homeward" is sung through a second time on the track, with Judy Kaye joining Willi Burke. Unfortunately, they sing the tough-to-understand line together, and that doesn't help. There's also a choral recording of the song that I have on a disc of Anya demos and covers. Hearing it sung by a chorus doesn't especially help either. I now think that it may be "oh" or "ah!" rather than "through." I'm going to look at the vocal selections book when I get the chance. Btw, the Anastasia Affaire/Anastasia, the Musical recording is of a significantly revised version. Lots of different material. But even with two of my favorite performers, Judy Kaye and Len Cariou, I still can't say it's a must-have. | |
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| re: Thanks | |
| Posted by: | Taggart 11:13 am EDT 08/17/14 |
| In reply to: | re: Thanks - AlanScott 01:31 am EDT 08/17/14 |
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| Between you, I think you've puzzled out all the lyrics, except I hear "wake" instead of "wait." The first verse makes it clear that she's in a reverie. When evening falls on this strangely gray city, As daylight dies and the lonely hours start, My twilight thoughts leave this alien sky And they fly homeward, homeward -- Hoping there to find my heart. I seem to walk through that faraway twilight, I see a hearth where familiar fires burn. The evening star hovers low above the plain, A faint guitar plays a melancholy strain, And oh! the pain as I wake to know I nevermore can turn Homeward, homeward -- Homeward to the homeland I adore And will see no more. Petina sings something garbled ("be"?) instead of "turn." | |
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| re: Thanks | |
| Posted by: | AlanScott 04:31 pm EDT 08/17/14 |
| In reply to: | re: Thanks - Taggart 11:13 am EDT 08/17/14 |
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| Yes, you're right that it's "wake," not "wait." I wouldn't know from Petina, but re-listening to WIlli Burke with that in mind, I hear "wake." I do hear Petina singing "turn." For one thing, I hear an "n" at the end. And on the other recordings it seems pretty clearly to be "turn," at least to my ears. And when the chorus comes in with Petina — I stopped listening to the OBCR track last night after Petina finished singing solo — it seems pretty clear that they're singing "turn." | |
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| Another Possibility | |
| Posted by: | Whistler 01:23 pm EDT 08/17/14 |
| In reply to: | re: Thanks - Taggart 11:13 am EDT 08/17/14 |
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| First, this is great and what I like best about this board: collective memory and analysis. So thanks again for taking the time. Second, I think we're all trying to force the rhyme on burn/turn. Petina's enunciation of final consonants is fairly clear, reinforced by George Abbot's reputation for enforcing them, so I think she's purposely singing BE, not a garbled something else. And in the chorus section, they also seem to be ending with an open vowel. So that simply could make the lyric: "And oh! the pain as I wake to know I never more can be Homeward, homeward --" I'm not sure a person can actually "be homeward" Be "going homeward" perhaps, but, what the hell: it's poetry. And thinking about the lyric before I listened to it again this morning, I thought the words might be: "And all the pain as I wait to know I never can return" But there was no support for that once I listened to the recording, and it doesn't make more sense, either. So I'm happy with what we have, and if someone figures out something better, great. Nice song, by the way, and I like it more for the work we did understanding it. Now I just have to learn to like the lyrics of A QUIET LAND again. | |
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| Info that may be of help | |
| Posted by: | AlanScott 10:52 pm EDT 08/16/14 |
| In reply to: | re: Obscure ANYA Lyric Question - AlanScott 10:40 pm EDT 08/16/14 |
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| The Library for the Performing Arts seems to have both a circulating copy and a reference copy of the vocal selections book for Anya, which includes the song. If the library isn't easily accessible to you, you might be able to get it on an interlibrary loan. | |
| Link | Anya vocal selections |
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| Another Quick Question | |
| Posted by: | Whistler 04:53 pm EDT 08/17/14 |
| In reply to: | Info that may be of help - AlanScott 10:52 pm EDT 08/16/14 |
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| I just read a very detailed synopsis of "The Anastasia Affair." The script seems terrifically intelligent, not that I remember the script for "Anya," but that seemed to be much more of a traditional. romantic musical. Anyway, I'm curious: Since "A Quiet Land" is no longer listed as a song, but Anya still seems to be haunted by a unremembered song, does that turn into "Think About Something Beautiful?" That would make sense, but it might be too neat. Or is the idea just dropped? | |
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| re: Another Quick Question | |
| Posted by: | AlanScott 06:24 pm EDT 08/17/14 |
| In reply to: | Another Quick Question - Whistler 04:53 pm EDT 08/17/14 |
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| Yes, "Think Upon Something Beautiful" is the song that she is haunted by and finally remembers. | |
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| Btw | |
| Posted by: | AlanScott 06:28 pm EDT 08/17/14 |
| In reply to: | re: Another Quick Question - AlanScott 06:24 pm EDT 08/17/14 |
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| There is a TOFT video of the Merrimack Rep production of what was then called The Anastasia Game. Since you seem intrigued by the material, if you're ever in New York it might be interesting to you to make an appointment to see it. If you feel like it, email me at AlanScottG@aol.com. | |
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| Thanks | |
| Posted by: | Whistler 01:08 am EDT 08/18/14 |
| In reply to: | Btw - AlanScott 06:28 pm EDT 08/17/14 |
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| I remember knowing about the Merrimack Rep production. I might even have still been east at the time. The name put me off in its cynicism, and -- as I mentioned -- I have limited interest for Anastasia-based musicals: I've never seen the film or was interested in the second recording. But I do like to know how things evolve, so I may eventually chase down some of the material. And it's interesting to know that the song Anna is trying to place eventually turns into the song that makes her connection to her "grandmother." That's a much better use of it. As I said in the earlier note, the new book seems enormously better than the original. I wonder why the show didn't come to New York in the wake of Grand Hotel's financial success. Perhaps still too much of a perceived operetta. | |
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