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| "We Got Annie"... either version is better than none // need help identifying what it sounds like | |
| Last Edit: Chazwaza 10:10 pm EDT 06/22/18 | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 10:05 pm EDT 06/22/18 | |
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| I just discovered that "We Got Annie", known, as far as I know, only from the 1982 movie of ANNIE, was written for the stage musical and cut. There's a recording of the authors setting it up and singing it on a re-release of the OBC, which is on youtube. It was meant for early in the show it seems, and customers of a cafe sing it to and about Annie who takes the depression of the Depression away. In the movie it's sung as a celebratory declaration once they find out they'll get to keep Annie at the Warbucks home. Both places make a lot of sense to me for this song. I enjoy both versions tremendously (aside from the problematic Chinese and ... Indian??... sections with the driver and Punjab). Anyway... the point is, why was this wonderful song, with some of my favorite music in the score... cut for the original production? It seems like it would improve the show, especially with some less musically memorable numbers like "Roosevelt" and "Something Was Missing" and "Annie". Was it too silly an idea for a scene? Maybe, hard to tell. But seems perfect for the show. And why has it not been added back in for other revivals or TV movies? It's not like it's heresy since it was written for the original stage show. I'm also curious if anyone else listening to the track from the OBCR is reminded of another song? I can't figure it out but it's driving me crazy. The main musical theme in the song really sounds like something else to me, but I can't figure out what. Anyone hear it? (And no, it's not the movie version that it reminds me of) |
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| Link | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slzhVAutckQ&list=PLbF5uKl7h0DJVqo7OuDrCqNK6Kf8kBqQ_&index=19 |
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| re: "We Got Annie"... either version is better than none // need help identifying what it sounds like | |
| Posted by: SRMHAYES 06:52 pm EDT 06/23/18 | |
| In reply to: "We Got Annie"... either version is better than none // need help identifying what it sounds like - Chazwaza 10:05 pm EDT 06/22/18 | |
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| Snippets of "We Got Annie" are sung in the stage show by Grace, Drake and Mrs. Pugh in the title song. Lyrics: " Rockefeller's got plenty of money- we got Annie; At the Garden there's Dempsey and Tunney- we got Annie". In all honesty, I don't feel it's a very good song and would be in no hurry to interpolate it back into the show. Just Sayin' ;-) | |
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| re: "We Got Annie"... either version is better than none // need help identifying what it sounds like | |
| Last Edit: Chromolume 11:21 pm EDT 06/23/18 | |
| Posted by: Chromolume 11:12 pm EDT 06/23/18 | |
| In reply to: re: "We Got Annie"... either version is better than none // need help identifying what it sounds like - SRMHAYES 06:52 pm EDT 06/23/18 | |
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| Snippets of "We Got Annie" are sung in the stage show by Grace, Drake and Mrs. Pugh in the title song. This was a revision done only for the 2012 revival. I don't think it's in the licensed materials, so it's not probably going to be heard that way very often. Listening to it on the recording, it only muddies the already inferior title song. Not a revision that was necessary in any way, IMO. The actual title song, shoehorned into the middle of "I Don't Need Anything But You," always feels to me like someone decided they needed a title song, so they threw it in, much like Herman was talked into writing that ridiculous title song for Dear World. To me, one of the weakest moments in the score, save "You Won't Be An Orphan For Long" which also feels like an idea that was written only half-assed. Also interesting that neither song ends on its own - "Orphan" gives way to a curtain reprise of "Maybe," and "Annie" works its way back into a final refrain of "I Don't Need Anything." Neither "Annie" nor "Orphan" really get any chance to develop into anything on their own. Other than that, I've always really enjoyed the score. "Tomorrow", IMO, belongs in a different show stylistically (it's the only song that really has a 1970's pop flavor in a show that otherwise stays close to 20's/30's pastiche) but I do think it's a better score than a lot of people think it is. |
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| re: "We Got Annie"... either version is better than none // need help identifying what it sounds like | |
| Last Edit: Chazwaza 01:30 am EDT 06/24/18 | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 01:26 am EDT 06/24/18 | |
| In reply to: re: "We Got Annie"... either version is better than none // need help identifying what it sounds like - Chromolume 11:12 pm EDT 06/23/18 | |
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| I think "We Got Annie", the original version, is a far better song as a "title" song than the "Annie" song they have now, which is really disappointing. I think "We Got Annie" (original) is infectious and f**king delightful! I like the score as a whole but given the MASSIVE success of the show, I'm always surprised how many (what I'd call) weak songs it has, considering the score is the best part. But it also has a handful of wonderful songs. "Tomorrow" included. However the best case I've ever heard for it was the heartbreakingly sweet and simple version Charles Strouse sang at the piano on Theater Talk. I still watch it to make me smile, it's perfect. |
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| re: "We Got Annie"... either version is better than none // need help identifying what it sounds like | |
| Last Edit: SRMHAYES 11:35 pm EDT 06/23/18 | |
| Posted by: SRMHAYES 11:33 pm EDT 06/23/18 | |
| In reply to: re: "We Got Annie"... either version is better than none // need help identifying what it sounds like - Chromolume 11:12 pm EDT 06/23/18 | |
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| You are mistaken. I directed a production of the show in Spring, 1985 and the lyrics I quoted were in the score and assigned to Grace, Drake and Mrs. Pugh. They were also in the score when I directed it again in Fall, 1998. The interpolation of the title song ("Annie") serves a very important function in the show, creating the opportunity to introduce Annie's "New Look" in a fantastic "Hello, Dolly!" Grand Staircase entrance for Annie which is capped off with the "Big Finish" of "I Don't Need Anything But You". |
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| re: "We Got Annie"... either version is better than none // need help identifying what it sounds like | |
| Last Edit: Chromolume 12:23 am EDT 06/24/18 | |
| Posted by: Chromolume 12:18 am EDT 06/24/18 | |
| In reply to: re: "We Got Annie"... either version is better than none // need help identifying what it sounds like - SRMHAYES 11:33 pm EDT 06/23/18 | |
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| Interesting. I've done the show twice - after you did - and there were no such moments in the score. And both times I had what I'm pretty sure were the original rental materials - the sloppy manuscript score, etc. I don't remember those lyrics being in the script either. Maybe they've been playing around with that section under our noses, lol? I understand the USE of the title song - just that I don't think it's a particularly well-written song, especially in the context of its use in the middle of "I Don't Need Anything" which IMO is a much better song. And of course there's that awkward "cheese" joke sung by Grace, which ultimately refers back to another song that was cut. (And yes, there's a reference to cheese in the dialogue too.) I do find it funny, though, that the published score (which doesn't have the "We Got Annie" sections either, unless it's been more recently reprinted with them included) gets a number of lyrics wrong - like "fudge brandies" instead of "Judge Brandeis." I tend to think someone was trying to read the sloppy penmanship from the manuscript score and couldn't figure out what the words were really supposed to be. (There's also one in NYC, where the lyric "their yen for NYC" is printed as "thank you for NYC.") |
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| re: "We Got Annie"... either version is better than none // need help identifying what it sounds like | |
| Last Edit: Chromolume 11:36 am EDT 06/24/18 | |
| Posted by: Chromolume 11:36 am EDT 06/24/18 | |
| In reply to: re: "We Got Annie"... either version is better than none // need help identifying what it sounds like - Chromolume 12:18 am EDT 06/24/18 | |
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| Two updates: I have now found a printed (not published) version of the score that changes the entire sequence of "I Don't Need Anything"/"Annie" as I knew it to be when I did the show (putting "Annie" as its own song first, instead of in the middle of "I Don't Need Anything" as it was in the version I did) - which includes the "We Got Annie" lyrics and gets rid of the silly "cheese / Camemberts and bries" stuff in favor of the "Goodman's a king" bridge, just as hear on the 2012 recording. But I have no idea when that score came into being, and if that was available when SRMHAYES did the show, I wonder why we didn't get that version either time I did it. Going back to look at that manuscript score, the melody of "We Got Annie" is in the orchestration as a countermelody, but not sung. But the arrangement is the one that matches the original published score, not the one I just mentioned above, which I had figured was done for the 2012 revival, but maybe not? Seems that there are a number of versions of this sequence, in any case. Strange. |
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| re: "We Got Annie"... either version is better than none // need help identifying what it sounds like | |
| Posted by: Chromolume 11:05 pm EDT 06/22/18 | |
| In reply to: "We Got Annie"... either version is better than none // need help identifying what it sounds like - Chazwaza 10:05 pm EDT 06/22/18 | |
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| Actually, I think "Hooverville" and "Something Was Missing" are very strong songs. The title song does seem a bit weak to me, especially as combined with the much stronger "I Don't Need Anything But You." Though, while we're there, the lyric concept of "We Got Annie" feels very similar to "I Don't Need Anything" - maybe they realized they just didn't need both songs? I think the possible answer to your "what is this tune" question is linked below ;-) |
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| Link | We Got Annie, 'Cause She's My Calendar Girl? |
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| re: "We Got Annie"... either version is better than none // need help identifying what it sounds like | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 11:12 pm EDT 06/22/18 | |
| In reply to: re: "We Got Annie"... either version is better than none // need help identifying what it sounds like - Chromolume 11:05 pm EDT 06/22/18 | |
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| Thank you for the stab... "Calendar Girl" is close, but whatever I'm thinking of is even closer, in my head anyway. Maybe I'm wrong. But that recurring piano part that plays through the intro and over which the lyrics "Rockefeller / got barrels of money / We got Annie" just clicked in my head as something distinct I'd heard before. I saw the movie of Annie many times as a kid, but I don't think the music is so clear in the movie that the movie version of the song is what I'm thinking of. Hmmmm | |
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| It sounds like the orchestral interludes in "Conversation Piece" from WONDERFUL TOWN | |
| Posted by: GrumpyMorningBoy 02:21 pm EDT 06/23/18 | |
| In reply to: re: "We Got Annie"... either version is better than none // need help identifying what it sounds like - Chazwaza 11:12 pm EDT 06/22/18 | |
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| To me, at least. The rhythms and the dissonant harmonies. - GMB, who does not particularly like "We Got Annie" |
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| Link | Spotify: "Conversation Piece" |
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| re: It sounds like the orchestral interludes in "Conversation Piece" from WONDERFUL TOWN | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 02:49 pm EDT 06/23/18 | |
| In reply to: It sounds like the orchestral interludes in "Conversation Piece" from WONDERFUL TOWN - GrumpyMorningBoy 02:21 pm EDT 06/23/18 | |
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| Yes that's probably what it is! I worked on that show once and have heard that music probably 100 times. | |
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| re: It sounds like the orchestral interludes in "Conversation Piece" from WONDERFUL TOWN | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 01:21 am EDT 06/24/18 | |
| In reply to: re: It sounds like the orchestral interludes in "Conversation Piece" from WONDERFUL TOWN - Chazwaza 02:49 pm EDT 06/23/18 | |
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| Relistening to it again, I think it's not "Conversation Piece" actually. If anything it's closer to the dance audition section of the "we're gonna take this town" nyc dance sequence. But I think it's something else entirely. BUT WHAT?!!! | |
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