Yes, "of course" can be justified, and this is what actors do. But I still think it's filling a phrase and giving him a rhyme, like that rhyming fortune-teller with a nightclub act he once or twice spoke about, whom people used to find impressive, but he realized her rhymes were often little added phrases like "you know."
I find little imperfections here and there in Sondheim. Somewhere I have a list. Ain't nobody perfect.
He used to bitch about lyricists of previous generations using backward syntax, but then there is "That I'd prefer" in "Our Little World," and I think at least one or two other examples. Truth is that in real life people sometimes use backward syntax.
Anyway, lyric writing is tough. |
