NOTHING LIKE BROADWAY: DAVID RACKOFF LYRICS & MUSIC
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Sing Along

The context: This song occurs about halfway through act I of a goofy clever musical comedy called Nothing Like Broadway!. A British super-spy is hiding out in a rundown cabaret theater in the middle of nowhere. He laments that his profession makes his life a lonely one. Since this is a musical, he laments in song, and wonders if someone somewhere might one day sing along. In the lighting booth, our underdog hero-- the show's actual lighting guy-- is wondering the same thing, and inadvertently sings along. Might there be a potential friendship here? (Or even a romance?) And as if that wasn't enough singing along, the audience is invited to join them, turning this song into a proper sing-along.

A little about the creation of the song: I knew I wanted to tease the possible romance between the two characters. I came up with the idea of the dashing spy singing, and the schlubby lighting guy singing along. I wrote the music at that point (but didn't have a title). I realized that the phrase "sing along" fit nicely. Only much later did I realize it could actually be a sing-along with the audience! Fun and sweet! Then, it was just a matter of getting the tone right. When you do something tricky in a song (like springing a sing-along on the audience), it can be hard to be too open-hearted. The audience might think you're being sarcastic. So figuring out how to make it sweet and sincere, but not smug or treacly was the hard part, and took a lot of drafts. The key was starting with "spy alone" and "die alone", so it wasn't too, too earnest. Also, I'm quite proud of "a word apart" being a word apart, and "a third apart" being a third apart (musically), and that these two phrases rhyme with each other!
Sing Along
Music & Lyrics by David Rackoff
 
              BIXBY

​AS A SECRET AGENT, ONE KNOWS HE’S PAID
TO SPY ALONE.
BUT ON A NIGHT LIKE TONIGHT, ONE GROWS AFRAID
HE’LL DIE ALONE.
COULD THERE BE AN ALLY WHOM I WOULD CARE
TO BRING ALONG?
AND IF I STARTED TO SING, MIGHTN’T HE DARE
TO SING ALONG?
TO HELP ME SING MY SONG.

     IF YOU FEEL THE AIR,
​     YOU FEEL IT QUAKE.
     YOU FEEL THE TREMORS IN THE GROUND.
     IF YOU HEAR MY HEART,
     YOU HEAR IT ACHE.
     BUT MAYBE IF YOU LIKE THE SOUND,
     YOU’LL SING ALONG.

MAYBE HE’S A KIND SOUL, A GENTLE GENT
WHO’D HUM ALONG.

​              COCO
MMMM HMM MMM MMM HMMM.

​              BIXBY
IN MY ADVENTURE OF LIFE, PERHAPS HE’S MEANT
TO COME ALONG.
MIGHT HE SING THE SAME TUNE, BUT BE, I GUESS
           BIXBY
A WORD 
APART?
A WORD APART?

DA DOO…
​
OR IS HE CLOSER THAN THAT?

           COCO

A WORD
APART.


…BA DEE DO.

A LITTLE LESS?
              ​BIXBY/COCO
A THIRD APART.
HELP ME SING MY SONG.
IF YOU FEEL THE AIR,
YOU FEEL IT QUAKE.
YOU FEEL THE TREMORS IN THE GROUND.
IF YOU HEAR MY HEART,
YOU HEAR IT ACHE.
​BUT MAYBE IF YOU LIKE THE SOUND,

              BIXBY
YOU'LL SING ALONG.

              COCO/BIXBY
ALL THE SILENT PEOPLE I WANT TO HEAR
THE MOST TO SING.

              BIXBY
THEY SIT AND THINK TO THEMSELVES, 

              BIXBY/COCO
“DOES HE MEAN WE’RE
SUPPOSED TO SING?”

              BIXBY
YES!

              BIXBY/COCO
HELP ME SING MY SONG.

              COCO
     IF YOU FEEL THE AIR,

              EVERYONE
     IF YOU FEEL THE AIR,

              COCO
     YOU FEEL IT QUAKE.

              EVERYONE
     ​YOU FEEL IT QUAKE.

              COCO
     YOU FEEL THE TREMORS IN THE GROUND,

              EVERYONE
     YOU FEEL THE TREMORS IN THE GROUND.

              BIXBY/COCO
     IF YOU HEAR MY HEART,

              EVERYONE
     IF YOU HEAR MY HEART,

              BIXBY/COCO
     YOU HEAR IT ACHE.

              EVERYONE
     YOU HEAR IT ACHE.

              BIXBY/COCO
     BUT MAYBE IF YOU LIKE THE SOUND…

              EVERYONE
     BUT MAYBE IF YOU LIKE THE SOUND...
​
     IF YOU FEEL THE AIR,
     YOU FEEL IT QUAKE.
     YOU FEEL THE TREMORS IN THE GROUND.
     IF YOU HEAR MY HEART,
     YOU HEAR IT ACHE.
     BUT MAYBE IF YOU LIKE THE SOUND,

              BIXBY
     YOU’LL SING ALONG.

              COCO
     YOU’LL SING ALONG.

              EVERYONE
     ​YOU’LL SING ALONG.
​

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  • Home
  • Nothing Like Broadway! (the musical)
  • Songs from Nothing Like Broadway!
  • Other Songs
    • This Is Our Land (from Genius Grant)
    • A Hundred Years from Now
    • This Is the Start of Something...
    • Nothing Like Broadway
    • A Mop
    • The World's Most Famous Spy
    • If I Could Sing My Feelings (End of Act I)
    • In Another Universe
    • The Gods of the Theater
    • The Squeedle Song
    • How Dee Do, Little Pill
    • You Only Love Me for My...
    • I'm in Love with a Pianist
    • What If There Were No More Villains?
    • The Racing Horse Winner
    • Swan Song
    • Sing Along
    • Surprisingly Similar Way to Me
    • A Day at the Fair
    • An Underwhelming Life
    • Sticking My Neck Out Again
    • You Can't Have Too Much Christmas/I Can't Breathe (The Rocking Horse Winner Opening)
    • A Dream for Paul
    • BodyHair
    • Yell to the Heavens
  • Lyrics Can Have...
    • Wordplay
    • Euphony
    • Perfect Scansion
    • Story-telling
    • Rhymes
    • Musicality
    • Comedy
    • Imagery
  • About Me
  • Contact
  • Videos
  • Spain & Rackoff website