No, I’m not going to apologise for this one, even though I recognise that some of you will already be throwing up your hands in horror at what you see as a dippy sentimentalised show tune. ‘But let me say, before we part..’ that I think that in this song, Schwartz has written a brilliant ‘Goodbye/mutual appreciation’ song. Since of course it was written for a specific musical, it is especially appropriate to be sung between two witches, one of whom is feisty, ambitious and green, the other of which plays (equally ambitiously?) to her dumb blonde stereotype. Despite it all, within it all, amazingly I still think there is something of truth and beauty in the song.
A few years ago, an old friend of mine turned 60. I’d kind of lost touch, if truth be told, but here’s where we bless Facebook. His wife contacted me and asked if I would jot a few words about my friend to be compiled along with others’ contributions for his birthday. I made reference to the fact that the sentiments within this song seemed somehow appropriate. In our early twenties we had shared a house together, and although there was much fun, it was not always easy because our personalities were quite different: at the end of the two years, though, I’d like to think (I can only hope that he agrees!) that we had learned something from each other’s different approaches – even in our expressions of worship, and in the way we tried to live lives of service and faith. I still believe, I hope, that something of his earnest zeal and boldness stays with me, even now. ‘Which one of you is Elphaba?’ asked his wife, after reading my contribution.
I’m not sure whether the Christian faith entirely endorses the kind of determinism proposed at the beginning of the song : ‘I’ve heard it said/That people come into our lives for a reason/bringing something we must learn/And we are led to those who help us most to grow/If we let them/And they help us in return…’ Hmm. Like Glinda, I’m inclined to say ‘Well I don’t know if I believe that’s true/But [thinking of a whole lifetime of friends who have left some kind of influence] I know I’m who I am today/Because I knew you’... And ain’t that the truth, dear reader? – in some cases more than in others, obviously, so many we have met and journeyed with along the way have helped to mark and mould who we are today.
If you’re familiar with this song, you will know that the two girls singing it to each other employ a bunch of similes to try to express the way that they feel mutually affected and influenced by each other’s presence in their lives – I think the similes sound better than they mean, if that makes sense – perhaps because they are images of natural objects (‘like a comet pulled from orbit’..’ like a stream that meets a boulder’..’like a seed dropped by a skybird..’ – well, you get the idea) we naturally respond warmly to them , though I’m not sure they necessarily bear close analysis. But the one image that I do rather like is ‘You’ll be with me, like a handprint on my heart’. Ah, call me an old softie, I don’t care; it gets me.
I can tell you when I first became aware of ‘Wicked’, I was returning up the M4, from London, having visited our elder daughter Mary who was spending a year doing some church and community work on a virtually voluntary basis. It choked me to leave her in a tiny bedroom at her digs, so you could say that I was in that vulnerable position, and the right frame of mind to be susceptible to the songs’ whimsy and expressions of sentimentality. Driving back I listened to Elaine Paige’s Radio Two ‘Musicals’ programme. (you might think, knowing me, that I would be a regular listener, but in actual fact this incident was one of only a small handful of occasions that I have ever heard the programme). Elaine mentioned a show that was taking Broadway by storm, and played three of the songs – ‘Wonderful’ I thought was okay, ‘Popular’ I thought was incredibly clever, and ‘For Good’… You know, I can’t entirely remember, but I suspect it made me cry.
Back at home, I checked out as much about the musical as I could on the Internet; I was lucky enough that I still had one child left at home young enough to share some of my enthusiasms. Sure enough, looking at relevant you tube clips, she got hooked, along with me, and so when ‘Wicked’ eventually transferred to London we planned our outing together! That involved: drive to Cardiff very early Saturday morning; ‘Megabus’ to London Victoria; matinee performance at the New Victoria Theatre; return journey and home in the early hours. Because the show was still relatively unknown, it had been easy to get tickets, and yes Idina Menzel (now Elsa-tised for life .!) was playing Elphaba. We were not disappointed, this 52 year old man and his 8 year old daughter.
One last word about the song: there’s some clever word play about ‘good’ right throughout the musical eg. phrases like ‘Thank goodness’ and ‘goodness knows’ acquire layers of meaning; for in some measure the musical, and the novel of the ‘Oz prequel events’ on which the musical is (loosely?) based, are attempting to examine and question facile perceptions of goodness and evil [eg. In the Wizard’s song he sings ‘There are very few at ease/with moral ambiguities..’! Nice rhyme!] . And so that ‘good’ wordplay is particularly relevant in this song, I suppose, playing on the dual idea of ‘for good’ meaning ‘with permanent effect’ and ‘ with obviously beneficial results’. Clever. The youtube clip to grab, to enjoy the song freshly, is perhaps not necessarily one where they’re dressed in their contrasting witchy garb, but a rehearsal moment when Kristin Chenowith and Idina Menzel are still learning and rehearsing the song, to just piano accompaniment, taking notes about where to breathe etc.; and so it’s the clip I’ve linked above. I found it oddly moving in that setting, and could appreciate it as just a lovely song – about friendship.
Going for a Song 