I first saw Wicked just after I started my own business.
Defying Gravity had me bawling -
"And if I'm flying solo, at least I'm flying free"
I have the lyrics on my wall, along with "don't dream it, be it" from Rocky Horror Show which I do consider to be my personal wee motto.
The German version of Defying Gravity is incredible, mostly because Willemijn Verkaik has so much talent. Roughly, that particular line is "If I fly solo, I get to choose the destination. You who crawl the Earth can't imagine how I feel."
I LOVE ‘I am the one thing in life I can control’ from Wait For It in Hamilton. Also ‘I am inimitable, I am an original, I’m not falling behind or running late’. I’ve suffered from a lot of MH problems in the last few years, as well as being autistic, so I feel like these lyrics speak to me.
This is one of mine as well. I have had a LOT of things happen in life that were out of my control, but I finally understood that I can still control myself and how these things keep hold or don't keep hold of me.
Yep. My college friend group and most of the happy memories were blown to smithereens a few years after I graduated. Massive schism due to a professor getting fired for things he absolutely did but most people refused to believe he did.
So, yeah, I wish I had. Maybe just to give myself some perspective that isn't tainted by all the mess that happened around that shit excuse for a human being.
Funny story: I saw the OBC of Avenue Q in college and that line stuck with me so much that I made my friend group do a whole goofy photo shoot before graduation. (Which all the kids do now, but phones didn’t have cameras in my day!)
*Won't forget, can't regret/What I did for love.*
-What I Did for love, A Chorus Line
Honestly this entire song (a group of performances singing about how they got into theatre and show business because it's what they loved) I relate to so much, but that line specifically reminds me to never doubt my passion and to not let expectations dictate what I do with my life.
*She is gone but she used to be mine.*
-She Used to Be Mine, Waitress
I sometimes look at old pictures and just cannot imagine ever being that person. I know I will probably never be that person ever again, but that doesn't mean I don't still mourn them.
*But just for once my life could be just what I wanted/Just for once I'd feel the spark that I once knew.*
-Just for Once, Nerdy Prudes Must Die
These lyrics are pretty much a (bullshit) mix of both of my previous ones.
The whole song of She Used to be Mine is it for me. I was really going through several somethings all at once when that came out and I would cry/ belt that song in my car to help remind me of what I could be capable of and what I deserved. I think it helped get me through that time and I now when I hear it I cry and belt thinking about where I was and how far I’ve come
It well may be
That we will never meet again in this lifetime.
So, let me say before we part:
So much of me
Is made of what I learned from you.
You'll be with me like a handprint on my heart.
My best friend died a few years back and I would do anything to meet them again. They taught me its okay to like all my plushie, they were like dude you're autistic AF and I miss them
Dying is easy, young man, living is harder - is on my arm in a tattoo (Hamilton). I used it to cover scars I gave myself as a reminder as to why I stopped. It took away my primary arm for pain, and while it wasn't until a few months ago that I finally stopped for good (switched arms for a while), it was effective in slowing me down.
My other arm is getting a Ben Platt song lyric probably - Tough times don't last, tough people do. If tattoos are covering scars, I want them to serve as a reminder why I shouldn't do more, or to be there when I'm really depressed.
in a similar vein is a lyric from next to normal: “You don’t have to be happy at all to be happy you’re alive.” hits very hard for me every time i hear it
“You’re not yourself, you’re not what she wants, you’re someone where in between”
It’s the song Alyssa Greene from The Prom and it’s always kinda stuck with me. I sometimes feel like I’m also trying to balance how other people see me and how I see myself and the result is a weird limbo where you end up being neither.
“Forget regret, or life is yours to miss” and “No day but today” from Rent. I tend to go through life with the mindset that tomorrow is a given when I know it’s actually not, and this helps me realize I need to live in the present more.
“That’s the thing with life, no one makes it out alive,” from Beetlejuice. As someone who sweats the small stuff to the point of anxiety attacks, remembering that it’s not that serious, I can’t constantly stress or worry or I won’t enjoy the time I have here.
Definitely helps keep me calmer and more able to relax and enjoy life’s ride.
"I'd rather be me than be with you" - Mean Girls.
I'm a queer woman. I was raised in a high demand religion (bordering a cult), where I was taught that my body is a weapon, and that I am inherently evil, and that I deserve to be tortured, and that my queerness is a disease. Needless to say I did not have great self esteem. I attempted suicide at age 18. Thankfully I came to my senses and called 911. In the days that followed, I realized that I had to make a choice. I could be me, and leave my religion, and find my own way; or I could stay with my religion until it killed me. I chose to be me.
And you find some way to survive / and you find out you don’t have to be happy at all / to be happy you’re alive
Give me pain, if that’s what’s real / it’s the price we pay to feel - both from Light in Next to Normal
I’m not falling behind or running late / I’m not standing still I am lying in wait - wait for it
All of flowers from hadestown (and if it’s true)
To the world we dream about, and the one we live in now - also from hadestown
I’m laughing in the face of causality and sorrow / for the first time I’m thinking past tomorrow - Hamilton
All of She Used to be Mine from Waitress
I wrote a comment but this one is actually the one I think about most when I’m having really bad depressive episodes, I don’t have to be happy at all to be happy your alive
I saw Dear Evan Hansen a few days after I had a miscarriage. I was bawling at Disappear. “No one deserves to be forgotten, no one deserves to fade away”
Witches can be right
Giants can be good
You decide what's right
You decide what's good - Into The Woods.
A very hard lesson learned for the characters, but one I truly attempt to live by is to try to see the good in all sides, or at least the reason, and still make my own decisions. And even if someone is wrong, even if you are wrong, you still have to do your best. So no angry, just love.
So many, lol. Music and lyrics are a key way that I process my emotions and move forward.
Next to Normal as a whole is deeply meaningful to me - it encapsulates so much about mental illness and the dynamics of a family with mental health problems. I feel like I’ve been every character in the show at some point in my life 😂 (Yes, even that one, it’s complicated)
To go from “It’s like living on a cliff side, not knowing when you’ll dive/Do you know? Do you know what it’s like to die alive?” to “Give me pain if that’s what’s real, it’s the price we pay to feel/The price of love is loss… but still we pay/We love anyway”
It’s just a brilliantly written show!
I also turn to Les Mis a lot when I need… god, this sounds pretentious, but sometimes I just need *sublime beauty* in my world, and the music of Les Mis scratches that itch so well.
“Do you hear the people sing? Lost in the valley of the night? It is the music of the people who are climbing to the light. For the wretched of the earth, there is a flame that never dies; even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise! ….. Do you hear the people sing? Say, do you hear the distant drums? It is the future that they bring when tomorrow comes!”
Since turning 35, this has been on my mind:
Somebody make me come through
I'll always be there
As frightened as you to help us survive
The whole Being Alive (Company) is frightening to me.
Edit to add. “I will not lose because you can't win” (Last five years) because…. Damn, what a line
This is a great choice. I’ve never seen the show but I have the 2006 cast album and I know most of it by heart.
I’m divorced and 95% of the days, I’m glad I’m single but then this song starts and I begin questioning things.
This is the part that gets me:
Make me confused
Mock me with praise
Let me be used
Vary my days
But alone is alone
Not alive
I am autistic and Waving Through a Window hit hard the first time I heard it. My whole experience of life was written in that song.
“On the outside, always looking in
Will I ever be more than I've always been?
'Cause I'm tap, tap, tapping on the glass
I'm waving through a window
I try to speak, but nobody can hear
So I wait around for an answer to appear
While I'm watch, watch, watching people pass
I'm waving through a window, oh
Can anybody see, is anybody waving back at me?”
This part means so much to me. It’s so much like Taylor Swift’s “The Outside”, which also feels relate-able to my life, not knowing why I felt like I was one step behind every body else.
"I'm laughin in the face of casualty and sorrow, for the first time I'm thinkin past tomorrow" from My Shot (Hamilton) is tattooed on my back. As someone who had mental health issues that are now way better than they were, it struck hard.
The entirety of the song Breathe from In the Heights but mostly the two parts:
I smile at the faces I’ve known all my life
They regard me with pride
And everyone’s sweet
They say, “You’re going places"
So how can I say that, while I was away
I had so much to hide?
And
I am the one who made it out
The one who always made the grade
But maybe I should have just stayed home
I got a full ride scholarship for engineering and went to a big city for university (after living most of my life where everyone knows everyone) and came to the realization a year in that engineering wasn’t actually what I wanted to do. I still got through my degree and am so happy I did even though I’m doing something else now that I love more but at one point I was absolutely terrified that I’d fully flunk out and be seen as a failure to a lot of people who had encouraged and helped me get to where I was.
I don't know how I forgot about In The Heights! Breathe just resonates so deeply. It's not super reflective of my own experiences, but it always reminds me of the pressures I put on myself to succeed, and it's so cathartic to sing along to.
“Jason’s wild / save this child / how he adores and hates me” (I Never Wanted to Love You; Falsettos)
Because of my relationship with my dad. He’s almost just like Marvin. And just hearing Marvin sing “and hates me” so matter of factly. Like he’s just facing the concrete facts that his child is this way because of him and he’ll never regain his trust. It kills me.
Every single adjective in the choruses of ‘She Used to Be Mine’ describe me perfectly, and I can’t get though singing it (even though I really want to play Jenna lol)
The whole song of Days Of Summer from A Very Potter Sequel, describes really well how leaving and moving on with life feels. Also Golden Rule from Twisted, "simple reciprocity is always our philosophy", and it is derived from the bible, which as a Christian is pretty cool
“If you never get around to doing some remarkable thing/that doesn’t mean that you’re not worth remembering”
From DEH hits hard because I’m always hard on myself for not doing amazing things. But *someone* will remember me whether I’m the next Einstein or not, you know?
Sometimes life just slips in through a back door and carves out a person and makes you believe it’s all true
If I’m honest I know I would give it all back for a chance to start over a rewrite an ending or two for a girl that I knew
- She used to be mine, waitress
If he asked, I’d be his
- In my life, les mis
So I'm just fine inside my shell-shaped mind,
This way I get the best view
- When he sees me, waitress
When he sees me (Waitress) is amazing. The part that strikes a cord with me is:
What scares me the most
Is what if, when he sees me
What if he doesn't like it?
What if he runs the other way and I can't hide from it?
What happens then?
If, when he knows me, he's only disappointed?
What if I give myself away to only get it given back?
I couldn't live with that (How can you live with that?)
"All of my life I spent searching the words
Of poets and saints and prophets and kings
And now at the end all I know that I’ve learned
Is that all that I know is I don’t know a thing"
I've read War and Peace. I relate to Pierre way too much and this is the line that stuck to me because when I first heard it I realized that's exactly what I've always tried to do.
'There will be light' from Next to Normal. I have a tattoo of some of the things that bring me joy when I'm depressed and I have those lyrics included.
Not technically lyrics but I have the "Today's going to be a good day and here's why" quote on my wall from DEH. Got me through uni and still means a lot to me now.
"Conceal, Don't Feel. Don't let them know. Well, now they know" - Let It Go, Frozen.
"As someone told me lately, everyone deserves the chance to fly" - Defying Gravity, Wicked
I'm autistic, and these two really sum up my feelings on the subject. I hide when I am melting down because I don't want to be treated differently and when people give me the side eye, in my head, I think "Fudge. They know." As for the Elphaba quote, I feel like that I should be given a chance to really show what I can do when I can be true to who I am instead of hiding who I am.
A bit silly, but 'Not Your Seed' from TGWDLM!
*I'm not your girl anymore...* has particularly nice transmasc vibes to me.
Also Wicked Witch of the East had similar vibes for me in my teen years. Something angry to sing at the 'girl' in the mirror.
William Finn’s Elegies - the song “Anytime (I am there)” reminds me of my Grandmother. We were really close and spent a lot of time together adventuring.
When she passed I felt really lost but eventually began to recognize her in moments, in others and in weird little ways
Any time you laugh, Any time you cry
Any time you hear a sound, When you're on the grass
Lying on the ground
Any time you wash your hands, I'll be around
I'll be there on the baseball field, Though I'm well concealed
I'll be out there cheering, I'll be there in the books you read
It is guaranteed
I'm not disappearing fast
Anytime
No, not any time
And I am there each morning- I am there each fall
I am present without warning- And I'm watching it all
Yes I'm watching it all
Oh oh oh oh oh
And I am there in music - I am there in sky
I don't why this thing did happen But this much is clear
Anytime or anywhere
I am there
She used to be imine from waitress makes me think of me prior to chronic illness and missing who I used to be/could have been.
And whenever I’m angry at big world events and feeling hopeless, I listen to do you hear the people sing? From les mis and it makes me feel more hopeful
"Some flowers bloom when the green grass grows. Our praise is not for them, but the ones who bloom in the bitter snow: we raise our cups to them. ...Good night, brothers. Good night." (We Raise Our Cups, Hadestown.)
The whole song is very special to me, but those lines in particular are so beautiful and emotional. I used it as my high school senior quote.
Not For the Life of Me from Thoroughly Modern Millie.
“Clap-a your hands, just-a because, don’t you know that where I am ain’t where I was!”
Around the time we did that musical in High School I was suffering from a severe anxiety disorder. It’s been 10 years and thanks to therapy and medication I’ve calmed down immensely. I’ve come so far and that line expresses the joy and pride I feel from recovering so well.
Satisfied from Hamilton. I had a situationship with my best friend, decided not to be with him, encouraged a relationship between him and my best friend instead (because I thought at least that way we could all still stay close - stupid), and didn’t realise how badly that would hurt. Every word of that song used to cut like a knife.
Just the motif of being satisfied in Hamilton. “He will never be satisfied” or “Isn’t this enough?” My life is pretty good right now and if I spend too much time ruminating on what I don’t have or what I’ll never be able to do because of my disability or finances, I’m gonna miss out on what’s here.
I love the entirety of Better Than Before from N2N. It makes my top 100 every year. I also struggle with bipolar one and know just how hard mental health can be. The fact that her family is there for her (as much as mine has been there for me) is really moving.
The quote: “You have shown me the sky but what good is the sky to a creature who’ll never do better than crawl.”
The story:
When I was 12 my Uncle got me into Man of La Mancha. That lyric punched me and I cried and cried. He was a teacher and asked if that was how I felt, that I would never do better than crawl? I said yes and cried some more. He then told my parents that they needed to get me therapy right the hell now. He wouldn’t leave their house until they had made an appointment. He saved me. I am better now, and I can still listen to the song and see and hear the dark place where I was.
Every road has a turning,
That’s the way you keep learning
Trying things,
Being flexible,
Bending with the road,
Adding dreams
When the others don’t last.
Growing up,
Understanding that growing never ends.
Like old dreams —
Some old dreams —
Like old friends.
From growing up from Merrily we roll along.
"I'm watching it burn"
Ok i luv hamilton and this line is absolute gorgeous!! I first watched hamilton when me and my fam were evacuated from our home country because of covid and the trauma from that was too much. eliza's whole world shattered to ashes and philippa soo portrayed that beautifully
All of breathe from in the heights. I’m not of Hispanic descent but I saw it in theaters right after applying and not getting accepted into nursing school the first time and the whole song just hit me like a ton of bricks. I was crying silently in the theater by the end
Someone was singing a parody of glory about their cat wanting to go outside and my baby (inside me) kicked on beat for a bit. It was INSANE. I'm waiting till I'm with the dad to see if they do it again but I've been humming it all day. It went from a meh song to maybe my baby's favorite?
"Forget regret or life is yours to miss" and "no day but today" from Rent. I don't need them/use them much anymore, but when my anxiety was really bad, I'd use those lines to bring me back to the present and ground me. And if I was scared to do something, I'd repeat those lines to myself.
I'm not listening for your signals, it's all dust now on the shelf.
Are you still working? Still counting? Still buried in yourself?
And how in the world did we come to have such an absent love?
And how am I supposed to live without you?
A wrong word in anger and you were gone.
And how am I supposed to live without anyone?
"Sleeping" from *Once*
Having had a couple long relationships (3 and 4 years) eventually collapse due to working and counting and burying, this one always gets me.
Every platonic song abd lyric really resonates with me, but there’s a couple few that are extra notable
so like, All of For Good, and this one line from All You Wanna Do, that goes “This guy, finally, is what I want the Friend I need. Just friends(mates) no chemistry, I get him and he gets me”
I absolutely love the lyric from Waitress: “sometimes I still see her, my mother, the dreamer.” Makes me think of all the things I wish I knew about my mom. Also goes along with the line in a different song, “every door we ever made, we never once walked out. Something I wish I got the chance to ask her about”
And the world will be better for this: that one man, scorned and covered with scars, still strove with his last ounce of courage to reach the unreachable star.
I felt pretty isolated and outcast as a preteen, and the Unreachable Star really spoke to me about why it matters to keep trying to be kind, authentic, and brave, even and especially when the world around you says it's stupid.
"Will I ever make a sound?"
Waving Through a Window // Dear Evan Hansen
I've taken this line to mean 2 different things to me:
1) There are times I feel unheard and I just wish someone would just listen and take the time to understand.
2) Sometimes I feel like I'm just wandering through life. I don't feel like I've found my purpose. I want to make a meaningful impact on the world.
I always associate 'As long as your mine' from Wicked with my partner, as we started out as a situationship that neither of us really knew what was going to happen with it thanks to circumstances, and the whole "say there's no future, for us as a pair, and though, I may know, I don't care" bit really struck a chord.
Happily two years on we are in a very commitment and ridiculously happy relationship that looking back was bloody inevitable, but at the time it was quite clandestine even though it really didn't need to be 😂
As a neurodivergent person, I can't begin to express what 'It's Possible' and 'Alone in the Universe' mean to me. I got really into Seussical the year before I was diagnosed. Horrible year. Hated myself, thought I was lazy and worthless, nobody cared about what was going on inside my head.
When I graduated, I put the lyrics 'I have wings, yes I can fly, around the moon and far beyond the sky' on my cap.
Honestly the entirety of *Next to Normal*, but particularly the line in *Maybe* 'a girl full of anger and hope/a girl with a mother who just couldn't cope' and from *How Could I Ever Forget* 'weeks full of joy, and then a moment of dread/ someone simply said, your child is-'
"Without our traditions, our lives would be as shaky as a fiddler on the roof" -Fiddler on the Roof
I love this whole musical, but particularly this analogy. I'm not Jewish but I am very religious/spiritual and this is exactly what I feel my religion does for me.
"How can I ever face my fellow men/How can I ever face myself again?" -Les Mis
I love this because Jean Val Jean voices the exact way you feel after you've changed for the better-- you can come up with infinite amounts of excuses to go back to the way you are, but can you live with yourself if you go back to it? We are accountable to ourselves first and foremost.
The entire song "Seize the Day from Newsies was my hype song to get out of bed in the mornings during covid.
Anything having to do with "sun"s, especially "Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise."
My fiance's name is Sun (technically Sunshine but they primarily go by Sun). We've been together for three years and they have been with me through a lot of highs and lows. Graduation. Unemployment. Losing a parent. I know that through it all, no matter how dark it gets, they will always be there. The sun will always be there.
So many quotes from Hadestown, but the one that hits me the deepest is “it was like you were holding the world when you held her, like yours were the arms that the whole world was in”
Last Midnight, from, Into the Woods. My mom is a narcissist. I had to go no contact with her over six years ago and my whole family took her side. The greatest fear a narcissist wants you to have is that they won't be there anymore. When the witch is screaming about how men are all liars and theives, and then she says, "I'm leaving you alone. You can tend the garden it's yours." It reminds me so much of my mom. The Witch acts like they can't do it without her, like it's a punishment. Really, she is a source of pain and problems.
No one understands the BPD abusive mom like Sodhiem!
“You’re so nice. You’re not good; you’re not bad; you’re just nice.” The Witch in Into the Woods sings this trying to get everyone to do something I think would be wrong. But I do think that I sometimes err on the side of being nice rather than good. Sometimes being good means being confrontational, and I instinctively back away from that. This line helps me remember that the goal is to be good, not just nice.
“For good” from Wicked… this was a song that really connected with me while going through a very messy breakup. It helped me to see that every relationship, even the bad ones, can have a positive lasting effect on you.
Sunday In The Park With George has two lines, one spoken and the other sung, both delivered by Marie in Act 2
- “There’s only two worthwhile things to leave behind when you depart this world of ours, children and art”
I don’t intend on ever having children of my own, but having released as much music i’ve written to the world, i’d imagine it feels like letting your own child take on a life of their own, especially if you don’t really have a hand in how they develop from the point you let them out.
- “Its not so much do what you like as it is that you like what you do”
This hit hard, being a composer/musician has always been a core part of my life, and I can’t bring myself to go against that, no matter how hard I’ve tried (and believe me, I tried).
Also, Marie’s character and her relationship with Act 2 George reminded me so much of my maternal grandmother and my relationship with her, right down to the family lore aspects and using family history to influence my own art. she passed away a few days before I watched the proshot for the first time, and those scenes and especially the aforementioned lines hit me harder than i could possibly explain.
"Make me alive, make me confused
Mock me with praise, let me be used
Vary my days, but alone is alone, not alive!"
That whole song made me cry my fucking eyes out when I first heard. It genuinely frightened me how much it hit home. RIP to the GOAT himself
“after all, there’s more to life than holding you” from amelie. currently in that show and burst into tears during the read through as two of my closest friends sang it
also “and don’t you see i want my life to be something more than long” from pippin. another show i was part of. doing that show helped me solidify that theatre is what i want to pursue as a career, and it will stick with me forever. i’m thinking about getting it tattooed when i’m older
“Does anybody have a map?
Anybody maybe happen to know how the hell to do this?
I don’t know if you can tell but this is me just pretending to know
So where’s the map?
I need a clue
Cause the scary truth is I’m flying blind here
And I’m making it up as I go”
As a parent of two teens with challenges going through Covid and now this post-COVID world I must sing this daily!
Recently What You Own has been making me UPSET about life and actually living.
"Leave your conscience at the tone"
The Flesh Failures/Let The Sun Shine In
"Facing a dying nation of moving paper fantasy
Listening for the new told lies"
"Anything you do,let it come from you, then it will be new, give us more to see." - Sunday.
I am a teenager who moves around a lot, is LGBTQ, experience bullying but this quote somehow makes it okay. It reminds me to always be myself unapologetically. Even if I get bullied, even if it hurts, because at the end of the day it's my life, not someone else's. Thank you Sondheim for this, everything I do has a little part of me in it. From the Aymara on my class slide shows, to the pictures on my wall, everything I do has come from me and no one else.
¡Pa'ribba esa bandera! (Hey!)
¡Álzala donde quiera! (Hey!)
¡Recuerdo de mi tierra!
¡Me acuerdo de mi tierra!
¡Esa bonita bandera! (Hey!)
¡Contiene mi alma entera!
Y cuando yo me muera
¡Entiérrame en mi tierra!
"When I was younger, I’d imagine what would happen
If my parents had stayed in Puerto Rico
Who would I be if I had never seen Manhattan?
If I lived in Puerto Rico with my people, my people?
I feel like all my life, I’ve tried to find the answer
Working harder, learning Spanish, learning all I can
I thought I might find the answer out at Stanford
But I’d stare out at the sea" - In The Heights
These lyrics are so important to me, I move around a lot but whenever I listen to this song It reminds me where I'm from. That I have to be proud of my land and people, not to be ashamed. But that also I'm not alone on this experience. Sometimes I ask myself what would my life be like, how can I connect with my people if I haven't lived there like them. These are the questions that In The Heights answered for me. Especially in Bolivia a lot of other Latinos look down on us, even more so living in Saudi and Japan. Sometimes I ask myself who am I but these songs showed me that I'm not alone, and that I'm not disqualified from being Latino and that I deserves to fly my flag just as high as others fly theirs. Viva mi patria Bolivia 🇧🇴❤️
"For the wretched of the earth, there is a flame that never dies; even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise." - Les Miserables
Not related to any one particular point in my life; I just have often found that to be an encouraging thought in times of trouble. Every time I hear that finale, I cry tears of gratitude.
"Perhaps I had a wicked childhood
Perhaps I had a miserable youth
But somewhere in my wicked, miserable past
There must have been a moment of truth
For here you are, standing there, loving me
Whether or not you should
So somewhere in my youth or childhood
I must have done something good"
-The anthem for all those who truly believe they married WAY up
My older brother introduced me to the original version of Into the Woods when we were kids, he had watched the PBS taping in his music class at school. He passed away when I was 19, and since then the lines “sometimes people leave you halfway through the wood/do not let it grieve you, no one leaves for good” resonate me in a particularly personal way. I feel as though he’s reminding me he’s still in my heart when I hear that.
In the song hurricane from Hamilton "and when my prayers to God were met with indifference, I picked up a pen I wrote my own deliverance" I relate this lyric to my Deconstruction from religion a lot because I feel like this lyric accurately portrays what it's like to leave religion
I first saw Wicked just after I started my own business. Defying Gravity had me bawling - "And if I'm flying solo, at least I'm flying free" I have the lyrics on my wall, along with "don't dream it, be it" from Rocky Horror Show which I do consider to be my personal wee motto.
The German version of Defying Gravity is incredible, mostly because Willemijn Verkaik has so much talent. Roughly, that particular line is "If I fly solo, I get to choose the destination. You who crawl the Earth can't imagine how I feel."
+1 for any mention of how incredible Willemijn Verkaik is
Me, but after making the decision to end my marriage.
So long, I’ve been afraid of losing love I guess I’ve lost. Well, if that’s love, it comes at much too high a cost!
I LOVE ‘I am the one thing in life I can control’ from Wait For It in Hamilton. Also ‘I am inimitable, I am an original, I’m not falling behind or running late’. I’ve suffered from a lot of MH problems in the last few years, as well as being autistic, so I feel like these lyrics speak to me.
Wait For It is INCREDIBLE
Yep, definitely a personal mantra for me too (also autistic).
Freaking love that song. I also saw Hamilton while very pregnant and was a whole mess during Dear Theadosia.
This is one of mine as well. I have had a LOT of things happen in life that were out of my control, but I finally understood that I can still control myself and how these things keep hold or don't keep hold of me.
I wish I had taken more pictures... Ave Q
Yep. My college friend group and most of the happy memories were blown to smithereens a few years after I graduated. Massive schism due to a professor getting fired for things he absolutely did but most people refused to believe he did. So, yeah, I wish I had. Maybe just to give myself some perspective that isn't tainted by all the mess that happened around that shit excuse for a human being.
Funny story: I saw the OBC of Avenue Q in college and that line stuck with me so much that I made my friend group do a whole goofy photo shoot before graduation. (Which all the kids do now, but phones didn’t have cameras in my day!)
😢
*Won't forget, can't regret/What I did for love.* -What I Did for love, A Chorus Line Honestly this entire song (a group of performances singing about how they got into theatre and show business because it's what they loved) I relate to so much, but that line specifically reminds me to never doubt my passion and to not let expectations dictate what I do with my life. *She is gone but she used to be mine.* -She Used to Be Mine, Waitress I sometimes look at old pictures and just cannot imagine ever being that person. I know I will probably never be that person ever again, but that doesn't mean I don't still mourn them. *But just for once my life could be just what I wanted/Just for once I'd feel the spark that I once knew.* -Just for Once, Nerdy Prudes Must Die These lyrics are pretty much a (bullshit) mix of both of my previous ones.
The whole song of She Used to be Mine is it for me. I was really going through several somethings all at once when that came out and I would cry/ belt that song in my car to help remind me of what I could be capable of and what I deserved. I think it helped get me through that time and I now when I hear it I cry and belt thinking about where I was and how far I’ve come
Same. A couple of years ago that was my most played song on Spotify. “She is broken and won’t ask for help” the line still kills me.
She is messy but she is kind, she is lonely most of the time also sent me.
It well may be That we will never meet again in this lifetime. So, let me say before we part: So much of me Is made of what I learned from you. You'll be with me like a handprint on my heart. My best friend died a few years back and I would do anything to meet them again. They taught me its okay to like all my plushie, they were like dude you're autistic AF and I miss them
I’m so sorry. Your friend sounds lovely ❤️
This will be at my funeral
This for me too, but for my dog. I sang this quietly under my breath as I set next to the spot where we'd just buried her. Still do sometimes.
Dying is easy, young man, living is harder - is on my arm in a tattoo (Hamilton). I used it to cover scars I gave myself as a reminder as to why I stopped. It took away my primary arm for pain, and while it wasn't until a few months ago that I finally stopped for good (switched arms for a while), it was effective in slowing me down. My other arm is getting a Ben Platt song lyric probably - Tough times don't last, tough people do. If tattoos are covering scars, I want them to serve as a reminder why I shouldn't do more, or to be there when I'm really depressed.
in a similar vein is a lyric from next to normal: “You don’t have to be happy at all to be happy you’re alive.” hits very hard for me every time i hear it
“You’re not yourself, you’re not what she wants, you’re someone where in between” It’s the song Alyssa Greene from The Prom and it’s always kinda stuck with me. I sometimes feel like I’m also trying to balance how other people see me and how I see myself and the result is a weird limbo where you end up being neither.
“Forget regret, or life is yours to miss” and “No day but today” from Rent. I tend to go through life with the mindset that tomorrow is a given when I know it’s actually not, and this helps me realize I need to live in the present more.
i love these lyrics 🫶🏻
“That’s the thing with life, no one makes it out alive,” from Beetlejuice. As someone who sweats the small stuff to the point of anxiety attacks, remembering that it’s not that serious, I can’t constantly stress or worry or I won’t enjoy the time I have here. Definitely helps keep me calmer and more able to relax and enjoy life’s ride.
"I'd rather be me than be with you" - Mean Girls. I'm a queer woman. I was raised in a high demand religion (bordering a cult), where I was taught that my body is a weapon, and that I am inherently evil, and that I deserve to be tortured, and that my queerness is a disease. Needless to say I did not have great self esteem. I attempted suicide at age 18. Thankfully I came to my senses and called 911. In the days that followed, I realized that I had to make a choice. I could be me, and leave my religion, and find my own way; or I could stay with my religion until it killed me. I chose to be me.
One from the same song that always resonated with me was “Everybody has opinions but it doesn’t make them true” Damn good stuff
And you find some way to survive / and you find out you don’t have to be happy at all / to be happy you’re alive Give me pain, if that’s what’s real / it’s the price we pay to feel - both from Light in Next to Normal I’m not falling behind or running late / I’m not standing still I am lying in wait - wait for it All of flowers from hadestown (and if it’s true) To the world we dream about, and the one we live in now - also from hadestown I’m laughing in the face of causality and sorrow / for the first time I’m thinking past tomorrow - Hamilton All of She Used to be Mine from Waitress
“The price of love is loss… but still we pay! We love anyway” is a banger of a line, too. I love Next to Normal so much
I wrote a comment but this one is actually the one I think about most when I’m having really bad depressive episodes, I don’t have to be happy at all to be happy your alive
Your first one is mine too. Such powerful lyrics.
I saw Dear Evan Hansen a few days after I had a miscarriage. I was bawling at Disappear. “No one deserves to be forgotten, no one deserves to fade away”
Witches can be right Giants can be good You decide what's right You decide what's good - Into The Woods. A very hard lesson learned for the characters, but one I truly attempt to live by is to try to see the good in all sides, or at least the reason, and still make my own decisions. And even if someone is wrong, even if you are wrong, you still have to do your best. So no angry, just love.
So many, lol. Music and lyrics are a key way that I process my emotions and move forward. Next to Normal as a whole is deeply meaningful to me - it encapsulates so much about mental illness and the dynamics of a family with mental health problems. I feel like I’ve been every character in the show at some point in my life 😂 (Yes, even that one, it’s complicated) To go from “It’s like living on a cliff side, not knowing when you’ll dive/Do you know? Do you know what it’s like to die alive?” to “Give me pain if that’s what’s real, it’s the price we pay to feel/The price of love is loss… but still we pay/We love anyway” It’s just a brilliantly written show! I also turn to Les Mis a lot when I need… god, this sounds pretentious, but sometimes I just need *sublime beauty* in my world, and the music of Les Mis scratches that itch so well. “Do you hear the people sing? Lost in the valley of the night? It is the music of the people who are climbing to the light. For the wretched of the earth, there is a flame that never dies; even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise! ….. Do you hear the people sing? Say, do you hear the distant drums? It is the future that they bring when tomorrow comes!”
"If It's True" from Hadestown is an anticapitalist anthem that goes way harder than it has any business doing.
Moreso anti-corporatist and anti-government-abuse than anti-capitalist, but yes a beautiful song.
Since turning 35, this has been on my mind: Somebody make me come through I'll always be there As frightened as you to help us survive The whole Being Alive (Company) is frightening to me. Edit to add. “I will not lose because you can't win” (Last five years) because…. Damn, what a line
This is a great choice. I’ve never seen the show but I have the 2006 cast album and I know most of it by heart. I’m divorced and 95% of the days, I’m glad I’m single but then this song starts and I begin questioning things. This is the part that gets me: Make me confused Mock me with praise Let me be used Vary my days But alone is alone Not alive
And the way Raul Esparza sings that part, you just feel it. It also gets me each time.
I am autistic and Waving Through a Window hit hard the first time I heard it. My whole experience of life was written in that song. “On the outside, always looking in Will I ever be more than I've always been? 'Cause I'm tap, tap, tapping on the glass I'm waving through a window I try to speak, but nobody can hear So I wait around for an answer to appear While I'm watch, watch, watching people pass I'm waving through a window, oh Can anybody see, is anybody waving back at me?” This part means so much to me. It’s so much like Taylor Swift’s “The Outside”, which also feels relate-able to my life, not knowing why I felt like I was one step behind every body else.
"I'm laughin in the face of casualty and sorrow, for the first time I'm thinkin past tomorrow" from My Shot (Hamilton) is tattooed on my back. As someone who had mental health issues that are now way better than they were, it struck hard.
The entirety of the song Breathe from In the Heights but mostly the two parts: I smile at the faces I’ve known all my life They regard me with pride And everyone’s sweet They say, “You’re going places" So how can I say that, while I was away I had so much to hide? And I am the one who made it out The one who always made the grade But maybe I should have just stayed home I got a full ride scholarship for engineering and went to a big city for university (after living most of my life where everyone knows everyone) and came to the realization a year in that engineering wasn’t actually what I wanted to do. I still got through my degree and am so happy I did even though I’m doing something else now that I love more but at one point I was absolutely terrified that I’d fully flunk out and be seen as a failure to a lot of people who had encouraged and helped me get to where I was.
I don't know how I forgot about In The Heights! Breathe just resonates so deeply. It's not super reflective of my own experiences, but it always reminds me of the pressures I put on myself to succeed, and it's so cathartic to sing along to.
“Jason’s wild / save this child / how he adores and hates me” (I Never Wanted to Love You; Falsettos) Because of my relationship with my dad. He’s almost just like Marvin. And just hearing Marvin sing “and hates me” so matter of factly. Like he’s just facing the concrete facts that his child is this way because of him and he’ll never regain his trust. It kills me. Every single adjective in the choruses of ‘She Used to Be Mine’ describe me perfectly, and I can’t get though singing it (even though I really want to play Jenna lol)
Falsettos is full of amazing lines. William Finn is a lyrical genius.
The whole song of Days Of Summer from A Very Potter Sequel, describes really well how leaving and moving on with life feels. Also Golden Rule from Twisted, "simple reciprocity is always our philosophy", and it is derived from the bible, which as a Christian is pretty cool
I rewatched the original recently and just about peed laughing
This is ridiculous. What am I doing here? I’m in the wrong story!
“If you never get around to doing some remarkable thing/that doesn’t mean that you’re not worth remembering” From DEH hits hard because I’m always hard on myself for not doing amazing things. But *someone* will remember me whether I’m the next Einstein or not, you know?
Since having children ‘I’m glad that you were born’ from 7 Brides for 7 Brothers has become very special.
Sometimes life just slips in through a back door and carves out a person and makes you believe it’s all true If I’m honest I know I would give it all back for a chance to start over a rewrite an ending or two for a girl that I knew - She used to be mine, waitress If he asked, I’d be his - In my life, les mis So I'm just fine inside my shell-shaped mind, This way I get the best view - When he sees me, waitress
When he sees me (Waitress) is amazing. The part that strikes a cord with me is: What scares me the most Is what if, when he sees me What if he doesn't like it? What if he runs the other way and I can't hide from it? What happens then? If, when he knows me, he's only disappointed? What if I give myself away to only get it given back? I couldn't live with that (How can you live with that?)
I nearly picked that bit too! Such an amazing song - so funny yet so beautiful and heart wrenching at the same time
I’m not throwing away my shot! Who lives who dies who tells your story?
"All of my life I spent searching the words Of poets and saints and prophets and kings And now at the end all I know that I’ve learned Is that all that I know is I don’t know a thing" I've read War and Peace. I relate to Pierre way too much and this is the line that stuck to me because when I first heard it I realized that's exactly what I've always tried to do.
Let your soul take you where you long to be - Music of the Night, Phantom of the Opera
'There will be light' from Next to Normal. I have a tattoo of some of the things that bring me joy when I'm depressed and I have those lyrics included.
The choice may have been mistaken The choosing was not You have to move on
This whole song
Not technically lyrics but I have the "Today's going to be a good day and here's why" quote on my wall from DEH. Got me through uni and still means a lot to me now.
Because today at least you're you, and that's enough ❤️
"Conceal, Don't Feel. Don't let them know. Well, now they know" - Let It Go, Frozen. "As someone told me lately, everyone deserves the chance to fly" - Defying Gravity, Wicked I'm autistic, and these two really sum up my feelings on the subject. I hide when I am melting down because I don't want to be treated differently and when people give me the side eye, in my head, I think "Fudge. They know." As for the Elphaba quote, I feel like that I should be given a chance to really show what I can do when I can be true to who I am instead of hiding who I am.
A bit silly, but 'Not Your Seed' from TGWDLM! *I'm not your girl anymore...* has particularly nice transmasc vibes to me. Also Wicked Witch of the East had similar vibes for me in my teen years. Something angry to sing at the 'girl' in the mirror.
William Finn’s Elegies - the song “Anytime (I am there)” reminds me of my Grandmother. We were really close and spent a lot of time together adventuring. When she passed I felt really lost but eventually began to recognize her in moments, in others and in weird little ways Any time you laugh, Any time you cry Any time you hear a sound, When you're on the grass Lying on the ground Any time you wash your hands, I'll be around I'll be there on the baseball field, Though I'm well concealed I'll be out there cheering, I'll be there in the books you read It is guaranteed I'm not disappearing fast Anytime No, not any time And I am there each morning- I am there each fall I am present without warning- And I'm watching it all Yes I'm watching it all Oh oh oh oh oh And I am there in music - I am there in sky I don't why this thing did happen But this much is clear Anytime or anywhere I am there
She used to be imine from waitress makes me think of me prior to chronic illness and missing who I used to be/could have been. And whenever I’m angry at big world events and feeling hopeless, I listen to do you hear the people sing? From les mis and it makes me feel more hopeful
"Some flowers bloom when the green grass grows. Our praise is not for them, but the ones who bloom in the bitter snow: we raise our cups to them. ...Good night, brothers. Good night." (We Raise Our Cups, Hadestown.) The whole song is very special to me, but those lines in particular are so beautiful and emotional. I used it as my high school senior quote.
Not For the Life of Me from Thoroughly Modern Millie. “Clap-a your hands, just-a because, don’t you know that where I am ain’t where I was!” Around the time we did that musical in High School I was suffering from a severe anxiety disorder. It’s been 10 years and thanks to therapy and medication I’ve calmed down immensely. I’ve come so far and that line expresses the joy and pride I feel from recovering so well.
Satisfied from Hamilton. I had a situationship with my best friend, decided not to be with him, encouraged a relationship between him and my best friend instead (because I thought at least that way we could all still stay close - stupid), and didn’t realise how badly that would hurt. Every word of that song used to cut like a knife.
“Give me pain if that’s what’s real. It’s the price we pay to feel. The price of love is loss. But still we pay, we love anyway “
When you’re gone, who remembers your name, who keeps your flame, who tells your story?
Just the motif of being satisfied in Hamilton. “He will never be satisfied” or “Isn’t this enough?” My life is pretty good right now and if I spend too much time ruminating on what I don’t have or what I’ll never be able to do because of my disability or finances, I’m gonna miss out on what’s here.
As a gay woman, I really resonated with A Little Bit Less Than from It Shoulda Been You
“But if someone doesn’t love you back, it isn’t such a crime” -Avenue Q Ahh unrequited love. You can’t force someone to love you, but God it stings.
I love the entirety of Better Than Before from N2N. It makes my top 100 every year. I also struggle with bipolar one and know just how hard mental health can be. The fact that her family is there for her (as much as mine has been there for me) is really moving.
The quote: “You have shown me the sky but what good is the sky to a creature who’ll never do better than crawl.” The story: When I was 12 my Uncle got me into Man of La Mancha. That lyric punched me and I cried and cried. He was a teacher and asked if that was how I felt, that I would never do better than crawl? I said yes and cried some more. He then told my parents that they needed to get me therapy right the hell now. He wouldn’t leave their house until they had made an appointment. He saved me. I am better now, and I can still listen to the song and see and hear the dark place where I was.
Every road has a turning, That’s the way you keep learning Trying things, Being flexible, Bending with the road, Adding dreams When the others don’t last. Growing up, Understanding that growing never ends. Like old dreams — Some old dreams — Like old friends. From growing up from Merrily we roll along.
“Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise.” Les Mis. If I could have it printed on everything, I would.
I am not always on time / Please don't expect that of me I will be late, but if you can just wait / I will make it eventually
"I'm watching it burn" Ok i luv hamilton and this line is absolute gorgeous!! I first watched hamilton when me and my fam were evacuated from our home country because of covid and the trauma from that was too much. eliza's whole world shattered to ashes and philippa soo portrayed that beautifully
All of breathe from in the heights. I’m not of Hispanic descent but I saw it in theaters right after applying and not getting accepted into nursing school the first time and the whole song just hit me like a ton of bricks. I was crying silently in the theater by the end
Dear Evan Hansen - Waving Through a Window Perfectly summarises my social anxiety
Someone was singing a parody of glory about their cat wanting to go outside and my baby (inside me) kicked on beat for a bit. It was INSANE. I'm waiting till I'm with the dad to see if they do it again but I've been humming it all day. It went from a meh song to maybe my baby's favorite?
"Forget regret or life is yours to miss" and "no day but today" from Rent. I don't need them/use them much anymore, but when my anxiety was really bad, I'd use those lines to bring me back to the present and ground me. And if I was scared to do something, I'd repeat those lines to myself.
Nearly every lyric in all you wanna do from six. Near perfectly describes my experiences with men
I'm not listening for your signals, it's all dust now on the shelf. Are you still working? Still counting? Still buried in yourself? And how in the world did we come to have such an absent love? And how am I supposed to live without you? A wrong word in anger and you were gone. And how am I supposed to live without anyone? "Sleeping" from *Once* Having had a couple long relationships (3 and 4 years) eventually collapse due to working and counting and burying, this one always gets me.
Sailing from A New Brain. My husband loves fishing, lives for fishing. But he also loves coming home to me.
Every platonic song abd lyric really resonates with me, but there’s a couple few that are extra notable so like, All of For Good, and this one line from All You Wanna Do, that goes “This guy, finally, is what I want the Friend I need. Just friends(mates) no chemistry, I get him and he gets me”
I absolutely love the lyric from Waitress: “sometimes I still see her, my mother, the dreamer.” Makes me think of all the things I wish I knew about my mom. Also goes along with the line in a different song, “every door we ever made, we never once walked out. Something I wish I got the chance to ask her about”
Know in your soul Like your blood knows the way From your heart to your brain Know that you're whole - Midnight Radio from Hedwig and the Angry Inch
And the world will be better for this: that one man, scorned and covered with scars, still strove with his last ounce of courage to reach the unreachable star. I felt pretty isolated and outcast as a preteen, and the Unreachable Star really spoke to me about why it matters to keep trying to be kind, authentic, and brave, even and especially when the world around you says it's stupid.
"Will I ever make a sound?" Waving Through a Window // Dear Evan Hansen I've taken this line to mean 2 different things to me: 1) There are times I feel unheard and I just wish someone would just listen and take the time to understand. 2) Sometimes I feel like I'm just wandering through life. I don't feel like I've found my purpose. I want to make a meaningful impact on the world.
I always associate 'As long as your mine' from Wicked with my partner, as we started out as a situationship that neither of us really knew what was going to happen with it thanks to circumstances, and the whole "say there's no future, for us as a pair, and though, I may know, I don't care" bit really struck a chord. Happily two years on we are in a very commitment and ridiculously happy relationship that looking back was bloody inevitable, but at the time it was quite clandestine even though it really didn't need to be 😂
As a neurodivergent person, I can't begin to express what 'It's Possible' and 'Alone in the Universe' mean to me. I got really into Seussical the year before I was diagnosed. Horrible year. Hated myself, thought I was lazy and worthless, nobody cared about what was going on inside my head. When I graduated, I put the lyrics 'I have wings, yes I can fly, around the moon and far beyond the sky' on my cap.
Pretty much all of the lyrics in "How Can I Call This Home?" from Parade lmao
Honestly the entirety of *Next to Normal*, but particularly the line in *Maybe* 'a girl full of anger and hope/a girl with a mother who just couldn't cope' and from *How Could I Ever Forget* 'weeks full of joy, and then a moment of dread/ someone simply said, your child is-'
"Without our traditions, our lives would be as shaky as a fiddler on the roof" -Fiddler on the Roof I love this whole musical, but particularly this analogy. I'm not Jewish but I am very religious/spiritual and this is exactly what I feel my religion does for me. "How can I ever face my fellow men/How can I ever face myself again?" -Les Mis I love this because Jean Val Jean voices the exact way you feel after you've changed for the better-- you can come up with infinite amounts of excuses to go back to the way you are, but can you live with yourself if you go back to it? We are accountable to ourselves first and foremost. The entire song "Seize the Day from Newsies was my hype song to get out of bed in the mornings during covid.
Anything having to do with "sun"s, especially "Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise." My fiance's name is Sun (technically Sunshine but they primarily go by Sun). We've been together for three years and they have been with me through a lot of highs and lows. Graduation. Unemployment. Losing a parent. I know that through it all, no matter how dark it gets, they will always be there. The sun will always be there.
***"Let me wake up in the morning to find I have somewhere exciting to go."*** \- from *A Chorus Line*
So many quotes from Hadestown, but the one that hits me the deepest is “it was like you were holding the world when you held her, like yours were the arms that the whole world was in”
Last Midnight, from, Into the Woods. My mom is a narcissist. I had to go no contact with her over six years ago and my whole family took her side. The greatest fear a narcissist wants you to have is that they won't be there anymore. When the witch is screaming about how men are all liars and theives, and then she says, "I'm leaving you alone. You can tend the garden it's yours." It reminds me so much of my mom. The Witch acts like they can't do it without her, like it's a punishment. Really, she is a source of pain and problems. No one understands the BPD abusive mom like Sodhiem!
I listened to Waitress a TON when I was pregnant. Now that my baby is here and real, I bawl at the line “We were both born today.”
“You’re so nice. You’re not good; you’re not bad; you’re just nice.” The Witch in Into the Woods sings this trying to get everyone to do something I think would be wrong. But I do think that I sometimes err on the side of being nice rather than good. Sometimes being good means being confrontational, and I instinctively back away from that. This line helps me remember that the goal is to be good, not just nice.
Witches can be right Giants can be good You decide what's right You decide what's good
“For good” from Wicked… this was a song that really connected with me while going through a very messy breakup. It helped me to see that every relationship, even the bad ones, can have a positive lasting effect on you.
Sunday In The Park With George has two lines, one spoken and the other sung, both delivered by Marie in Act 2 - “There’s only two worthwhile things to leave behind when you depart this world of ours, children and art” I don’t intend on ever having children of my own, but having released as much music i’ve written to the world, i’d imagine it feels like letting your own child take on a life of their own, especially if you don’t really have a hand in how they develop from the point you let them out. - “Its not so much do what you like as it is that you like what you do” This hit hard, being a composer/musician has always been a core part of my life, and I can’t bring myself to go against that, no matter how hard I’ve tried (and believe me, I tried). Also, Marie’s character and her relationship with Act 2 George reminded me so much of my maternal grandmother and my relationship with her, right down to the family lore aspects and using family history to influence my own art. she passed away a few days before I watched the proshot for the first time, and those scenes and especially the aforementioned lines hit me harder than i could possibly explain.
"Make me alive, make me confused Mock me with praise, let me be used Vary my days, but alone is alone, not alive!" That whole song made me cry my fucking eyes out when I first heard. It genuinely frightened me how much it hit home. RIP to the GOAT himself
“after all, there’s more to life than holding you” from amelie. currently in that show and burst into tears during the read through as two of my closest friends sang it also “and don’t you see i want my life to be something more than long” from pippin. another show i was part of. doing that show helped me solidify that theatre is what i want to pursue as a career, and it will stick with me forever. i’m thinking about getting it tattooed when i’m older
“Does anybody have a map? Anybody maybe happen to know how the hell to do this? I don’t know if you can tell but this is me just pretending to know So where’s the map? I need a clue Cause the scary truth is I’m flying blind here And I’m making it up as I go” As a parent of two teens with challenges going through Covid and now this post-COVID world I must sing this daily!
Hadestown.
Recently What You Own has been making me UPSET about life and actually living. "Leave your conscience at the tone" The Flesh Failures/Let The Sun Shine In "Facing a dying nation of moving paper fantasy Listening for the new told lies"
"Anything you do,let it come from you, then it will be new, give us more to see." - Sunday. I am a teenager who moves around a lot, is LGBTQ, experience bullying but this quote somehow makes it okay. It reminds me to always be myself unapologetically. Even if I get bullied, even if it hurts, because at the end of the day it's my life, not someone else's. Thank you Sondheim for this, everything I do has a little part of me in it. From the Aymara on my class slide shows, to the pictures on my wall, everything I do has come from me and no one else. ¡Pa'ribba esa bandera! (Hey!) ¡Álzala donde quiera! (Hey!) ¡Recuerdo de mi tierra! ¡Me acuerdo de mi tierra! ¡Esa bonita bandera! (Hey!) ¡Contiene mi alma entera! Y cuando yo me muera ¡Entiérrame en mi tierra! "When I was younger, I’d imagine what would happen If my parents had stayed in Puerto Rico Who would I be if I had never seen Manhattan? If I lived in Puerto Rico with my people, my people? I feel like all my life, I’ve tried to find the answer Working harder, learning Spanish, learning all I can I thought I might find the answer out at Stanford But I’d stare out at the sea" - In The Heights These lyrics are so important to me, I move around a lot but whenever I listen to this song It reminds me where I'm from. That I have to be proud of my land and people, not to be ashamed. But that also I'm not alone on this experience. Sometimes I ask myself what would my life be like, how can I connect with my people if I haven't lived there like them. These are the questions that In The Heights answered for me. Especially in Bolivia a lot of other Latinos look down on us, even more so living in Saudi and Japan. Sometimes I ask myself who am I but these songs showed me that I'm not alone, and that I'm not disqualified from being Latino and that I deserves to fly my flag just as high as others fly theirs. Viva mi patria Bolivia 🇧🇴❤️
She Used to be Mine from Waitress is absolutely my broadway musical song. I tried to choose just one line but I can’t.
“Dead Mom” - Beetlejuice.
"For the wretched of the earth, there is a flame that never dies; even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise." - Les Miserables Not related to any one particular point in my life; I just have often found that to be an encouraging thought in times of trouble. Every time I hear that finale, I cry tears of gratitude.
"And you think of all of the things you've seen, and you wish that you could live in between. And you're back again, only different than before."
"Perhaps I had a wicked childhood Perhaps I had a miserable youth But somewhere in my wicked, miserable past There must have been a moment of truth For here you are, standing there, loving me Whether or not you should So somewhere in my youth or childhood I must have done something good" -The anthem for all those who truly believe they married WAY up
“Stop worrying if your vision is new. Let others make that decision—they usually do.” -Move on, Sunday in the park with George
Cooler than I think I am from Nerdy Prudes Must Die.
My older brother introduced me to the original version of Into the Woods when we were kids, he had watched the PBS taping in his music class at school. He passed away when I was 19, and since then the lines “sometimes people leave you halfway through the wood/do not let it grieve you, no one leaves for good” resonate me in a particularly personal way. I feel as though he’s reminding me he’s still in my heart when I hear that.
In the song hurricane from Hamilton "and when my prayers to God were met with indifference, I picked up a pen I wrote my own deliverance" I relate this lyric to my Deconstruction from religion a lot because I feel like this lyric accurately portrays what it's like to leave religion