You know I’m a huge fan of The Life, but the idea that anything in that score can compete with the Titanic is antithetical to my being. But the rest of this is all correct! Although I’ve never listened to passion!!!
Okay, I think I know where you're coming from, but hear me out. Looking at music alone, I can see an argument being made for Titanic's superiority. However, both an individual song and an entire score are more than just their music. Most obviously, their lyrics also have to be considered. Both Titanic and The Life have their share of cringeworthy passages (e.g., "Get me aboard, call out my name/it's to America we aim" in the former and "When I say get on the stick/better do it Nestle's Quick" in the latter). What stands out to me about the lyrics in "My Body," though, is that they not only work perfectly in context for the characters and plot—as a defense of the sex workers' lifestyles, agency over their bodies, rejection of the men trying to control them—they also work when the song is removed from its context, especially as a powerful justification for women's right to choose. You cannot, of course, say that about the lyrics in "The Launching," serviceable (not to mention repetitive) as they might be in context. Ultimately, I think "My Body" works on more levels and in more different ways than "The Launching" or, really, anything in Titanic.
Additionally—and initially I didn't want to mention this because it requires a bit of inference around the authors' intentions (and people really dragged me when I made similar judgement calls in my review of Heated Rivalry: the Unauthorized Musical Parody)—if we assume that Yeston was trying to write a contemporary light opera, similar in style and/or musical complexity to something like Sweeney Todd, and we assume that Coleman was going for a 1980s disco tinged fusion of funk, R&B, soul, and gospel, I think Coleman realized his goal more fully.
You know I’m a huge fan of The Life, but the idea that anything in that score can compete with the Titanic is antithetical to my being. But the rest of this is all correct! Although I’ve never listened to passion!!!
Okay, I think I know where you're coming from, but hear me out. Looking at music alone, I can see an argument being made for Titanic's superiority. However, both an individual song and an entire score are more than just their music. Most obviously, their lyrics also have to be considered. Both Titanic and The Life have their share of cringeworthy passages (e.g., "Get me aboard, call out my name/it's to America we aim" in the former and "When I say get on the stick/better do it Nestle's Quick" in the latter). What stands out to me about the lyrics in "My Body," though, is that they not only work perfectly in context for the characters and plot—as a defense of the sex workers' lifestyles, agency over their bodies, rejection of the men trying to control them—they also work when the song is removed from its context, especially as a powerful justification for women's right to choose. You cannot, of course, say that about the lyrics in "The Launching," serviceable (not to mention repetitive) as they might be in context. Ultimately, I think "My Body" works on more levels and in more different ways than "The Launching" or, really, anything in Titanic.
Additionally—and initially I didn't want to mention this because it requires a bit of inference around the authors' intentions (and people really dragged me when I made similar judgement calls in my review of Heated Rivalry: the Unauthorized Musical Parody)—if we assume that Yeston was trying to write a contemporary light opera, similar in style and/or musical complexity to something like Sweeney Todd, and we assume that Coleman was going for a 1980s disco tinged fusion of funk, R&B, soul, and gospel, I think Coleman realized his goal more fully.
"People Magazine" :-)
👠Miss you so much! 💜
The feeling is mutual!