The Sondheim Lyrics Chain

[Leighton]

Me and My Town, battered about. 
Everyone in it would like to get out. 
Me and My Town, 
we just want to be loved!

[KathyB]

Johanna!
Johanna!
I treasured you in innocence
And loved you like a daughter.
You mock me, Johanna,
You tempt me with your innocence,
You tempt me with those quivering--

[scenicdesign71]

A weekend in the country—

It's perverted!

Pack my quiver and bow!
A weekend in the country:
At exactly two-thirty, we go.

[KathyB]

Wherever we go,
Whatever we do,
We're gonna go through it together.
We may not go far.
But sure as a star,
Wherever we are,
It's together!

[scenicdesign71]

...But here you are,
And what was just a world
Is a star
Tonight.

[KathyB]

Hey, I thought you said tonight'd be Tony's--

This joint is just as grand.

We girls got dressed for dancing at Tony's--

This joint is in demand.

[scenicdesign71]

Old friends don't make demands on you—

          —Should make demands on you!

—Well, don't make demands you can't meet!

          Well, what's the point of demands you can meet??

                    Well, there's a time for demands, whether you meet them or not...


I guess I could've just used Mary's line all by itself, but the full exchange is just such classic Sondheim, so conversationally compressed that it's actually tripped up some listeners — as here, where a helpful Redditor unpacks it with admirable clarity and concision:  "Consistently with his character, Charley thinks we need to demand the impossible of our friends to help them grow."  (Another contributor on the same thread quotes SJS, in Sondheim On Music, explaining the line himself at much greater length.  Interestingly, he had earlier treated the same idea — of "easy" vs. "hard" interpersonal demands, as a measure of commitment — in Company, with Frank's spiritual cousin Bobby yearning for a relationship whose terms explicitly dictate that it never be tested: "Make a few demands I'm able to fulfill.")

[KathyB]

Someone who, like it or not, will want you to share
A little, a lot...

[scenicdesign71]

A little less thinking, a little more feeling—
I'm just quoting Mama!


A common phrase in the language, and in Sondheim:  A Little Priest, a Little Death, A Little Night Music, Marry Me a Little... and I suspect there are more than a few other instances. "I'm just" may not be quite so ubiquitous, but it's likewise pretty utilitarian, common enough in everyday speech, and it too pops up numerous times in the oeuvre.

[Leighton]

I'm just a Broadway Baby
Walking off my tired feet

[KathyB]

The side is retired,
So we start another inning--
Right?

On a boat is such fun--

You'll come back a changed man--

[scenicdesign71]

It's a miracle that's going to change your life!
Come along and see the miracle, and bring the wife!

[Leighton]

My happiest mistake, the ache of my life:
You must meet my wife.
She bubbles with pleasure,
She glows with surprise,
Disrupts my accustomed leisure
And ruffles my ties.

[scenicdesign71]

Okay, big surprise:
People love you and tell you lies.
Bricks can fall out of clear blue skies.
Put your dimple down!
Now you know.

[KathyB]

Back to this song: 

She dotes on—

Your dimple.

My snoring.

How dear.

The point is, she's really simple.

Yes, that much seems clear.

She gives me funny names.

Like—?

"Old Dry-As-Dust."