TOP 10: William Finn Songs
William Finn, the Tony-winning composer and lyricist, died on Monday, April 7. While his name may not be on the uninitiated tongues like Sondheim and Schwartz and Miranda, his shows are much beloved by the theater community.
I was first introduced to his music when I discovered the cast recording of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (which we discussed in the Best 2000s Broadway Musical episode) and I fell in love. I was mostly taken with it because of the characters. William Barfée (there’s an accent aigu) looked like me: a slightly overweight man who was a little awkward and had a nasal quality to his voice.
My friend Tanya and I attended a theater banquet in college dressed as our favorite characters from 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.
I discovered more of Finn’s works as those around me handed me their albums, and fell deeply in love with his other shows and revues: A New Brain, Falsettos, Elegies, amongst others. His songs are so full of love and earnestness, and it makes them so charming and unforgettable.
I am not a William Finn expert, but I do love a lot of his music. Here is my Top 10 list of my favorite songs by him. I’m gonna leave out some wonderful songs (“My Unfortunate Erection,” “What More Can I Say,” “How Marvin Eats His Breakfast,” “Gordo’s Laws of Genetics,” “Sailing” — I can’t include them all!), and I encourage everyone to go and listen to his music.
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10. “Mister, Make Me a Song” Infinite Joy
As he says in the opening to this revue, he loves a well-made song. So I had to include this uptempo song from him about the love and joy of making that well-made song.
9. “What Would I Do?” Falsettos
The final duet from Falsettos is a warm and sad duet between two male lovers, one dying, the other healthy. It breaks a heart and could rival the final duet “For Good” from Wicked. The song explores the happiness of having someone who is incredibly close to you, and then the grief of knowing that they are dying. You are infinitely happy you had them in your life, and don’t know how you would be who you are today without them.
8. “Woe is Me” 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
The ode to perfectionist golden children everywhere, “Woe Is Me” encapsulates the anxiety that young folks might feel when their parents heap every ounce of love and determination onto them, the same parents who teach their children “that God hates losers.” And you wouldn’t want to upset God, would you?
7. “I’m Breaking Down” Falsettos
Who doesn’t love a song where a woman gets to sing her heart out? Add in a cakewalk, an excellent performance by Stephanie J. Block, and getting her feelings out about her gay husband and a kid she can’t connect with, and you have a star-making song for any woman that sings it well.
6. “Heart and Music” A New Brain
I will always fall for a tribute to the creation of art in any form, and this is a love letter to art, to creation, to life…and to making art, exalting in creation, and loving life. Those two things -- heart and music — are so intrinsic to me, and to many creatives (all creatives?), that they fully make this life of creation worth living.
5. “Change” A New Brain
Before Smash Mouth asked for some change for gas, told us they needed to get away from this place, and reminded us that we could all use a little change, we had William Finn’s character Lisa (a homeless woman) asking for the change in your pockets to help her out (and to buy more drugs). And then she urges us all to create societal change.
4. “Holding to the Ground” Falsettos
One of Trina’s solos in Falsettos, “Holding to the Ground” is a lovely ode to all of those people (usually mothers) who have to hold themselves together and be the rock while everyone else around them is falling apart. Because it’s usually the mothers and wives that everyone turns to when an emotionally trying time is coming about…especially ex-husbands whose lovers are dying of complications from AIDS, and nobody knows what to do. You want to hug her, but you have the feeling that if you do, she’ll break down.
3. “The I Love You Song” 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
This trio is one of Finn’s songs that surprises you. In the middle of a manic show about child spellers (and the adults around them), you get this mournful song of a young girl who just wants her parents to show and to say how much they love her, and need each other. On the right day it will make you cry.
2. “Anytime (I Am There)” Infinite Joy
A love letter from the Great Beyond — or so any of us who have lost someone would believe. While Finn is full of jokey songs and uptempo crazes, “Anytime” reminds us that he is also a poignant lyricist in this song that wraps around us like a hug, a hug that we all want from that person that can’t hug us anymore. And now that he’s not with us anymore, he’ll still be there for us in music and song.
“I Feel So Much Spring” A New Brain
A song of hope after such a trial. It’s such a joyous, melodic song of hope that can lift you up. Spring is a time of new beginnings, which is a cliche, but the best cliches are true and don’t make us cringe. There is nothing cringe about the chords that are hit in this song.
What are some of your favorite William Finn songs or scenes? Drop them in the comments.
