Do you fantasize about an alternative career?
I am sure when we were children, we all dreamt of what we wanted to be when we grew up. I know I did.
I believe there was a time when boys dreamt of being train drivers.
I was not one of them. I wanted to be a fighter pilot and fly a Spitfire.
The obstacle to that ambition was Spitfires had become obsolete years before I started dreaming.
However, this article is not about my childhood fantasies, but the one I have fixed on in my more mature years.
My ideal career would be a lyricist.
The renowned British Lyricist, Don Black, once remarked when people talk about Elton John songs, they seem to forget Bernie Taupin, who wrote the lyrics.
I think Don Black knew how Taupin may feel.
As lyricist on songs such as “Diamonds are forever”, “Thunderball” and other collaboration with John Barry, he was often, in my opinion, overlooked. It seemed they were referred to as John Barry songs.
What kind of lyrics would I like to write in my fantasy career?
I would love to write the words for songs in musicals.
The challenge of collaborating with a musician and write songs that move a story along.
There have been many great exponents of the art of writing lyrics for shows.
Tim Rice, Alan Jay Lerner, Lorenz Hart, to name but a few. But in my opinion, the greatest of them all was Oscar Hammerstein.
I am not going to name all the musicals he wrote lyrics for. I will let you do that.
My all-time favourite of the Rogers and Hammerstein musicals is “South Pacific.”
How Oscar Hammerstein came up with lyrics for the show based on a novel, “Tales from The South Pacific,” illustrates his genius in my eyes.
In my fantasy career, I would love to write lyrics like that.
I would also like to copy the really greats and write a song from a show that could enjoy success outside of the musical it was part of.
Tim Rice achieved it with “I don’t know how to love him,” from Jesus Christ Super Star.
Oscar Hammerstein achieved it with “Some Enchanted Evening,” from South Pacific.
Both songs are pivotal to the plots of their respective shows, but both can standalone as powerful love songs.
I am sure many of you may be thinking, ‘but you need music.” I do not deny the importance of music. But a piece of music without words is a tune. You can hum a tune, but you can’t sing it. It takes words to make it a song.
So, this has been the story of my fantasy career.
The person who writes lyrics for musicals.
Do you have a fantasy career?
Some more of my articles.
When writers block hits, I resort to meandering.
