In May 1965 the first Kander and Ebb musical premiered on Broadway. Flora the Red Menace, despite a lovely score, was not too long for the Great White Way. It scored a Tony for Liza Minnelli (in her Broadway debut) as the eponymous Flora, but it closed two months later – on July 24, to be exact – fifty years ago. Last month the last “original” Kander and Ebb musical, The Visit, closed on Broadway. Closings are not a great thing to celebrate, and although it might seem slightly perverse to highlight them, a show closing only indicates that a production has been open in the first place and to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the closing of what would become a landmark show (even just for the Ebb and Kander partnership not to mention Minnelli, the great songs, Mary Louise Wilson) StageBuddy is celebrating 50 songs of Kander and Ebb.
Kander and Ebb are a stalwart pair in American musical theatre, much loved and trumpeted and yet I feel as if they are underrated as far as musical theatre writers go. They are so often pigeonholed into being considered writers who only do razzle dazzle, or writers who only work best on the ironic. But, Ebb and Kander have more to offer than tongue-in-cheek songs (though those tongue-in-cheek songs are fantastic). It’s a battle to pare down their fantastic work to only 50 songs and this list is highly unscientific. The idiosyncrasies on this list, then, are only indicative of the many options available for “best” Kander and Ebb songs so that even favourites like “City Lights” (The Act), “Don’t Tell Mama” (Cabaret), “Cell Block Tango” (Chicago) don’t make it on to the list. Think of this less as an intractable list of the right order to love Ebb and Kander and more as fifty special moments the pair have given us for the last fifty years. With Ebb dead for a decade we have no more new songs to get (unless they release the demo for The Skin of Our Teeth) but these fifty songs and more will be thrilling generations of music lovers over the world for the next fifty years, too.
#50 “Two Little Words” (from Steel Pier)
Steel Pier is one of the (many) “forgotten” scores from Ebb and Kander and it’s odd for me to single out this particular number. This aria written for Kristin Chenoweth’s Precious is a parody of an operetta aria but is successful as a song itself and as a parody. It earns its space on its list because of Chenoweth’s rousing performance of the song on the Original Cast Recording. The song embraces its silliness while being effective, one of the moments of easy humour in the affective and effective tragic Steel Pier.
(And two other words to tell you what bliss is,
One word is mister the other is miss-is.)
#49 “Southern Days” (from The Scottsboro Boys)
As we'll come to see this song employs a classic Kander and Ebb trick: a subversion of the lyrics' import by a deliberately deceptive melody. The almost a capella rendition of this on the cast recording is a haunting realisation of the tragedy of the eponymous Scottsboro with some gorgeous singing.
(How the sights and sounds come back to me, like my Daddy hanging from a tree. Or the fire that made those crosses burn. Don't you wish that we could just return....)
#48 “Razzle Dazzle” (from Chicago)
“Razzle-dazzle, noun, informal, noisy, showy, and exciting display designed to attract and impress.” How smart of Kander and Ebb to make their song titled “Razzle Dazzle” neither noisy or two showy. This number is a key to how subtle and smart Chicago is with its parodic overtones. From the double snaps (a last minute addition suggestion by Ebb) to the intricate vocabulary from Billy, the number only highlights the irony by having such a soft and melodic tune be the entry point to the exciting display of Chicago.
(Long as you keep them way off balance
How can they spot you’ve got no talents?)
#47 “Don’t ‘Ah Ma’ Me” (from The Rink)
You’d think that a musical with Liza and Chita (Kander and Ebb staples) as mother and daughter would be more appreciated? Alas no. Their first duet is shorter than I’d like, but does a great job of turning a moment that would work as a longer conversation into a sly and effective little song. Mother and daughter try to out-sing the other in this wonderfully caustic duet.
(Now I’ve got a good thing going and I don’t need you to hex it. / Did you notice where you entered you can also make an exit? So go out and find a husband, join a convent be a whore. / I am sick and tired of your 'Ah Ma'.)
#46 “Money” (from Cabaret)
The version from the 1972 soundtrack is the definitive version – the jangling coins as accompaniment, the depraved way the word "money" is sung overlaying the track, the confluence makes for a creepy (or sexy if you listen to the 1998 Revival) number.
(But when hunger comes to rap rat-a-tat, rat-a-tat at the window / Who’s there? Hunger? See how love flies out the door.)
#45 “Willkommen” (from Cabaret)
"Wilkkommen" works, like so many songs from Cabaret, because of how it manages to entice and unnerve at the same time. Much of this has to do with the music. While Ebb's lyrics are excellently working to add some erotic titillation, Kander's music is both sensual and jarring, making this a perfect opening to this provocative musical and score.
(Outside it is winter. But in here it's so hot. / Every night we have to battle with the girls to keep them from taking off all their clothings...)
#44 “Ring Them Bells” (from Liza with a Z)
Pure simple, fun and electric Kander and Ebb. This song about a woman finding love in unlikely places is a delightful story in musical form with the typical surprise ending that Kander and Ebb like to throw at us, with an irresistible chorus.
(And so she went to Madrid and met a handsome Senor / But he liked to throw the bull and he was no matador.)
#43 “I Walk Away” (from The Visit)
Chita’s first solo in The Visit is a thrilling one. Instead of just a simple tale of Claire recounting her husband the bridge and finale of the song point to the sly, and chilling centre of The Visit as Claire alludes to the depravity to come. The part where the ensemble harmonises on the pointlessness of money is just the sort of dramatically ironic moment Kander and Ebb like to tease us with.
(For money cannot heal the sorrow that you feel, anytime you feel sorrow. / No, no, no: money can't erase, the terror that you face when you're terrified to face tomorrow.)
#42 “The Happy Time” (from The Happy Time)
This opening to the oft-forgot musical is one of the prettier Kander and Ebb tracks. It's a show about remembering and the lush music immediately cultivates a nostalgic feeling but bathed in sweetness and warmth and not regret.
(This journey through time and space may strike you as odd, perhaps, and yet / I'm longing to see you smile, and hear you laugh...and remember you remembering the happy time.)
#41 “I Wrote the Book” (from Woman of the Year)
Tess Harding from Woman of the Year is one Kander and Ebb leading lady without a big number to belt out, probably to accommodate Lauren Bacall’s range. But she does have this great solo number, with all the cutting wit of the character. As we go through these songs you'll notice a common thread of the pair. Their songs never immediately point to what they're really about. Tess is facing the one thing she's bad at, love, but the song itself is confident and easy as she avoids the truth of that until the song tricks us into believing its guile.
(So when it comes to losing a man, you'll find it unsurprisingly true. That last week I wrote that book, too.)
#40 “Tomorrow Belongs to Me” (from Cabaret)
Yes, the centre of this song as a haunting number for the Nazis in Cabaret is chilling, but beneath it all it's a truly beautiful song.
(Oh Fatherland, Fatherland,Show us the sign / Your children have waited to see. /The morning will come / When the world is mine. /Tomorrow belongs to me!)
#39 “Everybody’s Girl” (from Steel Pier)
This Debra Monk number from Steel Pier is a purely comedic showcase and like Precious's number (at #50) a diversion from the show's bleak main plot. It features some dexterous and overly raunchy rhymes and is an absolute delight.
(And so to reaffirm my status / It's absolutely gratis / To use my apparatus / I'm everybody's girl)
#38 “We Can Make It” (from The Rink)
I will admit that when it comes to the sentimental side of me The Rink might emerge as my favourite score of Kander and Ebb; there is much to love about it and it uses their typical brass and sass but crafts a tender, soft musical. This number epitomises that. The message is simple and straightforward but in execution it comes off sincere and affecting rather than cloying or trying too hard.
(Long as I know you're trying. Long as I know you care. Long as we stick together. We'll take on anything, anytime, anywhere.)
#37 “Class” (from Chicago)
Listen to it as a great comedy number, or miss the subtext and sing it in earnest. This cleverly rhyming song about missing the old days is great either way, complete with lewd lyrics. (Too lewd for Fosse at the time of its premiere.)
(Every guy is a snot, every girl is a twat. Holy shit, what a shame. What became of class?)
#36 “The Only One” (from The Visit)
Is the school teacher ultimately as depraved as everyone in the town? Who can say? But his solo number might easily be the most moving song of the score. It's a wonder that a song about betraying a friend, and damning him to death, can sound so heartfelt.
(But Oh if Schell is wretched, so are we, they said.)
#35 “Show People” (from Curtains)
Curtains gets ignored often because it's just a thrilling send-up to theatre and sees slight next to larger thematically relevant pieces, but that doesn't mean its score isn't something to treasure. "Show People" is delightful, amusing, and electric in its simplicity. It might not feature the duo at their most sophisticated, but it's proof that Kander and Ebb don't need to go dark or arcane to make a good song.
(Our days are tied to curtains, they rise and they fall.)
#34 “Dear Love” (from Flora the Red Menace)
Of course, the love song at the centre of Flora has Flora asking Harry to ask her to be his valentine. What more would we expect from this headstrong, exceptional young lady?
(These eyes could be lit with a new and truly dazzling shine if you say I am your Valentine)
#33 “It’s A Business” (from Curtains)
Straight comedy numbers don’t often get their recognition in the canon, and Curtains does not employ the sly cynicism via comedy of notable Ebb and Kander, instead going for a straightforward and deliberate humour. This ode to the business of theatre is the highpoint. It’s essentially a tongue-in-cheek proclamation of commerce being more important than art and features some deftly fly lyrics.
(I do the Kama Sutra with a Richard Rodgers score, that’s good business. Don't we all?)
#32 “Mein Herr” (from Cabaret)
In terms of the musical it's little more than a great Kit-Kat number showcase number for Sally. There's almost no relevance to the book. But, who cares? It's a fantastic song.
(The continent of Europe is so wide, mein herr. / Not only up and down, but side to side, mein herr. / I couldn't ever cross it if I tried, mein herr. / But I do what I can...)
#31 “The Apple Doesn’t Fall” (from The Rink)
For all its heartache The Rink features some delightful comedy moments like this great Act Two duet between mother and daughter where they come to grip with their similarities. Instead of a standard, dramatic duet Kander and Ebb play to Liza and Chita's comedic talents, understanding that these characters won't connect in a typical mother/daughter way but in something more humorous and perverse.
(- For nine months at least I was never ignored. - For nine months, I gave you free room and board. - Gee, your tops Ma.)
#30 “I Don’t Remember You” (from The Happy Time)
It's not the only Kander and Ebb song on the list to play with memory, but it's the most charming of them. A strange kind of love song that's not about the love itself and just about losing oneself in the memory of remembrance.
(That was another time, another time and place. Although you bear a fair resemblance, you're another face...)
#29 “Mrs A” (from The Rink)
This other number from The Rink is hardly straightforward. It’s one of the most heavily plotted numbers I can think of from Ebb and Kander. Kander and Ebb are often tossed out as composers for theatre whose songs can exist fine outside the realm of their shows. This number features the tragic climax of The Rink where secrets are uncovered for Chita Rivera’s Anna and it shows the power of musical theatre here. When a song can expertly navigate issues and themes which would take longer if done in a non-musical fashion you know a song is working. It’s not a dance number or a fun song but an expert construction of a theatre song propelling the momentum of the play forward.
(Listen you: it's hard getting through the morning, it's worse getting through the day. And I haven't even started about the nights. Someday I'm gonna tell you about the nights...)
#28 “Marta” (from Kiss of the Spider Woman)
My favourite thing about this song is a running leitmotif in many of the prison numbers in Kiss of the Spider Woman (as opposed to the dream numbers). There’s an early song the prisoners sing, “Over the Wall”, where they long to escape the binding walls of the jail and as Valentine sings of his longing to go to Marta, the “Over the Wall” refrain seeps into the song, it’s such an effectively done amalgamation when Kander and Ebb do their usual subversion trick when Valentine faces the fact that he is just dreaming.
(So I close my eyes and I hear her step, and I know she's come to hold me / So my senses stir.... / But it's never ever her, it's just a dream of her....)
#27 “How Lucky Can You Get?” (from Funny Lady)
Kander and Ebb's first of two Oscar nominations was for their work on this song. It's a frothy song but a delightful one which amps into something special when two thirds through it sees a key change with Barbra launching into the vocal acrobatics she's known for. A bit of a trite thing to say, but it's such a terribly fun song it's impossible to resist its easy charm.
(You can spare me the blues I don't sing in that key / And if there's a man who'd leave me I am happy to say /
I haven't run into him yet.)
#26 “My Own Best Friend” (from Chicago)
In the story this song of self-love is ridiculous and overblown; on its own it's self-affirming and inspirational, which is one of the joys of Kander and Ebb songs where dual meanings (and sometimes triple meanings) are inserted into songs that sound beautiful on their own but take on sinister and deeper meanings within context.
(If life is a school, I'll pas every test. If life is a game I'll play it the best. 'Cause I won't give in, and I'll never bend...)
#25 “First You Dream” (from Steel Pier)
Steel Pier sits beside The Scottsboro Boys as the bleakest of Kander and Ebb musicals, so it makes sense that for both their strongest moments are of (impossible) attempts to escape the bleakness. This eleven o'clock number about dreams is the score's most affecting piece.
(Here we are high above the rooftops / There's a barn there's a field of corn / And a little white house / Where another you was born)
#24 “Let's Hear it for Me” (from Funny Lady)
A recurring Kander and Ebb theme is songs that urge you on to face the world, and this Funny Lady track approaches it in a direct way. The uptempo joviality of it might surprise those who think of Kander and Ebb for darkness. It's a nice rejoinder to the Youmans and Rose track "It's Gonna Be A Great Day" also featured in the film. (And your head feels so good when you finally clear it / If I saw a worry I wouldn't go near it.)
#23 “Yes” (from 70, Girls, 70)
As we go through the songs it becomes clear that if you want a life-affirming song, even one tinged with sadness, Kander and Ebb are a good place to turn. "Yes" is not tinged with sadness, though, but is a surefire ecstatic-about-life song that never fails to put a smile on my face, specifically the arrangement done for Liza's Liza with a Z special.
(Yes, I can, yes, I will / Yes, I'll take a sip, Yes I'll touch / Yes of course, yes, how nice / Yes, I'll happily, thank you very much, yes, oh, oh, yes.)
#22 “Colored Lights” (from The Rink)
This is such a deceptive song. The title suggests happiness, but the song is about the absence of those lights. It's a song about a memory as it opens the show to Angel misremembering integral moments from her past. To remember the song is to remember its jaunty opening, or its humour until we dig deeper and face the depressing centre of the song, "Where are my colored lights?" It's a song about wasted potential wrapped up in a beautiful offering. It's typical of Ebb and Kander to seduce us with the rhythms and wordplay to bury something so depressing. What an excellent opening for the similarly depressing (but excellent) The Rink.
(But with other people's music ringing in my ears, I couldn't sing, well, anything... / And I thought if I could just be twelve again, or was it ten, well, anywyay. / It seems to me I knew the secret then, it's so simple twelve, it's so simple ten. / It was simple then...)
#21 “The Butterfly” (from Zorba)
This might seem an odd choice for such a high placement, but it’s one of the myriad examples I hold up to prove how easily (and expertly) Kander and Ebb can do sincere and sentimental songs. The construction of this song from Zorba is so unusual. It sees Nikos retelling a story about not allowing a butterfly to properly grow out of its cocoon matched with a haunting refrain from the female Leader/Narrator of the show and The Widow (Nikos' love interest). Like many a song from the duo, the lyrics are very simple and direct. The lyrics are lifted greatly from an actual passage in the book and the coupled with the song’s haunting refrain: “Not too fast, not too fast. Let it grow, let it last” is such an Ebb and Kanderesque sentiment. So much of their work is about things that are just not working right now, but looking forward and hoping they will work, in time.
#20 “All the Children in a Row” (from The Rink)
The final song of The Rink is the proof of how it encompasses a different, less examined, aspect of The Rink. The song’s earnestness and hope amidst the bleak domestic fabric of The Rink (and indeed, the actual rink) is a passage through which we come to Angel’s closing number, and Liza Minnelli brings it home in excellent fashion. The song, like Angel's own journey, rambles from her hippie life to her brief marriage before settling on its ultimate thesis, but it works. Liza’s staunch, unfearing “We Are”, which ends the song, feels as much a declaration as it is a dare for any thing in life to dare challenge her.
(Who keeps marching? We do. Who's the future? We are. We are. WE ARE!)
#19 “Love and Love Alone” (from The Visit)
The music during the pas de deux for this features some of my favourite compositions from Kander which gets to the dichotomy of the song which seems to disavow everything which comes with love while still being a love song. It's one of the beautiful peculiarities about The Visit, and it is very likely the score will live on just because of this gorgeous solo.
(When tomorrows come, and your heart is stone. What has made it numb? Love and love alone.)
#18 “Cabaret” (from Cabaret)
#17 “Sing Happy” (from Flora the Red Menace)
Here’s a pair of songs that remind me of each other. A random person would probably say that the most common thing about Kander and Ebb songs is how positive and happy they are, and the eponymous song from Cabaret is one of the most easily misinterpreted musical theatre songs. It’s often pitched (like “As Long As He Needs Me” or “My Funny Valentine”) as an earnestly positive song about happy things, completing missing the heartache beneath. “Cabaret” is a depressing song, of succumbing to frivolity as a shield from sadness, and Flora’s final plea to “Sing Happy” is not one of true belief but a desperate avoidance of all that is not happy. Liza sells the desperation on both of these songs seven years apart; it’s the sort of intertextuality on Kander and Ebb songs that I love about them.
(No need reminding me how it all fell apart, I need no lyrics singing of stormy weather.)
(Start by admitting From cradle to tomb / Isn't that long a stay. Life is a Cabaret, old chum, Only a Cabaret, old chum)
#16 “Sometimes A Day Goes By” (from Woman of the Year)
#15 “The Money Tree” (from The Act)
It’s pure coincidence these two love songs fall next to each other. Ebb and Kander’s penchant for the cynic makes their take on familiar topics so interesting. For example, both these songs examine lost love in a way that depends on their unusualness. In the Woman of the Year number Sam sings that he keeps remembering this woman he lost, and in The Act’s number, Michelle realises that this man she loves will never reciprocate. Instead of singing either song with this straightforward tone they both exist in the opposites. Sam sings of days where he does not remember this woman, although those days are rare to the point of being non-existent, and Michelle sings of her man loving her one day when impossible things happen. It’s a burying of the lead that lends a poignancy to both numbers when we realise they both exist in the opposites. In this way, they not only capture the love, but also the way both characters seem insistent on not facing the truth: for Sam not facing it so as not to admit his weakness, for Michelle shrouding the truth by living in a sarcastic worldview. Both make for fantastic numbers.
(The day will come / He'll come running to me / The day the sun turns black / And there's a money tree.)
(It's hardly everyday /It's most unusual / In fact I can't remember when /But sometimes a day goes by /When I don't think of her)
#14 “Chief Cook and Bottle Washer” (from The Rink)
Chita's first song in The Rink could have easily been a ballad about how glad she is to finally be on her own, but Kander and Ebb know to buck trends and turn the standard into something fascinating. Like many songs from the The Rink this song would not function well removed from the plot, but it's a gem. It's not a mournful ballad but a toe-tapping headstrong number as Anna Anotelli emphatically and happily bids farewell to the domestic world.
(So now it's warm the bottle, see what she's crying for. /Bathe and wipe and rock and "diap" / And bake and take and mop and pop exactly like I did before.)
#13 “She’s A Woman” (from Kiss of the Spider Woman)
This bleak and unusual “love” song is Molina’s standout in Kiss of the Spider Woman. Molina is imprisoned for homosexual advances to a minor, and he loses himself in the world of a movie star he adores. In this song he sings of her value and the song deceives us into thinking it’s a simple song of adoration and idolatry for a star until the final line -- “and I wish that she were me” -- puts everything that came before into a different perspective. It’s a beautiful moment, making Molina’s longing to be someone else so potent and, like any great musical theatre song, achieving it in a way superior to what would have occurred in straight dialogue.
(Milky lotion, scented creams. She’s the climax of your Technicolor dreams.)
#12 “All That Jazz” (from Chicago)
It is impossible to argue with the sheer legendary nature of this song and the way it has seeped into pop culture, but it's a great song without all that baggage. It rivals "New York, New York" for my favourite instrumental opening of a Kander and Ebb tune, and it's the easy highlight from Chicago. It's confident, it's brassy and it is immediately addictive.
(Show her where to park her girdle. Oh, her mother's blood will curdle if she hears her baby's queer for all that jazz.)
#11 “You, You, You” (from The Visit)
Even in its most quiet moments The Visit never settles to peacefulness. There is always something sinister lurking beneath the surface. It’s one of the keys to this duo turned quartet in Act One where Claire and Anton finally meet as they sing with their young selves. It’s a beautiful moment with some gorgeous orchestrations on a fantastic song, but both Ebb’s lyrics and Kander’s music are hinting at the tension underneath. It’s the tension bubbling below that makes the number so impressive, though, and the idea of having the two couples sing this as a duet of two pairs at different stages in their live makes for sweet music.
(After the chill I knew, comes the fire of you, you, you)
#10 “Life Is” (from Zorba)
Kander and Ebb have never been afraid to put their talents to writing about things which seem too huge to whittle down to a five minute song – the entire commerce vs art debate, one of the world’s most popular cities, the power of money -- but none is as large as the opening to Zorba. “What is life?” is the question from an innocuous character, and we launch into this song. What song could live up to that? Zorba is too often forgotten but its attempt to recreate the music of Greece with its syntax and its composition is impressive, and this life-affirming song (in spite of everything) is the show’s secret weapon. Enjoy this Tony performance from the Original production.
(Having if you’re lucky, wanting if you’re not. Looking for the ruby underneath the rock.
Hungry for the pilaf in someone else’s pot, but that’s the choice you’ve got.)
#9 “Go Back Home” (from The Scottsboro Boys)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCzXwHcbM3k
It makes sense that the saddest Kander and Ebb song comes from The Scottsboro Boys. As the vaudeville act telling the story slows down mid way for this mournful ballad, Kander and Ebb create one of their best songs. It's familiar in that it's longing for an escape like other familiar songs from the duo but the hope of going back home is distinctly impossible here and even the music, which resounds with finality and despair, knows it, making this song all the more affecting.
(Walking through the world things happen / Right before your eyes things happen / Soon enough you're lost and thinking, 'When I'm gonna go back home?')
#8 “A Quiet Thing” (from Flora the Red Menace)
One of the smartest things Kander and Ebb do in Flora the Red Menace is having the moment where Flora gets the thing she’s been longing for (thus far) in the play be one of restrained happiness rather than exuberant joy. It’s the key to this number and a key to the diversity of the pair. The two like to play around with life’s emotions and who is not familiar with the joy of getting something and realising that when it happens, it’s not loud but quiet. It’s yet another sincere and earnest number which reaffirms the two’s ability to navigate through the musical language of anyone from deathrow inmate to impressionable young would-be communist.
(Happiness comes in on tiptoe….)
#7 “New York, New York” (from New York, New York)
I think the legend of this song has become so huge, it’s been sung so often, so many inferior covers have been done, it’s difficult to separate it from its legend and just listen to it for what it is – an excellent ode to a woman finding her way in a city that works for her. It’s the curse of Kander and Ebb whose songs take on a life of their own that they become too popular to think of on their own merits. From that jaunty opening to the explosive key change this song works, making use of truisms about the city but never descending into triteness.
(Aside: It continues to be mind boggling that there are people who consider Frank Sinatra’s version of this song superior to Liza Minnelli’s.)
#6 “My Coloring Book”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQJpUJndh2E
This song would eventually go on to be part of the musical revue of Kander and Ebb songs, And the World Goes ‘Round, but was originally a pop song. And what a pop song. Is it sentiment that has it so high? Probably, but what’s an arbitrary list like this for if not sentiment? It’s Barbra Streisand’s version of this (on The Second Barbra Streisand Album) which most effectively captures the plaintive excellence of this song. (I couldn't find a better video than this version which featured a duet with a non-Kander and Ebb song.)
(These are the eyes that watched him as he walked away, color them grey…)
#5 “Isn’t This Better” (from Funny Lady)
Another love song, by pure accident. Few remember Funny Lady although it features a quintet of excellent Kander and Ebb songs. This one is the highlight, though. It is, perhaps, their most straightforward attempt at a love song, sincere and without any tricks, and it works excellently.
(“Passion is fine, but passion burns fast. Passion’s design seems never to last.”)
#4 “The Day After That” (from Kiss of the Spider Woman)
This centre piece for Act One is actually two songs in one, in a way. The line of the title does not appear until the song is more than half way through. Valentine, the jailed communist revolutionary, bonds with his cellmate by singing of his story – living in squalor with his mother and sister -- for the first two and a half minutes in touch with the bleak world of the present in the play, but the entire song is yearning, building up to the explosive climax when he sings, “Some day we’ll be free, I promise you we’ll be free. If not tomorrow, then the day after that.” Kiss of the Spider Woman has always been a difficult task for adaptation (tip to Terrence McNally, an oft collaborator for the book), and a rousing ballad urging social change is difficult in a musical context like this. But this song works lyrically, excellently. The dual meaning of having the “someday we’ll be free” refrain sung by the prisoners who are trapped physically and mentally is effective, if cutesy, but as a song celebrating the songwriting pair it’s the confluence between Ebb’s words and Kander's music, which does not go for the simple but employs a frenetic mix, that makes this actually work as a get up and fight anthem.
(And the candles in our hands will illuminate this land if not tomorrow, then the day after that.)
#3 “But the World Goes ‘Round” (from New York, New York)
New York, New York is such an abysmally underrated film featuring Liza's finest screen work and an excellent Ebb and Kander score. The song construction is shockingly simple, essentially the same verse (but for some mild changes) sung twice but with different emphasis. Songs like these depend both on the conjunction of music and lyrics and the import that a good performer can put to it. Liza’s work on this is possibly my favourite turn from her.
(Somebody loses, and somebody wins and one day it's kicks then it's kicks in the shins)
#2 “I Miss the Music” (from Curtains)
I hesitated slightly on this one since it’s more Kander than Ebb. Ebb died as Curtains was being written and the score was completed after his death with some assistance from Rupert Holmes. The pair have never revealed who specifically wrote each song, but as has been observed elsewhere this plaintive song about a lovesick songwriter singing to his former writing partner and wife is so clearly an ode from Kander to Ebb. Maybe it is all Kander, but it’s inextricably tied to the Kander and Ebb legacy and features Jason Danieley’s sublime singing. Like the off-key love song pair ("The Money Tree" and "Sometimes A Day Goes By") the decision to avert the typical notion is there. By focusing not on the love but the fruits of that pairing, the song manages to be even more affecting that way.
(No one tells you 'That's not funny?' / No one says 'Let's cut that bar.' No one makes you better than you are..)
#1 “Maybe This Time” (from Cabaret)
After forty nine entries, there are some threads in even the most disparate of Kander and Ebb songs which seem essential and “Maybe This Time” touches on some of them. The deft slyness of this song is that it can function as both a desperate, misguided plea and a confident assertion of change – it’s up to the audience to decide how it works. For all the deft skill they display this duo are really something at crafting simple and evocative numbers, and “Maybe This Time” rises to the top for keeping their most common theme alight – a yearning for a better life. From their ironic songs to their more heartfelt and sincere the yearning for something else, something better, has always been a Kander and Ebb staple, and this vulnerable yearning of this track (original written as a standalone number then added to the Cabaret score from the film onwards) displays a simple excellence that I cannot argue with.
And with that I come to the end. Is this the definitive list of 50 for Kander and Ebb? I can't be certain, but looking at so many of their songs together their inclinations are easier to unearth. It's true, sad or happy, Kander and Ebb's hopefulness ekes out of so many of their numbers. I still feel it'd be pat to call them feel-good composers, but their music is truly among the most inspiring of musical theatre (even if the word inspiring suggests something more trite). As we celebrate Flora the Red Menace's final bow on Broadway, let's celebrate the duo at the centre who created so many beautiful tunes.
