Orestes Fasting
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Alternate lyrics in Fantine's arrestDid the London production at one point have alternate lyrics for the Bamatabois-Fantine dust-up? I was listening to an old bootleg the other day and the "it's the same with a tart as it is with a grocer" line was replaced with something along the lines of "What's become of the world when a whore from the gutters..."
I couldn't make out the rest--it's a rather hissy tape transfer from the late 90s, before the cuts. Does anyone know the full lyrics, and/or the history of this revision?
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Moci
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Re: Alternate lyrics in Fantine's arrest | Orestes Fasting wrote: | Did the London production at one point have alternate lyrics for the Bamatabois-Fantine dust-up? I was listening to an old bootleg the other day and the "it's the same with a tart as it is with a grocer" line was replaced with something along the lines of "What's become of the world when a whore from the gutters..."
I couldn't make out the rest--it's a rather hissy tape transfer from the late 90s, before the cuts. Does anyone know the full lyrics, and/or the history of this revision? |
I think that I remember hearing about the lyrics for that changing at some point, around a similar time to the cuts being implemented in London, but that doesn't fit in with the cuts not being in your tape, so I might be wrong. The way I heard it, it was something to do with Kretzmer never having liked the "tart/grocer" line, as it seemed too contemporary. I've never heard an example of it, or anything and it evidently didn't seem to last very long. The second part of the lyric could well be "turns down a fee when I give her a chance" as for some reason that's in my head, but my memory is a bit fuzzy and I can't actually remember where I heard it to cite it, so for all I know, I might be making it up.
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The Very Angry Woman
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Didn't they use that alternate lyric in the Australian revival tour, too?
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CJ
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The original - and possibly superior - lyric went:
It's the same for a whore as a grocer
The customer sees what he gets in advance
It's not for the whore to say "Yes, Sir" or "No Sir"
It's not for the harlot to pick or to choose
Or to lead me a dance
Maybe too many grocers complained at being associated with prostitution!
There was a similar lyrical change, possibly for sensitivity reasons, around the later lyric "what's the difference, die a policeman, die a schoolboy, die a spy?" which appears later on when Javert is captured.
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Orestes Fasting
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...yes, I know what the original lyric was. Hence why I said that the original line about the grocer had been replaced with something else. "It's the same with a tart as it is with a grocer" was AFAIK the standard line in all productions until that part, "what's the difference, die a schoolboy...", and a bunch of other sections were cut circa 2001. They were cut to shave a few minutes off the show's running time, not for sensitivity reasons, unless the schoolboy line was actually changed to something else before it was cut. Which I've never heard.
"What's become of the world when a whore from the gutter..." is a version I've only ever heard on London bootlegs from the late 90s--ten to fifteen years into the show's history--although I'll take TVAW's word for it that it was used in an Australian tour too. The recording I heard it on had suffered some tape degradation before being digitized, so it's difficult to understand the words unless you already know what they are. I was wondering if someone with a better recording could make out the rest of the lyric, or if someone who'd seen the show in London when they were using it could remember the full version. I'd also be curious to know when they started using it and when they stopped.
Moci--I seem to remember it being on a recording from 1998 or so, but I could well be mistaken; it could've been circa 2001-02. I'll look it up when I get home this evening.
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Orestes Fasting
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Re: Alternate lyrics in Fantine's arrest | Moci wrote: | | I think that I remember hearing about the lyrics for that changing at some point, around a similar time to the cuts being implemented in London, but that doesn't fit in with the cuts not being in your tape, so I might be wrong. |
I just went back and looked at the one I was listening to, and it's from July 1997. (I'm missing cast information on it, argh.) So, within a few years of the cuts but not really at the same time.
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WhoaItsJonathan
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It's in the 10th Anniversary Cast. I actually love that line and I think it sounds so weird when it goes from "... you little whore" (MUSIC) "I'll kill you, you bastard, try any of that." It's like 3 seconds of nothing.
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Thom_Boyer
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As heard in Manchester (UK Tour) 1992:
"What's become of the world when a whore from the gutters
Can suddenly get such ideas in her head?
Your job is to lie on your back for your (patrons?)
This hideous harlot believes she can choose
Who she takes to her bed!"
My understanding (granted, from hearsay, a long time ago) is that several changes were tested in the UK Tour in the early '90s and integrated/dropped as the years went by. Other changes tried out during this run (off the top of my head) include "you ugly slut" replacing "you little whore" and the mildly extended intro to the "ABC Cafe" scene.
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jackrussell
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I haven't heard that variation but I prefer it - I always thought the grocer line was a bit naff.
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Orestes Fasting
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| Thom_Boyer wrote: | As heard in Manchester (UK Tour) 1992:
"What's become of the world when a whore from the gutters
Can suddenly get such ideas in her head?
Your job is to lie on your back for your (patrons?)
This hideous harlot believes she can choose
Who she takes to her bed!"
My understanding (granted, from hearsay, a long time ago) is that several changes were tested in the UK Tour in the early '90s and integrated/dropped as the years went by. Other changes tried out during this run (off the top of my head) include "you ugly slut" replacing "you little whore" and the mildly extended intro to the "ABC Cafe" scene. |
Ah, thanks!
Yeah, the tirade itself is pretty hard to hear, but he quite distinctly says "You've got some sauce, you ugly slut, you've got some gall."
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