Books to Music: Cyrano "Thither Thother Thide of the..."

Indecency is a very correlative terminalogical brusteration of the whole concept of contracept.
Depending on the mode of varitriculation between subject and object.
Subject and upject.
Oh that's ridiculous really.

Another look at one song, this is the comic nonsense song from the 1973 musical adaptation of Cyrano. I heard that one of the reasons Christopher Plummer accepted the role of Captain Von Trapp in The Sound of Music was because he wanted to practice singing in musicals - especially so he could play this part.  Of course in The Sound of Music, his singing didn't make the soundtrack, but here you get to hear his real voice.  And it's really pretty good!

"Thither, Thother, Thide of the...." takes place when Cyrano is trying to distract De Guiche while Roxana and Christian marry.  He interrupts De Guiche and acts like a madman while he talks about... something on the other side of the moon. Except he can't really get all his words out, and he constantly interrupts himself.  The lyrics of this song are pretty genius, given how hard it must be to write nonsense that sounds meaningful and conversational.  And Christopher Plummer pulls off the conversational part brilliantly, because there is such conviction and purpose in his delivery.  The song captures Cyrano's command of language because it seems more difficult to engineer such nonsensical but convincing claptrap on the spot.

 The pace of this song intrigues me as well - how it starts and stops - which means seeing it live must be the best way to experience it so one can understand the acting choices made.  I can just imagine how fun this must be to perform - swaggering about with bravado on the stage.  The whole song is just one manic run of words and crashing brass and whimsical wind instruments that disorient and confuse.  I also love how the people Cyrano are talking to laugh like they are just trying to humor him. I can imagine their confused nervous glances at each other, while they smile and nod placatingly at Cyrano.  I think this song is a big departure from the music on the rest of the album, which made it stand out for me.

Unfortunately youtube has failed me, in not having this song available to listen, so check out the clips on Amazon if you would like to hear more!