Music Doesn't Like - Part 38 (You Oughta Be Here With Me)

"Music doesn't lie. If there is something to be changed in this world,
then it can only happen through music." – Jimi Hendrix

Yep, I'm a musical theatre nerd. Despite what other people think, it is not the only type of music that I listen to, but musical theatre is one of my favorites. It's an occupational hazard when you want to be a musical theatre performer from the time you are 8 years old.

The other day I was conversing with a friend who sent me a link to the website a theatre company that she thought I would find interesting: Deaf West Theatre. DWT is an award-winning professional resident Sign Language theatre and as I have studied sign language in the past and love theatre, sending me this website is a no brainer. Funnily enough, I had already been aware of DWT's productions having seen DWT's truly transformational production of the musical Big River back in 2003 in NYC. DWT's "productions feature deaf and hearing actors working together to tell stories in a seamless ballet of movement, American Sign Language and spoken - or sung - English" (DWT's website). Their productions are simply stunning to experience.

Naturally, remembering the DWT's production of Big River inspired me to listen to the original 1985 Broadway soundtrack. If you don't know this musical, Big River is a musical retelling of Mark Twain's timeless story, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which is one of my favorite novels. The musical has a book by William Hauptman and music and lyrics by Roger Miller. Interesting, the original Broadway production of Big River included stars Rene Auberjonois and John Goodman.

I love this musical nearly as much as I love the source material. The songs include a wide variety of styles from country to jazz to gospel. However, most of the tunes cannot be pigeonholed as one style of music or the other because Roger Miller has done a beautiful job of blending several types of music into one coherent whole on many of the songs. 

In addition to the wide variety of styles, the songs also have an equally wide variety of emotions: The humorous: "Guv'ment" (lyrics) by Huck's Pappy, Tom Sawyer's "Hand for the Hog" (lyrics), plus the two songs by the King and the Duke, "When the Sun Goes Down in the South" (lyrics) and "The Royal Nonesuch" ("She's got one big breast in the middle of her chest/And an eye in the middle of her nose/So says I, if you look her in the eye/You're better off looking up her nose" - lyrics). The tender ballad: "You Oughta Be Here with Me" by Mary Jane Wilkes. The spiritual: "The Crossing". The best songs are reserved for the Huck and Jim: "Muddy Water" (lyrics) as they shove off on a raft for Freedom, "River in the Rain" (lyrics) as they spend their last moments alone on the river, and "World's Apart" (lyrics) as the recognize the gulf that exists between them. Plus Huck and Jim's trio with Mary Jane on "Leavin's Not the Only Way to Go" (lyrics). Check out the 1985 Tony Awards performance by the original Huck and Jim.

The song that has always been my favorite, but also has taken on a new meaning for me over the years is Mary Jane's song when she sings to her father's coffin - "You Oughta Be Here With Me" (lyrics). It's beautiful song about loneliness and the loss of a loved one and is yet another song being added to my catharsis playlist: