On Song Lyrics, Growing Up and The Monsters Under The Bed

In particular, the truth of “When I Grow Up”, an amazing song from the RSC musical “Matilda”. The lyrics and music is written by Tim Minchin, so it’s hardly surprising that the song is so wonderful and clever, but the truth behind the lyrics have really got me thinking – I’m in one of those deep “everything makes me think” moods, but this song in particular has made me think about all the things we promise ourselves when we’re children – and how, when we do grow up, they’re suddenly not important anymore, and we forget about it. Here’s some of the lyrics – and the truth behind them!

When I grow up,
I will be tall enough to reach the branches
That I need to reach to climb the trees 
You get to climb when you’re grown up.

With this one, I think one of the biggest challenges most kids encounter is never quite being tall enough to climb that one elusive tree. You just know there’s going to be an amazing view at the top, and there might be all sorts of wonders in the higher branches – but you can’t quite reach it, and if you could grow up just that little bit more, you’d be able to reach it. Then, you hit your teenage years, go through a growth spurt, and although you can reach those branches easy peasy, suddenly the thought of climbing that tree doesn’t appeal as much anymore. You might still do it, just because you can, but at the end of the day, it’s just a tree. The views are okay, but nothing that you probably couldn’t have seen if you just stood on your tiptoes, and there’s nothing hiding in those branches other than leaves. 

And when I grow up,
I will eat sweets every day,
On the way to work, and I will
Go to bed late every night.

Ah, I’m sure many of us have shouted this at our parents at least once in our lives – “When I grow up, I’ll eat sweets every day”, or “When I grow up, I won’t have a bedtime!”. Then you get older, and the way you look starts to matter, and your health gets important, and the thought of eating sweets every day doesn’t sound so attractive. You also start to realize that sleep is one of the most beautiful treasures known to man, and you want as much of it as you can get – suddenly, staying up late doesn’t sound like such a great idea. 

And I will wake up
When the sun comes up

Like before – when you’re little, sleep is boring. You don’t get to play games when you’re asleep. You don’t get to go running or play football or with your toys when you’re asleep – you just lie in your bed and sleep. How boring, right? Until you hit your late teenage years, when a lie-in is the best thing in the world, and waking up any time before 10am is worthy of lots of complaining and grumbling and a whole day of being miserable. Gone are the days of jumping on your parents’ bed, demanding to go downstairs and watch cartoons or get outside and play. Now it’s your parents who are faced with the task of trying to drag you out of bed to go to school/college/work.

When I grow up,
I will be brave enough to fight the creatures
That you have to fight beneath the bed
Each night to be a grown up.

And then there’s some things that never change. Maybe it isn’t monsters under the bed that keep us awake, but there always seems to be something frightening, something that disturbs our sleep – be they in our waking lives or nightmares we dread. Worries about work or relationships affect us at any age, whether it’s hard sums and playground spats or an overdue essay and a friendship falling apart, or a dragon of a boss and an impending relationship breakdown. These things affect everyone, and maybe I’m reading too much into these lyrics, but I think they do an amazing job of showing that no matter how grown up you may think you are, there’ll always be a monster under your bed – and maybe that sounds like a bad thing, but I think it shows that in all of us there is a part that doesn’t want to grow up yet – a part that can still enjoy that perpetual optimism that when we grow up, we’ll be able to do anything, because we will be what all children, no matter whether they’re 8 or 82, see as the age when everything changes for the better – “grown up”. I think the correct term for that optimism is “hope” – and hope is never a bad thing. 

Olivier Awards 2012 – My Predictions

First of all I need to point out that I haven’t seen any of these shows nominated here (with the exception of “Wicked”), but I’m going on what I’ve heard, reviews I’ve read and music I’ve listened to (I’m heavily biased in favour of Matilda because it seems absolutely AMAZING!). So, these are my predictions for some of the categories of the Olivier Awards on the 15th April (some of them I can’t possibly comment on, because I’ve heard nothing about any of the nominees. 

Best Actress In A Musical – The Matildas. These four girls, from videos I’ve seen and songs I’ve heard, are incredibly talented. That, combined with their age, makes them my choice for this category. 

Best Actor In A Musical – Bertie Carvel. This one’s going to be tough in my opinion, between Carvel and Nigel Lindsay, who has been playing Shrek in Shrek The Musical, because both are such demanding roles and also big character roles, but from what I have read and heard, Carvel will edge it in my opinion. 

Best Performance In A Supporting Role In A Musical – Nigel Harman. Again, another one that will be a serious contest between Shrek and Matilda, which I think could be a recurring theme! As amazing as I’ve heard Paul Kaye is as Mr Wormwood (and I don’t doubt it considering his character as Vince in “Mongrels”), I think Shrek will edge it in this category because of the things I’ve heard about Harman’s performance. 

Best New Musical – Matilda. If Matilda doesn’t win this category, I will be both surprised and angry. From everything I’ve seen, it has everything that a long-lasting, fan favourite musical needs – amazing music courtesy of the fantastic Tim Minchin, amazing staging and choreography and a storyline based on a book that pretty much every child in Britain – prior to the time when reading suddenly became something that children can’t seem to do anymore – has read. 

Best Musical Revival – The Wizard of Oz. This one will be another tough one – if I was judging, I’d have a struggle between Singin’ In The Rain, which is an old favourite of a classic, and The Wizard Of Oz, which has been so well publicised thanks to “Over The Rainbow”, and has an amazing cast. If I was a judge and such biased judging techniques were allowed, based on its immense popularity thanks to Over The Rainbow, it’s amazing leading lady (Danielle Hope’s voice is phenomenal) and the fact that I know Russell Grant and he’s a fabulous person, I’ll have to say The Wizard of Oz!

Best Theatre Choreographer – Peter Darling. I’ve seen a video of the scene for “When I Grow Up” in Matilda, with the swings, and the insane dancing for “Revolting Children” – that is some mad choreography and I will be very surprised if Darling doesn’t win, although the choreographer for Singin’ In The Rain would provide some competition. 

BBC Radio 2 Olivier Audience Award – Les Miserables. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely adore Wicked, it is and always will be one of my favourite musicals, and when I saw it, it made me cry – twice! But I think that Les Miserables has been running for so long, and there’s no denying it is an astounding musical and I also consider that one of my favourites and an absolute must-see for me, it has such a massive following that I think it will definitely win. If either of the other two (Jersey Boys and Billy Elliot) win, I’ll be quite annoyed because I think Wicked and Les Mis are both so much more deserving of the award, but at the end of the day it is the audience award so the majority will have their say. 

 

That’s all the ones I really feel I can call properly at the moment. Of course, the judges could have absolutely contrasting views to me and I could be proved entirely wrong on all of them, but I’d really like to see Matilda sweep the board completely or as close as possible, especially in the Best New Musical, Best Actor and Best Actress categories, because from what I’ve seen of it, it looks amazing. 

I shall be watching or listening to the awards ceremony to see if I’m right or wrong!