Sweeney Todd

Nothing's gonna harm you
Not while I'm around
Nothing's gonna harm you
No, sir, not while I'm around
Demons are prowling everywhere
Nowadays
I'll send them howling
I don't care
I got ways

Toby dimly understands that something is wrong in Mrs. Lovett’s shop. He seems to suspect that Sweeney is a bad guy. Maybe, on some level, he understands that Mrs. Lovett is complicit. But to admit that to himself would be shattering; instead, he will turn her into an ally, and someone worthy of comforting.

So this is not a simple song. It’s a perverse and ironic moment in the show. The oppressed is comforting his oppressor—without realizing what he is doing. Dramatic irony: When we in the audience know something that the character does not know. Meanwhile, Sondheim uses language—beautifully—to inhabit a child’s mind. The syntax is “bare-bones.” The image of defeated, “howling” demons seems appropriate for a boy—or a boy-man. And the touching boasts at the end: “I don’t care! I got ways!”

Not to worry
Not to worry
I may not be smart
But I ain't dumb
I can do it
Put me to it
Show me something I can overcome!
Not to worry, Mum
Being close and being clever
Ain't like being true
I don't need to--
I would never--
Hide a thing from you
Like some

Toby isn’t very skilled with words, but to some extent he is streetwise. He is aware enough to label himself “not smart.” You get the sense, in this song, someone is really struggling to be more than he is. The effort will pay off. Toby survives at the end of this show; few others survive.

“Show me something I can overcome!” Toby is like certain young men in novels who are eager to go off to war—to prove themselves. He knows that “being true” is what counts; “being close and being clever” may be impressive feats, but they mean very little. (“Close” in the sense of meticulous, scrupulous: “Keep a close eye.”) Mark Twain said, If you always tell the truth, then you don’t have to remember anything. That’s the kind of purity and power Toby has. (And he actually does have a way with words, at times; his fervor stirs him; he invents a bit of alliteration, when he alludes to “being close and being clever.”)

Toby’s innocence unsettles Mrs. Lovett in a way the dastardly Sweeney can’t. Lovett tries to silence the boy (through false bits of reassurance). Good and evil are at war, here—though only one of the two parties knows exactly what is going on. “Just sit here, nice and quiet”: A double-edged command. Subtext, ambivalence, a Divided Self: These are the tools Sondheim uses to give you a queasy feeling, and to keep you wanting more.

P.S. A moment where "sound" reinforces "sense." "Close and clever" both start with CL- ... and they both end with a consonant sound, when said aloud. "True," on the other hand, starts with TR ... and it ends with an open OOOOO sound. So "true" really is distinguished from "close" and "clever" -- in more ways than one.

P.P.S. Syntax reinforces meaning. Toby, not great with words, interrupts himself. "I don't need to--I would never--hide a thing from you." A moment of heightened emotion really limits his already limited expressive ability. He must twist his sentence around to get at the thing he means. Read enough Sondheim commentary, and you start to see that all, or much, of this is deliberate--on the part of the artist. 

P.P.P.S. I'm obsessed with Mrs. Lovett's interjection: "What a sweet, affectionate child it is!" She wants to shut Toby up. I'm obsessed with that "it." Knowing Sondheim, I'd bet it's in keeping with Victorian custom to call a kid "it." Also, that choice of word might suggest that Mrs. Lovett doesn't really want to "process" Toby as a living, breathing person. Toby is insisting that Lovett see him as thinking and feeling; she is resisting in any way she can. She would prefer that Toby remain "an object."