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Sondheim's Love Song

People think of Sondheim as being a bit frigid, but recall the love songs he has produced: "It Takes Two," "Johanna," "Not a Day Goes By," "Move On," "Loving You," "Tonight."

My favorite is "With So Little to Be Sure Of," which is sung on the occasion of two lovers parting (for complex reasons):

With so little to be sure of....
If there's anything at all....
If there's anything at all....
I'm sure of here and now and us together.

Leave it to Sondheim to emphasize how scary and fragile life is, even in a love song! Emphasis so strong, it requires a repeated line ("If there's anything at all.....")

All I'll ever be I owe you....
If there's anything to be....
Being sure enough of you....
Makes me sure enough of me....

My favorite lines in the song. Watch how his mind zigs and zags. It's possible we aren't really anything in this world ("If there's anything to be....") The verb "be" sends Sondheim in a surprising direction: "Being sure enough of you makes me sure enough of me..." Can you think of a smarter way of pointing out the kind of support that two people can give to each other?

Thanks for everything we did...
Everything that's past....
Everything that's over too fast....
None of it was wasted:
All of it will last....

An appropriate note to land on: gratitude, for whatever this experience is that we're living through together. ("Crazy business this, this life we live in....")

I will think of this song when Sondheim dies. (Not to be morbid.) Bernadette Peters used it to end her famous Royal Albert concert in the nineties--wisely. Attention must be paid!

P.S. This is a lovely essay I found--about the song--online: http://blog.nyfos.org/stephen-sondheim-little-sure
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