The Season of Audra McDonald

Oscar Hammerstein was capable of perfect lines; people keep returning to a song from "State Fair," even if people have sort of forgotten the movie.

I'm as restless as a willow in a windstorm.

I'm as jumpy as a puppet on a string.

I'd say that I have spring fever--

But I know it isn't spring.

What makes this special is that the melody actually "jumps"; like a puppet on a string, the melodic line is jerked in one direction, then in another.

Having described her own restlessness, the speaker can get to the heart of the matter. In the bridge, the song reveals itself to be an "I Want" declaration:

I keep wishing I were somewhere else--

Walking down a strange new street--

Hearing words that I have never heard--

From a boy I've yet to meet.

This is the "forefather" of "Something's Coming," from "West Side Story"; the speaker has a half-defined wish for adventure.

The song builds to a climax: three detailed, simple, elegant lines.

I haven't seen a crocus, or a rosebud, or a robin on the wing--

But I feel so gay (in a melancholy way)....

It might as well be spring.

Then, a kind of resolution: Make it spring. Make this season into my own springtime. It might as well be spring.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMOkSel7LpU

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