90 Sondheim Songs

Published by austin on

Stephen Sondheim turned 90 two weeks ago and to commemorate the event (and because he’s quarantined at home like all the rest of us), NYU MFA student (and Austin’s nephew) Andrew Moorhead compiled his list of the great lyricist/composer’s top ninety songs. Like all lists like this, it provokes lively discussion about such topics as teenage discoveries; being a great artist and a great teacher; the beauty of starting ridiculous arguments; an argument for the first ten songs from Sweeney Todd; a diatribe against some (well, one) terrible and unnecessary song; uncalled-for aspersions against Andrew’s friend Jordan; reverence both genuine and irreverent; what it’s like being a Sondheim savant; some frankly scandalous opinions that Mr. Sondheim definitely won’t like; and how there isn’t much blue in The Red and the Black. Do you agree? Leave your thoughts in the comments below! (Length 21:57)

 

STEPHEN SONDHEIM’S TOP 90 SONGS
By Andrew Moorhead (as of April 6, 2020)

  1. Finishing The Hat
  2. Color & Light
  3. Losing My Mind
  4. Marry Me A Little
  5. Being Alive
  6. Could I Leave You?
  7. Worst Pies in London
  8. Send In The Clowns
  9. Another Hundred People
  10. A Little Priest
  11. The Miller’s Son
  12. Joanna/Joanna (Reprise)
  13. Move On
  14. Opening Doors
  15. We Do Not Belong Together
  16. Not A Day Goes By
  17. Sunday in The Park With George
  18. Sunday
  19. Everyday A Little Death
  20. Company
  21. The Ballad of Sweeney Todd
  22. No One Is Alone
  23. Pretty Women
  24. No One Has Ever Loved Me
  25. Take Me To The World
  26. Ladies Who Lunch
  27. Moments in the Woods
  28. A Weekend In the Country
  29. Franklin Shepard, Inc
  30. Beautiful
  31. Anyone Can Whistle
  32. My Friends
  33. Your Fault
  34. Buddy’s Blues
  35. Someone In A Tree
  36. Broadway Baby
  37. Putting It Together
  38. I’m Still Here
  39. Not While I’m Around
  40. Old Friends
  41. The Road You Didn’t Take
  42. Steps of the Palace
  43. Epiphany
  44. Getting Married Today
  45. By The Sea
  46. Loving You
  47. Any Moment
  48. Side by Side by Side/What Would We Do Without You
  49. You Could Drive a Person Crazy
  50. I Know Things Now
  51. Sorry-Grateful
  52. Waiting for the Girls Upstairs
  53. Unworthy of Your Love
  54. You Must Meet My Wife
  55. Everybody Loves Louis
  56. You’re Gonna Love Tomorrow
  57. The Ballad of Booth
  58. Barcelona
  59. Everybody Says Don’t
  60. Into The Woods
  61. Agony
  62. Our Time
  63. Someone Is Waiting
  64. The Day Off
  65. Giants in the Sky
  66. Stay With Me
  67. Last Midnight
  68. Children Will Listen
  69. It’s Hot Up Here
  70. Children and Art
  71. God, that’s Good!
  72. It takes Two
  73. Now You Know
  74. The Little Things You Do Together
  75. The Gun Song
  76. Lesson #8
  77. Remember
  78. In Buddy’s Eyes
  79. Happiness
  80. The Glamorous Life
  81. That Frank
  82. It Would Have Been Wonderful
  83. Everybody’s Got the Right
  84. So Many People
  85. I Read
  86. Free
  87. Good Thing Going
  88. Now
  89. Hello, Little Girl
  90. In Praise of Women