Signals 57 | November 2019
Hello Ocsplorers!
To those of you in America, Happy Thanksgiving!
To everyone else, sorry, I’m American so the rest of the world doesn’t really matter to me.
Kidding. Kidding.
But seriously, not even a little bit.
If you’re not quite ready for Christmas music this early in the season, I have an alternative playlist for your holiday week or your non-holiday end of November.
I would say, on average, I hear all or most of the soundtrack to The Greatest Showman about 89,000 times a week. My kids love it.
Have you seen the movie?
It stars Hugh Jackman as dreamy dreamer, P. T. Barnum, famous as the founder of Barnum & Bailey Circus (interesting fact: he also had a political life in which he denounced slavery and sponsored an anti-contraception law—somehow he only had four kids though).
There were several articles when the film released about the discrepancies between the real life story compared with the film’s portrayal.
Apparently, as with most movie characters, the real P. T. Barnum was more complicated than the Hugh Jackman version.
(For example, the real P. T. was probably not ever named sexiest man in the world.)
Anyways, what I want to talk about is not so much the story of the movie as the songs.
Honestly, our kids love lots of music but we have done a bit more encouraging with the The Greatest Showman because we also enjoy listening and singing the songs.
(Baby Shark gets old fast.)
In a lot of ways, the soundtrack mirrors the grand vision behind OCSPLORA, which also mirrors how I want to live my life and raise my family.
In A Million Dreams, a young P. T. Barnum sings:
‘Cause every night, I lie in bed
The brightest colors fill my head
A million dreams are keeping me awake
I think of what the world could be
A vision of the one I see
A million dreams is all it’s gonna take
Oh, a million dreams for the world we’re gonna make
They can say, they can say it all sounds crazy
They can say, they can say we’ve lost our minds
See AlsoThe Greatest Showman - Alto Saxophone"The Greatest Showman" is a Cotton-Candy, Toe-Tapping SpectacleDo Actors Get Royalties For Greatest Showman SoundtrackSee, I don’t care, I don’t care if they call us crazy
Run away to a world that we design
In The Other Side, Barnum tries to win over a reluctant uptown business partner played by Zac Efron. This is one of my personal favorites because of the back and forth between the two characters. And they sing it in a bar while running across countertops, dancing on chairs, and slamming shots, just like a real life business meeting:
Right here, right now
I put the offer out
I don’t want to chase you down
I know you see it
You run with me
And I can cut you free
Out of the drudgery and walls you keep in
So trade that typical for something colorful
And if it’s crazy, live a little crazy
You can play it sensible, a king of conventional
Or you can risk it all and see
…
Okay, my friend, you want to cut me in
Well I hate to tell you, but it just won’t happen
So thanks, but no
I think I’m good to go
‘Cause I quite enjoy the life you say I’m trapped in
Now I admire you, and that whole show you do
You’re onto something, really it’s something
But I live among the swells, and we don’t pick up peanut shells
I’ll have to leave that up to you
…
Now is this really how you like to spend your days
Whiskey and misery, and parties and plays
If I were mixed up with you, I’d be the talk of the town
Disgraced and disowned, another one of the clowns
But you would finally live a little, finally laugh a little
Just let me give you the freedom to dream
And it’ll wake you up, cure your aching
Take your walls and start ‘em breaking
Now that’s a deal that seems worth taking
But I guess I’ll leave that up to you
And then there’s This Is Me, which you’ve probably heard even if you haven’t seen the movie. It is sung by the Bearded Lady, played by Keala Settle. It’s a powerful scene in the movie as the circus freaks come out of to mingle with high society after the show:
I am not a stranger to the dark
Hide away, they say
‘Cause we don’t want your broken parts
I’ve learned to be ashamed of all my scars
Run away, they say
No one’ll love you as you are
But I won’t let them break me down to dust
I know that there’s a place for us
For we are glorious
When the sharpest words wanna cut me down
I’m gonna send a flood, gonna drown them out
I am brave, I am bruised
I am who I’m meant to be, this is me
Look out ‘cause here I come
And I’m marching on to the beat I drum
I’m not scared to be seen
I make no apologies, this is me
The last song, From Now On, is probably my favorite. Four year old Ezra says it’s his favorite too. He even has a special snow angel dance for it. But he always wants to play the opening number, The Greatest Show, so I am skeptical. It starts:
I saw the sun begin to dim
And felt the winter wind
Blow cold
A man learns who is there for him
When the glitter fades and the walls won’t hold
‘Cause from then (rubble)
One remains
Can only be what’s true
If all was lost
Is more I gain
‘Cause it led me back
To you
From now on
These eyes will not be blinded by the lights
From now on
What’s waited til tomorrow starts tonight
Tonight
Let this promise in me start
Like an anthem in my heart
From now on
From now on
I drank champagne with kings and queens
The politicians praised my name
But those are someone else’s dreams
The pitfalls of the man I became
For years and years
I chased their cheers
The crazy speed of always needing more
But when I stop
And see you here
I remember who all this was for
Unfortunately, I don’t get a cut from recommending this. But if you haven’t already, check out the movie and/or the music and see if you like it as much as our family does.
Enjoy your Thanksgiving, Americans! And happy November/December everyone else!
Remember: if it’s crazy, then live a little crazy.
—Nate
Top photo by Gabor Barbely on Unsplash
