Hugh Jackman singing Soliloquy from Carousel

Hugh Jackman singing Soliloquy
Rodgers and Hammerstein's classic,
Carousel in Concert
6/6/02 Carnegie Hall, NYC


Billy
I wonder what he'll think of me
I guess he'll call me the "old man"
I guess he'll think I can lick
Ev'ry other feller's father
Well, I can!
I bet that he'll turn out to be
The spittin' image of his dad
But he'll have more common sense
Than his puddin-headed father ever had
I'll teach him to wrestle
And dive through a wave
When we go in the mornin's for our swim
His mother can teach him
The way to behave
But she won't make a sissy out o' him
Not him! Not my boy! Not Bill!

Bill... My boy Bill
I will see that he is named after me, I will.
My boy, Bill! He'll be tall
And tough as a tree, will Bill!
Like a tree he'll grow
With his head held high
And his feet planted firm on the ground
And you won't see nobody dare to try
To boss or toss him around!
No pot-bellied, baggy-eyed bully
Will boss him around.

I don't give a hang what he does
As long as he does what he likes!
He can sit on his tail
Or work on a rail
With a hammer, hammering spikes!
He can ferry a boat on a river
Or peddle a pack on his back
Or work up and down
The streets of a town
With a whip and a horse and a hack.

He can haul a scow along a canal
Run a cow around a corral
Or maybe bark for a carousel
Of course it takes talent to do that well.

Aha-ha-ha-ha!
He might be a champ of the heavyweights,
Or a feller that sells you glue,
Or President of the United States,
That'd be all right, too
His mother would like that
But he wouldn't be President if he didn't wanna be!
Not Bill!

My boy, Bill! He'll be tall
And as tough as a tree, will Bill
Like a tree he'll grow
With his head held high
And his feet planted firm on the ground
And you won't see nobody dare to try
To boss him or toss him around!
No fat-bottomed, flabby-faced,
Pot-bellied, baggy-eyed bully
Will boss him around.

And I'm hanged if he'll marry his boss' daughter
A skinny-lipped virgin with blood like water
Who'll give him a peck
And call it a kiss
And look in his eyes through a lorgnette...

Hey, why am I talkin' on like this?
My kid ain't even been born, yet!
I can see him when he's seventeen or so,
And startin' to go with a girl
I can give him lots of pointers, very sound
On the way to get 'round any girl
I can tell him ...
Wait a minute!
Could it be?
What the hell!
What if he is a girl?
What would I do with her?
What could I do for her?
A bum with no money!
You can have fun with a son
But you gotta be a father to a girl
She mightn't be so bad at that
A kid with ribbons in her hair!
A kind o' sweett and petite
Little tin-type of her mother!
What a pair!

My little girl
Pink and white
As peaches and cream is she
My little girl
Is half again as bright
As girls are meant to be!
Dozens of boys pursue her
Many a likely lad does what he can to woo her
From her faithful dad
She has a few
Pink and white young fellers of two or three
But my little girl
Gets hungry ev'ry night and she comes home to me!

I-I got to get ready before she comes!
I got to make certain that she
Won't be dragged up in slums
With a lot o' bums like me
She's got to be sheltered
In a fair hand dressed
In the best that money can buy!
I never knew how to get money,
But, I'll try, I'll try! I'll try!
I'll go out and make it or steal it
Or take it or die!

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Hugh
• Jackman
• Soliloquy
• Carousel
• Carnegie
• Hall

[hpfan]

Behold -- The perfect man.

[sicon67]

As good as Jackman is, his voice doesn't have the textures off McRae.

[Phantomdubber]

@joyandlady its bastard in the original ¬_¬

[nkohne]

@joyandlady I have sung this song, and while I don't like the language that Hugh Jackman uses in the song, it is what is written in the music. The MacRae version was in a video, and at that time, you would not have seen language on film when aired on tv (I could be very wrong on this, but that is what people have told me through the years).

[xaruiz]

He started making the fists at the end and my mind saw claws extending...

[joyandlady]

He says "bastard" instead of "bully" (3 min)... you don't try to improve upon Hammerstein's lyrics, okay? That, combined with his styled rendition of this song, makes me cling to MacRae's version even more.

[operasanger]

@tray2022 Actually his voice is closer to dramatic tenor or what they used to call "lazy tenor". The timbre and tone are really not lyric baritone at all. It's far too light with very little baritone richness. Unfortunately it's more like what is popularly called "baritenor" in musical theatre these days - it's just more tenor than baritone.

[tray2022]

hugh is a lyrical baritone thats why he has a high tone then dramatic baritones but he is deff not a tenor haha

[frenchaccount1]

Saw his one man show last week and he sang this! It was magical!

[ebertenor]

He's actually a very talented singer. The thing is, he should be singing tenor. All this stuff is too low for his voice to shine, which is why he doesn't have the colors that true baritones do on this song.

[smashedmatt]

Little formal voice training? Hugh graduated from WAAPA, Australia's most prestigious musical theatre institution!

[lauriehere1]

When you compare this to MacRae or Raitt, PLEASE remember that this was recorded on a hand held device from the audience, so the quality of the recording is poor. As for comparisons, yes Jackman has had little formal voice training, but I find his "conversational" way with a song more enjoyable and memorable. His Billy is cocky, just as he shoud be.