- The Boy From...
"The Boy From..." is a song with lyrics by
Stephen Sondheim and music byMary Rodgers . It was originally performed byLinda Lavin in a 1966Off-Broadway revue entitled "The Mad Show ".The song is essentially a
parody of "The Girl from Ipanema " andbossa nova style in general. Themelody andlyrics are relatively close to the original, and Lavin's original delivery of the song was reminiscent ofAstrud Gilberto 's simple, breathy style.The song's context differs from the original in that it is sung in reference to a male character. Though both songs are about unrequited desire for the title character, the humor of "The Boy From..." stems partly from the fact that the narrator is completely unaware of her crush's blatant
homosexuality , as, for example, illustrated in the song's second bridge: "Why are his trousersvermillion ? / Why does he claim he's Castilian? / Why do his friends call himLillian ? / And I hear at the end of the week, / he's leaving to start a boutique."The other humorous aspect of the song comes from the fact that every verse ends with a statement of the title character's hometown (hence the title), a
fictional Latin America n village called "Tacarembo La Tumbe Del Fuego Santa Malipas Zacatecas La Junta Del Sol Y Cruz" ("Cruz" pronounced as "cruth" withCeceo ) - with the narrator becoming slightly more out-of-breath with each verse. This is only enhanced by the ending, where the narrator laments that her beloved is "moving to Wales / to live inLlanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch ."Sondheim wrote the song's lyrics under the
pseudonym of Esteban Ria Nido, which is a literal Spanish translation (from German) of his name. The singer isMillicent Martin ."The Boy From..." is also used in the Sondheim
tribute revues "Side by Side by Sondheim " and "Marry Me a Little".
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