How irritating! Just saw a commercial using "I Feel Pretty" as the jingle

[Misunderestimator]

from West Side Story, and they changed the damn lyrics.

Should be:

I feel pretty
I feel pretty
I feel pretty and witty and gay
And I pity
Any girl who isn't me today

And they changed it to:

I feel pretty
I feel pretty
I feel pretty and witty and bright
And I pity
Any girl who isn't me tonight

:wtf:

THEN I googled it and got almost as many returns for the "bright" crap as the original "gay" lyrics. What the hell is THAT about?

[Bluebear]

1. I dunno but the official site uses "bright/tonight"

http://www.westsidestory.com/site/level2/lyrics/pretty.html

[Misunderestimator]

2. Well that just sucks... I have sung that stupid song...

and it was always "GAY"

[Bluebear]

6. Well you sing it like you feel it, brother :)

[Misunderestimator]

7. LOL ... or sister, as the case may be....

Speaking of which... I performed for an AIDS benefit years ago, and the other singer was a gay guy... I sang "Maria" and he sang "I feel pretty"... "Maria" is a much better song. :)

[Spinzonner]

5. If you look closely

there is a clickable tag and the lyrics are different between the play and the movie. "Gay" was used in the movie.

Considering the times and the use of language in popular culture then, I'm rather hesitant to attribute it to a sexuality issue, especially since the movie was produced afterward.

It may have just been a creative choice issue, or Sondheim wanted some original lyrics restored that were changed for the play ...

It is a puzzlement.

Edit:

On reconsideration, it may have just been due to when the scene was placed, clockwise. If they changed the time and so the lyrics from 'tonight' to 'today', they would have changed 'bright' to 'gay' just to maintain a rhyme.

[Misunderestimator]

8. Could be, but Bernstein was gay...

:shrug: a quandary

[Spinzonner]

9. Bisexual at best

he had children

[Misunderestimator]

10. Plenty of gay men were married and had children in that era...

I know for a FACT that he was gay.

[Spinzonner]

13. Google him

and I think you'll find a lot of material that suggests the bisexuality.

As to whether and why YOU would know better than that ...

[Misunderestimator]

15. As to whether and why I would know that...

I had a very close friend that was seduced by him. A man. And I will at least give you that he might have been bisexual, but many gay men of his generation usually married and had affairs with men... so there's my reasoning.

[Spinzonner]

18. Well, I'm certainly

not qualified or motivated to get into an "Angels on the head of a pin" type argument about the difference ebtween a gay man with a wife and children and a bisexual man.

[Misunderestimator]

19. LOL @ angels on the head of a pin

whatever, man

[Misunderestimator]

12. As for that... she sings it during the day...

it makes no sense to say tonight. They have "Tonight, tonight" for that!

[ronabop]

3. Movie vs. Stageshow.

Movie used gay, Stage show used bright.

http://www.westsidestory.com/site/level2/lyrics/pretty_movie.html

-Bop

[Misunderestimator]

4. Damn... I had no idea... the score says "Gay"

[Spinzonner]

11. Probable explanation

and it would be not nearly so suspicious or politically correct as it appears:

It may have just been due to a difference between the play and the movie as to when the scene was placed, clockwise. If they changed the time and so the lyrics from 'tonight' to 'today', they would have changed 'bright' to 'gay' just to maintain a rhyme.

[Misunderestimator]

14. And I will answer again that she sings it during the day...

while she is working at the bridal shop.

[Spinzonner]

16. Are you referring to the play or movie

and my recollection, unrefreshed, is that it was around closing time so it could have gone either way depending upon certain creative choices.

I think you're trying too hard ...

[Misunderestimator]

17. I am referring to the score.

Why do you think I'm trying too hard?

[Spinzonner]

20. Where in the "Score" is the time-of-day specified

That would be the script/libretto. I'm somewhat confident of my closing time scenario from the movie. I didnt see the play.

That would leave characterizations of the day/night somewhat ambiguous - subject to daylight saving time considerations, of course, which gets this discussion into the realm of the absurd.

I think you're trying too hard to look for another explanation, presumably one with sexual-orientation aspects. I think the focus should be on the tonight/today aspect and the bright/gay just happens to fall out as a rhyme issue. I really dont see the 'gay' aspect as reflected in contemporary culture as having the same import or effect in the mid-late 1950's culture - which I happened to be alive - if young - during.

[Misunderestimator]

21. Oh please .... even in the freaking movie it's during the day

[Spinzonner]

22. See ...

http://www.westsidestory.com/site/level2/archives/fact/fact.html

Scroll down to "The Movie" section.

You will see that the scene for "I feel Pretty" was moved from play to movie, necessitating or justifying a change to 'day' and the associated rhyme.

I'm done with this.

[Misunderestimator]

24. I don't have a clue what you're referencing...

"I Feel Pretty was transferred to an earlier scene, the bridal shop." Which only proves my point that it was in the day!!

And frankly, I'm done with this too... sheesh.

[LeftPeopleFinishFirst]

23. It's done either way

I've heard it done professionally both ways, actually. :shrug:

[Misunderestimator]

26. That's an education for me then, cause I've only known it one way.

:shrug:

[Lydia Leftcoast]

25. In other words, they used the second verse

instead of the original first verse.

I used to have the movie sound track recording, and I recall that "gay" was the first verse and "bright" was the second verse, because she was looking forward to meeting Tony that night.

[Misunderestimator]

27. I have searched for that, having thought that myself...

and I only found one ("gay" amd original) or the other. :shrug: