Whedonesque Mobile : Comments on 17478 : Liner notes and lyrics for Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.

It's interesting to see who wrote each song.

And I was so hoping for "sheeple" - Oh well it is great to have it all official and now I am off to download iTunes.

You know, I just noticed something. It never made sense to me that the ghost chorus or whatever you call it would sing "Everything you ever" without the "wanted", but at least it's consistant: the same line, "Everything I ever", shows up in "Slipping"

Maratanos | September 02, 09:47 CET

I'm so glad we get these official lyrics and liner notes to go along with the release of the soundtrack. This will go very nicely with my efforts to design and print out a physical, tangible soundtrack CD for myself and friends. :)

OT: This is my first ever comment. I'm a new member. Greetings and salutations, everyone!

kungfubear | September 02, 10:35 CET

I'm impressed by Jed's song writing. He wrote several of the Sonhdeim-esque songs that I had thought were by Joss. Go full Whedon clan!

SteveP | September 02, 10:36 CET

What exactly is a bridge? Also Maurissa's backing vocals on "Everything You Ever" are ace. Can we have a Maurissa solo album please?

Simon | September 02, 10:38 CET

Reading this, it occurs to me - Even if Dr. Horrible's first attempt with the Freeze Ray had succeeded - How could Bad Horse vote other than Neigh?

ETA: Obviously there must have been an hoof beat or quorum or something.

[ edited by napua on 2008-09-02 10:42 ]

napua | September 02, 10:40 CET

Simon: A bridge is really just a section connecting two parts of a piece of music - in songs, it often leads into a final verse or the climax. Mostly, it adds its own melodic material to the mix. In "Everyone's a Hero", you could call Captain Hammer's "I'm poverty's new sheriff [...] alcholic bums!" bit a bridge - it doesn't share the melody of the rest of the song, and leads into the "rousing, sing-along climax". (OK, that wasn't really very "exactly", but oh well)

In the liner notes for "Everything You Ever", they're referring to the bit between "And I am fine" and "Now the nightmare's real" -- the instrumental part of the song that we hear over the ending montage.

ETA: I had pretty much guessed the composer of every song already -- although I thought Jed had composed "Everyone's a Hero" (and only credited Joss for some of the "Jed and Joss" songs).

[ edited by Serge on 2008-09-02 11:06 ]

Kaneda | September 02, 10:53 CET

@Simon: A bridge is a piece of transitional music that helps to "bridge" parts of a composition together. For example, in the case of "Everything You Ever", the bridge is the incidental score that occurs while Dr. Horrible is upgrading his outfit.

Additionally, see "Rest In Peace" in "Once More, With Feeling". When Spike and Buffy are walking through the cemetery and the music drops from its guitar rock melody into the quieter organ music, that's also a bridge, which according to Joss, is actually a leftover from another song that was ultimately scrapped.

kungfubear | September 02, 10:58 CET

Thanks to the both of you :). Your comments were very informative.

Simon | September 02, 10:59 CET

Can we have a Maurissa solo album please?

Joking apart (if you were joking), Maurissa has sung professionally before. The IMDB says that she was part of an R&B group called Pretty in Pink.

Wait a minute...courtesy of Dollrific, here's a video of Pretty in Pink.

P.S. More background on Pretty in Pink, which was led by Indira Milini Khan, Chaka Khan's daughter.

[ edited by Gag Halfrunt on 2008-09-02 11:19 ]

Gag Halfrunt | September 02, 11:03 CET

The lyrics in the liner notes for A Man's Gotta Do use the word 'diffuse' when I'm pretty sure 'defuse' must be intended. Though in Captain Hammer's case, it does kinda' make sense to apply a verb meaning "to spread out in all directions" to a bomb. While Justice's pseudonym may be Cpt. Hammer, Subtlety's most assuredly is not.

Mercenary | September 02, 11:25 CET

Yeah the odd typo here and there (e.g. "�Cause at first t was weird though I swore to eliminate " - there's an 'i' missing there, assuming Dr H isn't from Yorkshire ;) but otherwise it's great to have the actual lyrics, credits, titles etc. And the great thing about typos on the web is of course, they're dead easy to change.

(and good to know what a bridge is in music - clearly there's more to 'em than those things that stop the banks of rivers banging together ;)

Saje | September 02, 11:53 CET

Occasional typos are almost inescapable. I find them in legitimate, official publications all the time. I mostly just don't mind, unless it becomes rampant and excessive.

ETA: Bridge is also a card game, played mostly by the elderly. :)

kungfubear | September 02, 12:25 CET

Had a giggle to myself knowing that Joss penned the line "Especially that guy - he smells like poo". Teehee!

@Gag Halfrunt - thanks for the Maurissa links, lots of fun to watch!

RollingInKittens | September 02, 12:54 CET

HA! Knew it was WE'D do the weird stuff.

ZodKneelsFirst | September 02, 13:04 CET

I heard that as just "We" so it's nice to know and sit corrected ;).

Occasional typos are almost inescapable. I find them in legitimate, official publications all the time. I mostly just don't mind, unless it becomes rampant and excessive.

Oh totally kungfubear. We do quite a lot of lasering where I work and one of my "extra" jobs is to proof-read letters, so they tend to stand out a bit. But the odd one here or there is really hard to avoid and not an issue at all.

Saje | September 02, 13:13 CET

I'm very pleased to see the lyrics, it illuminates subtleties I'd missed.

falina | September 02, 13:47 CET

Greetings, kungfubear! What I love about not finishing the line "Everything you ever . . ." is it makes the listener finish it, and you've got to put "dreaded" and "feared" in there with "wanted." Also, it's the sum and defining moment of Billy's life -- inadvertently killing the girl of his dreams and getting the credit for it in a world that gives credit for that sort of thing. Unfinished sentence also evokes speechlessness.

Pointy | September 02, 14:24 CET

These are great- I especially appreciate the "Billy, buddy" clarification.

missb | September 02, 14:31 CET

I learned what a bridge is from Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones. The liner notes for 'Thriller' (when they were actually on the liner, the record sleeve) gave the lyrics under "verse", "chorus" and "bridge" headings. ("People always told me..." in 'Billie Jean' and "I love you more than he..." in the 'The Girl Is Mine' are bridges, for example.)

jam2 | September 02, 14:35 CET

Produced, Orchestrated, Recorded and Played by Jed Whedon

You're %$&#ing @!*))ing me! You played all those instruments (except where otherwise noted), you sick talented %$&#! (Last punctuation mark for actual punctuation, not to obscure cussing.) J

By which I mean: Incredibly great job. There's so much going on in those backing tracks.

ETA: Missed a mark.

Edited further to eliminate gross violations of rules of site and civility. Hee hee.

[ edited by Pointy on 2008-09-02 15:15 ]

Pointy | September 02, 14:37 CET

Wow, I missed that too. The only logical explanation is that Jed has a skills installation sphere like 'Joe 90' had. In fact, this very sphere also probably provided the inspiration for 'Dollhouse' but to hide its existence from the government the Clan Whedon jointly came up with the "bathroom inspiration" story.

Nothing else makes sense (sure, people will suggest practice, hard-work, natural talent etc. but I say "Spheres !" to that ;).

Saje | September 02, 14:48 CET

I don't know, most of the music sounds to me like it was done with a computer and a keyboard, unless otherwise noted.

I could be wrong though.

Racoon Boy | September 02, 14:56 CET

I believe it's a mix of synthesized and live instruments. No less impressive.

jam2 | September 02, 15:08 CET

For Horrible credits, it has "Violin by Amir Yaghmai", so that's one live at least. Good that the lyrics really clear up what was sung in the overlapping parts. Was anyone else absolutely compelled to sing along to the lyrics when reading? Oddly, I couldn't just read them straight like other lyrics - another testament to the brilliance of Dr Horrible (or a comment on my deficiencies... but anyway). And on a side (liner) note: yay for the power to post at last, and thus further feed my addiction to the black.

tac_tics | September 02, 15:19 CET

I'm guessing it's mostly keyboards and guitars, even when it sounds like, say, a flugelhorn, but ~~someone's~~ Jed's still got to play all those notes first.

ETA: Welcome, tac_tics!

[ edited by Pointy on 2008-09-02 15:21 ]

Pointy | September 02, 15:20 CET

I love that the soundtrack- in just the last hour- from not even on the U.S. iTunes top 100 albums to number... four at this check.
Keep up the downloading. The Whedons have got a honeymoon to pay for. =)

dpwac | September 02, 15:49 CET

It's currently at no. 11 in the UK charts right now. That's really impressive.

Simon | September 02, 16:00 CET

It's number one in the UK for soundtracks.

[ edited by Gag Halfrunt on 2008-09-02 16:03 ]

Gag Halfrunt | September 02, 16:02 CET

I'd hoped the clarinet on "My Freeze Ray" was real - but it's an awfully good simalcrum if not. Great to have the info.

SoddingNancyTribe | September 02, 16:17 CET

As to how Bad Horse could vote other than "neigh", simple: During the Dr. Horrible limerick night on Twitter, I established the idea that sans Chorus he could resort to hoof Morse.

The One True b!X | September 02, 16:19 CET

Hmm... there are more illustrative ways to display overlapping lyrics by multiple singers. The Buffy Musical tribute site does a good job of it.

Jim in Buffalo | September 02, 16:25 CET

Jed is awesome.

jcs | September 02, 16:35 CET

Now up to #2 US album...

jam2 | September 02, 16:43 CET

I like that there are a lot of ties between the songs -- at least one call-back to "brand new day" in "So they Say." And "everything I ever..." is in "Slipping," too.

Oh, and Horrible's line in "Slipping" -- "I still have to wonder/Can you really hear me?" It reminds me of how in OMWF they played with how sometimes people could hear the other songs and sometimes they couldn't.

Finally, Horrible's line "Anarchy -- that I run!" really sums up Billy's unclear-on-the-concept personality.

ManEnoughToAdmitIt | September 02, 17:13 CET

Damn right he votes "neigh."

Pretty sure that should be "sowing" in Penny's Song though. Also missing an i in "it" in Brand New Day.

Like Pointy, I am impressed to a point where I can only express it in profanity, so I won't do that here.

Sunfire | September 02, 17:17 CET

There are some sentiments that can only be expressed in swears. Hallmark doesn't seem to get that.

Pointy | September 02, 17:30 CET

There are some sentiments that can only be expressed in swears. Hallmark doesn't seem to get that.

o/t: Try www.someecards.com

daedreams | September 02, 17:55 CET

It's one reason I use blank cards, Pointy. Hallmark does not make an "I would need a freeze ray to say this in person so I'm cheating and using this" card.

Sunfire | September 02, 18:01 CET

An exciting day for me: first post on Whedonesque, first chance to show some monetary appreciation to the Dr Horrible team, and first download from iTunes. Maybe I should try bungee jumping too.

I am really impressed actually with how clear the lyrics were when sung, and how little I needed them in written form - that's how a musical ought to be, and kudos to them for making it feel effortless and not overly dramatic. My one real mis-hearing was a 'your' for a 'you're' in "inside you're rioting/society is slipping," which does change the meaning a little but in a nice way.

skittledog | September 02, 18:13 CET

OMG, we have 7028 members?!
Lyrics, awesome.

Numfar PTB | September 02, 18:25 CET

Hey, I just rechecked the lyrics page - having looked at it earlier and seeing the "We'd do the weird stuff" - and now it reads "We do the weird stuff"

Huh.

I was pleased to see that the Whedon brothers sang the Bad Horse songs - I thought I heard Joss' voice in there.

Thanks for the happy tid bit to dwell on this post-labor day weekend morning at work.

Zannadoo | September 02, 18:37 CET

"We do the weird stuff" makes more sense to me. These are experienced groupies, after all. Captain Hammer was probably not their first fancrush and quite possibly they have had a chance to do the weird stuff before.

Lioness | September 02, 18:41 CET

It's character-driven weird stuff.

Pointy | September 02, 18:51 CET

I was wondering about "we'd", since I only saw it as "we". And "diffuse" has now been changed to "defuse".

I wonder if the Whedon boys are using this board as a spellchecker? ;)

timeerkat | September 02, 19:35 CET

I wonder who we're using as a spellchecker ;)

Pointy | September 02, 19:51 CET

In which case, in the Bad Horse Chorus, "receive" is spelled recieve.

Lioness | September 02, 19:54 CET

Wow! I was right on the money with who wrote what! OK, not a huge accomplishment among Whedonesquers, but you can tell which are Joss's songs, and especially, which are his lyrics. His lyrics are sharper, funnier, sadder, angrier, and are the work of a superhero whose power is playing with words. His songs also tend to do more to advance the story and define the characters than the others (not to say that they don't do these things, but his are simply more Jossian).

Jed is an awesome composer.

Nebula1400 | September 02, 19:59 CET

Simon, it's not exactly a Maurissa solo album, but she sings back up vocals in two songs on The Southland's Influence of Geography (Jed Whedon's band.) Zack also sings a song.

dollrific | September 02, 20:12 CET

The first edition of the Dr. Horrible email newsletter includes the following:

- International access to the movie on iTunes is coming soon. We're sorry it's taken a while. Those of you who haven't been able to see Dr. Horrible, we thank you for your patience and understanding. We can also hear you cursing us in your sleep.

- Production on commentary! - The Musical (one of the many extra features on the upcoming Dr. Horrible DVD) is well in progress.

- New t-shirts coming soon!

- Last but not least, for all you villains out there, the Evil League of Evil is not accepting applications yet. But when the time comes, you will know...

The One True b!X | September 02, 20:39 CET

I'm listening to it now, and for the first time, at the end of "So They Say," I think Penny might actually be saying "or is this a bland new day?" referring to the drudgery of Hammer's affections, one assumes.

Can anyone else take a listen and see if they hear it, too? The lyrics on the site don't support it, I must admit.

swanjun | September 02, 20:48 CET

I think this is an artifact of Felicia's singing voice. Her Rs are sometimes a little soft and have slight edges of Ws or Ls to them.

The One True b!X | September 02, 20:54 CET

I always thought it was "bland." It definitely doesn't sound like "brand."

Invisible Green | September 02, 21:04 CET

Ooh, another typo in "Brand New Day." Should be "all the times you beat me."

ETA: Also in "Penny's Song," sowing has an o when you're talking seeds.

And man, am I impressed how many of my very favorites were by Jed. I'm so happy we've got him and Marissa on Dollhouse. Capture the talent, Joss! :)

[ edited by swanjun on 2008-09-02 21:12 ]

swanjun | September 02, 21:09 CET

Jed is one talented mofo. (So are all the others, of course.)

And how did I not know there was a Dr. Horrible newsletter?!

UnpluggedCrazy | September 02, 21:13 CET

Can anyone tell me why Nathan Fillion is listed as performer on 'My Eyes' ????

Marvin42 | September 02, 22:47 CET

I also notice that it's "Horrible Theme" and "Horrible Credits" as opposed to "Dr. Horrible Theme."

For a moment I thought it was clever self-deprecation, but then I thought, "Joss Whedon, cleverly self-deprecating? Nah, couldn't be."

ManEnoughToAdmitIt | September 02, 22:51 CET

The only song credit that threw me for a loop was "A Man's Gotta Do," because that one really patter-sang Joss to me. It introduces the character of Captain Hammer with great economy (a verse or two), includes major plot action with the heist/Captain Hammer's intervention/the near-death of Penny/the meeting Penny and Hammer, and changes all the characters' relationships as Billy goes from hopeful to despairing and Penny starts to become infatuated with Captain Hammer (who remains infatuated with himself, but welcomes Penny in on the action). I mean, story story story! Hilarious and tragic, too. I, being relatively unfamiliar with the writings of the younger Whedonbros, thought: Joss, incorrectly. And so this stake bows, not for the first time today, to Jed.

[ edited by Pointy on 2008-09-03 03:08 ]

Pointy | September 03, 01:00 CET

#1 Australian Album on itunes. Nice work guys!

highandrandom | September 03, 01:06 CET

swanjun: Now all I hear is "bland", never noticed it before though. I also hear "I guess HE'S pretty okay" rather than "I guess IT'S pretty okay" in the same song.

So how long before one of you wonderfully techy/artistic types put up a link to an awesome print-your-own liner note site? Or are we still hoping for an actual CD release?

deadbessie | September 03, 01:14 CET

In the US, it's still losing to Young Jeezy or some such.

The One True b!X | September 03, 01:29 CET

Was kind of hoping for the layout of the lyrics in Brand New Day to follow the rhyming scheme, as in:

This appeared / as a mor/al dilemma / �cause at first
It was weird / though I swore / to elimi/nate the worst
Of the plague / that devou/red humanity / it�s true
I was vague / on the �how� / � so how can it be / that you
Have shown me the light?

Also, a typographical nit I like to pick: Sometimes an opening single quote is used when an apostrophe is needed; e.g., the line should be �If you�re not a friggin� �tard�, not (as it currently is) �If you�re not a friggin� �tard�. It�s a subtle point, but to those who notice it the error indicates carelessness.

Horovits | September 03, 01:30 CET

Dr. Horrible has tweeted "Nathan Fillion's performance credit on "My Eyes" is a mistake. Will fix later."

Lioness | September 03, 01:49 CET

As usual, Pointy really gets it (a.k.a. agrees with moi):

What I love about not finishing the line "Everything you ever . . ." is it makes the listener finish it, and you've got to put "dreaded" and "feared" in there with "wanted." . . . Unfinished sentence also evokes speechlessness.

To me, leaving blanks like that is a bit more sophisticated (but, hey, that's those crazy Whedon boys for ya!), and pays the listener/reader the compliment of assuming he/she is keeping up with the writer--and, well, what Pointy said. I tell ya, peeps, the stakes don't get any sharper than ol' Points. And, no, that was not a typo. . . .

Okay, Pointy's fangurl will go to her rooom now....

Damn but I've missed this place!

SangChaud | September 03, 02:32 CET

Your hot blood has been missed. Are you all schoolified now?

QuoterGal | September 03, 02:34 CET

Hey, QG!! To answer your question, not 'zackly. I'll try to email you soon rather than get OT on the thread. Glad to be back.

SangChaud | September 03, 02:58 CET

*Curses the fact that everyone will realize he's been channeling SangChaud . . . *

[ edited by Pointy on 2008-09-03 03:17 ]

Pointy | September 03, 03:07 CET

Mr. P and QG!! Missed you guys + the rest of the "usual suspects." Please check your e-mail! I'm baaaaack. . . .

Sorry, everyone, to go OT. Just reconnecting, and what do I find? This wonderful/Horrible['s] Sing-Along Blog! I just can't leave you guys (and his royal Purpleness) alone for a minute! OTOH, maybe I should go away for big chunks of time more often, if this is what everyone gets up to while I'm gone. . .

SangChaud | September 03, 03:37 CET

It is "Four sweater vests"!

Anonymous1 | September 03, 04:42 CET

I was wondering how long it was going to take before someone noticed the vests issue was settled, heh.

The One True b!X | September 03, 04:56 CET

It dawns on me now that Bad Horse knew exactly what he was doing: Dr. Horrible simply wasn't evil enough at heart until he was responsible for someone's death (remember Faith?). It wasn't that Bad Horse wanted someone dead, he wanted Dr. Horrible truly horrible, and knew that death was the only way to get Billy there.

Bad Horse is one bad mother...

ManEnoughToAdmitIt | September 03, 05:39 CET

Wow. It's now risen to no. 5 in the UK. That's the best so far. Can't see it taking the number one slot but I bet people in the record industry are noticing.

Simon | September 03, 07:20 CET

Wait, it's #5 in the UK? Where is it #1 then? Australia and Canada? (Wasn't it #1 somewhere?)

The One True b!X | September 03, 07:27 CET

Dr. Horrible's twitter got it slightly wrong.

As Gag Halfrunt pointed out earlier in the thread, it's got to no. 1 in the soundtrack section at iTunes UK. But it's still doing amazing well in the main album chart.

Simon | September 03, 07:31 CET

highandrandom also said:

#1 Australian Album on itunes. Nice work guys!

(it not being an "Australian album" i'm assuming that means "album in Australia" ;)

Ah, so it's back to "We do [the weird stuff]". Fair enough, I now sit corrected back to what I thought it was ;).

Saje | September 03, 09:29 CET

bix, yeah, it was Australia and Canada.

UnpluggedCrazy | September 03, 09:38 CET

(it not being an "Australian album" i'm assuming that means "album in Australia" ;)

That is what I meant ;)

In defense of my inadequate grammar, I've been off work all week with a fever of 39.5 (103 in your measure).

highandrandom | September 03, 09:50 CET

Nope, it's 39.5 in my measure too (i'm from the UK). No defence required BTW but ouch, you're doing well just to form coherent sentences I reckon ;).

Saje | September 03, 10:11 CET

"Brand New Day" fairly rocks. Who knew internal rhyme could be so . . . menacing?

Pointy | September 03, 12:14 CET

swanjun: Now all I hear is "bland", never noticed it before though. I also hear "I guess HE'S pretty okay" rather than "I guess IT'S pretty okay" in the same song.

I never noticed that it wasn't HE'S!

And wow, I'd also never noticed the intricacies of all that internal rhyme. Most impressive.

swanjun | September 03, 16:26 CET

And I have to jump in on the lyric: "We do the weird stuff." I love all the layers to that line!! You've got the obvious fan/popcult obsession with actors and those dreams you blog about in a "locked" entry or confess in mixed company when you're REALLY drunk. You got a veiled snark at all the fan activities... which let's be honest, we are scary at times to the outsiders. And then there's the just plain evil dimension that we're all sexual deviants. Joss is lucky, he has such an awesome bloodline with good taste in mates.

dpwac | September 03, 19:42 CET

Four sweater vests? My, it is a bland new day ;-)

Pointy | September 03, 21:41 CET

I'm convinced that the four sweater vests are essential. They're a key to his secret identity, and possibly the true tragedy of the piece. He has four of them that need cleaning at once! He's a nerd!

Sunfire | September 03, 22:07 CET

I heard that as just "We" so it's nice to know and sit corrected ;).

Yeah, a lot of people did, but I think that misses the whole point of the joke.

Ahem.

"WE do the weird stuff" implies that it's something they don't mind doing and do every day and is therefore no big deal, whereas "WE'D do the weird stuff" underlines how far they'd go in degrading themselves in their devotion to "The Hammer".

Which I think proves I'm best.
Don't you agree?

ZodKneelsFirst | September 04, 12:43 CET

What sane person wouldn't ? You're like the dog's bollocks wrapped in sliced white bread.

;-)

(for me the slightly desperate, reachy edge to the "We do the weird stuff" delivery might imply that they don't actually "do the weird stuff" but are really keen for Hammer to think they do so he'll like them and/or let them wear his sweater vests)

Saje | September 04, 12:59 CET

September 02 2008