Hello everybody here's Annie to tell you (ramble to you) ab the ballad of jane doe!!!
first off, I've heard some people say that it should be "Jane Doe's Lament" and "The Ballad of Monique Gibeau", since a ballad tells a story, and to lament is to feel pain, agony, etc, but i think that is WRONG. Bc as Karnak states, the entire point of the show is to give them the chance to express what they wish they were, not what they were perceived as. a ballad tells a story. Jane wanted a story. Noel wanted tragedy. I think the titles fit them very well. Anyways, let me tell u ab some lyric choices that I luv sm bc this entire musical is a lyrical work of art. Ok first first!!! Lots of people get confused by the beginning of the song, but I think it makes sense if you've seen or read Legoland, because penny was unhappy with life, she had a realistic point of view, she always knew she would die one day, she is just lamenting (ba-dum tsss) the fact that she can't remember who she is. Another thing I like is that in fall fair suite when she does her screaming thing they're all spinning around and she's repeating the same notes bc its like she's swirling around them, but in her song it just represents falling straight down. Another thing is the next bit where she references Saint Peter, who is the guy who judges souls and decides if they were good or bad or wtv. I like this part bc the way she says it so desperately is that she doesn't care if she was a horrible person, she just longs to know who she is. "And from the ground, beneath my feet" this line is more evidence that penny was still dying after the rest of the choir was already dead, disproving the theory that penny was dead before everyone else. One of my favorites bc it has so many ways it could be interpreted, "a choir never complete." There are a few things I think it means. 1. She lost her head, this can be either metaphorical (referring to the "head voice" which is a way one can sing) or literal (since one of penny's body parts is missing, they can never reunite the entire choir.) 2. Penny was the only soprano. It's clear that Ocean's actor has a wide vocal range when you hear her sing in the background of other songs, but whenever she sings as Ocean, she mostly stays in alto range, meaning penny would have been the only soprano in the choir, and the choir isn't complete without their soprano. 3. Since it's implied that penny joined the choir at the last minute, she never got to perform with them, they were never complete. This is my favorite bc it shows up multiple times!!!! "An old forgotten tune, a song that no one knows, forgot how it goes" any time she references a song, the song she's talking about is penny. In Legoland, penny has a quote something along the lines of "Im just one song in a big symphony." (I can't remember the full quote right now.) She's saying that penny is forever forgotten. "Why be left with no family and no friends?" In this part in the musical, the choir covers their faces. None of them know who Jane is. "Time eats all his children in the end." This is a reference to Kronos, who is sometimes associated with time, and is known for eating his children. It's also a reference to earlier in the musical when she talks about lions eating their children. "A melody floats through the air, when silence falls, does no one care?" Going back to what I said earlier, the melody is penny. When penny dies, silence falls. The melody stops. But there's no one to care. "Another sad forgotten tune, another song that no one knows, so that's how it goes!" I like to think that she's talking about Jane now. Jane is the other song, but they know how that song goes already!! So, that's how it goes. "No one to sing, no one to sigh" here, she's saying that when people hear a Jane Doe body was discovered, people are obviously sad, but nobody can say "Hey, that's somebody i know." "Isn't there anyone to tell me who I am?" Penny is Christian, so she was probably expecting to go to heaven and see her relatives who could identify her. "Just a sorry speculation" bc Jane's entire existence is a speculation. Nobody knows who she is.
Thank you :]
