I love Liza and just caught Liza with a Z, i was a little puzzled when in the middle of singing it was a good time,it was the best time, she started singing here we go round the mulberry bush etc, can any1 explain. Would also like to add that i loved the show and the choreography, that woman was agile when she was young.
Ok i looked up the lyrics and discovered it was a part of the song, i just thought it was strange, oh well. I liked it anyway.
my interpretation was she starts to think of her young daughter, thinking that she is not the only one feeling sorrow in his absence "mama will be near you, mama will stay near you, not your dad, thats too bad", at this point she looks greatly saddened.
“Divine decadence!”---Sally Bowles
The song "It Was a Good Time" is the theme from the movie RYAN'S DAUGHTER, and Fred Ebb added the nursery rhymes to turn it into an acting piece. BTW, in an interview, Minnelli said that she asked director Bob Fosse, who was resistant to the piece for a long time before filming, to explain it to her again as part of her prep backstage. He became very upset and said that it was about a couple who were going through a messy divorce; they had a child, and that child was caught in the middle. He then abruptly walked away from her. She said that it wasn't until afterward that she learned he and Gwen Verdon were divorcing, and Fosse was concerned how their daughter, Nicole, would handle it. Also, the song has long been a treat for Liza fans, because what they read into it is Judy Garland's divorce from Vincent Minnelli and how Liza might've reacted to it as a child, many years ago.
share"Also, the song has long been a treat for Liza fans, because what they read into it is Judy Garland's divorce from Vincent Minnelli and how Liza might've reacted to it as a child, many years ago."
That was exactly my take on it back in 1973.
Interestingly, Fosse and Verdon never did divorce. Fittingly, it was Verdon - Fosse's greatest "instrument" - who was with Fosse when he had his fatal collapse.
"I don't use a pen: I write with a goose quill dipped in venom!"---W. Lydecker
omg listen to the commentary
liza explains it all and it makes so much sense...
i was surprised at how she had such a great recollection of her thought process on that song after all these years...
I loved "It was a Good Time"...it was one of my favorite numbers in the show.
shareHey sexey, I'm 65 and when I was a child Here we go round the mulberry bush was like a game. Ring around the rosie etc. Not O'Donnell. Kapish!
Just listened to it again today, always thought this was a knock-out of a number, very much a dramatic musical tour de force.
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