God

[STEPHEN SONDHEIM, spoken]
This is my studio. I work lying down, for obvious reasons: it allows you to take a nap whenever you want to. And I also use very soft lead pencils, they're called Blackwings, and it means that they wear out very quickly, so you can spend a lot of time—

[Pencil sharpener whirs]

—sharpening. These pencils are very hard to find.

[COMPANY]
God
I mean the man's a god
Wrote the score to Sweeney Todd
With a nod
To de Sade—
Well, he's odd
Well, he's God

[SONDHEIM, spoken]
I write on yellow pads. I prefer the kind that have exactly thirty-two lines on them, because it means that you can make alternate choices of words in between the two lines. If there are too many lines, there isn't enough space.

[COMPANY]
Smart!

[SONDHEIM, spoken]
If there are too few lines, there's too much space.

[COMPANY]
The lyrics are so smart!
And the music has such heart—
It has heart?
Well, in part
Let's not start—
Call it art
No, call it—
God!

[SONDHEIM, spoken]
I do use a computer to write on occasionally, but mostly to transcribe lyrics. And to make things look professional.

[COMPANY]
Well, you have to have
Something to believe in
Something you can celebrate
Celebrate
Venerate—
Something like

Venetian pottery
Old movies
Butterflies
Politics
Wine
Picasso
Skiing
Stamps
Musicals!
It might as well be musicals!
And when it comes to musicals—

(spoken)
I like the score of Rent!
Shh, later!
Me too!
Not now
Really, Rent?

[SONDHEIM, spoken]
The hardest thing about writing, for me, is getting started. It's the first words on the yellow pad. You have to lose your inhibition so that you can afford to say something, perhaps corny or cliched. I use—I've often used, anyway—alcohol to help me lose the inhibitions. I sip out of a, out of a shot glass, because once you're through an ounce and a half of liquor, if you want more, you have to get up and get more.

[COMPANY]
Nice smile
Sweet face
Real style
Such grace
That wit—
That's it!

[SONDHEIM spills a bowl of pencils off the piano.]

[SONDHEIM, spoken]
Oh, shit.

[COMPANY]
And does he know how to rhyme!
Sublime...
He'll surprise you every time

You never know just where the
Chords are going next
Just like the lyrics—
No, the "text"

You think the tune is going up
It's going down
You think the tune is going on
It stops
It doesn't finish, it just stops

(spoken)
You know what I like best? His flops

(sung)
Anyone can whistle
That's what they say—

(spoken)
Later
Yeah

(sung)
Still you have to have
Something to believe in
Something to appropriate
Emulate
Overrate—
Might as well be Stephen

[SONDHEIM, spoken]
And this box contains my fingernail clippings. I'm thinking of sending them to the Smithsonian.

[COMPANY]
Or, to use his nickname
God!
We've got God!
Look who's God!
He's still—

(spoken)
Turn him off and let's just sing the damn songs.

(sung)
Amen!