A very short musical cue that somehow seems oddly appropriate right now.

In A Little Night Music, the musical by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler, not the divertimento by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, “As the guests are ushered into the dining room and seated at the table, the three women in the Quintet comment, in canonic form.”

Here’s the Original Broadway Cast recording.

Sondheim left this comment:

The refrain line I originally intended was:

Perpetual anticipation is good for the soul, 
But it’s bad for the skin.

I rarely change a lyric idea simply because of a collaborator’s taste, but Hal disliked the line so intensely that I gave in. I’m sorry I did; the wry tone would have been just weird enough to enliven the mysteriousness of the moment.

I wonder what he had rhyming with skin?

Perpetual anticipation 
Is good for the soul 
But it’s bad for
The heart.
It’s very good for
Practicing self-control.
It’s very good for
Morals, but
Bad for morale.
It’s very
Bad.
It can lead to
Going quite
Mad. It’s very
Good for reserve and
Learning to
Do what one
Should. It’s very
Good.
Perpetual anticipation’s a
Delicate art:
Playing a role,
Aching to start,
Keeping control
While falling apart.
Perpetual anticipation
Is
Good for the
Soul but it’s
Bad for the
Heart.