The spoken, then sung monologue of a prostitute
August 4, 2006 9:17 PM   Subscribe

The Nickel Under The Foot is one of the most important songs in the history of the American theatre. The back story.
posted by tellurian (7 comments total)
 
At a concert a couple of years ago I had the pleasure of seeing Victoria Clark (who won a Tony a year later for her incredible performance in The Light in the Piazza) sing this, substituting at the last minute for the originally announced Patti LuPone. It's a startling, upsetting, deeply thrilling song.

Still, I preferred Clark's rendition of "From This Day On" (Brigadoon) later in the concert, which earned her a huge round of applause. She can sing anything.
posted by Epenthesis at 10:39 PM on August 4, 2006


***Colour me green***
posted by tellurian at 10:53 PM on August 4, 2006


Nice song, interesting back story. But "one of the most important songs in the history of the American theatre"? That's just insane. And this is not only insane but repugnant:

British composer Alan Bush, creator of Joe Hill and other operas, told this writer in 1971, in Leningrad, "'The Nickel Under the Foot' is the finest blues ever written."


It's a nice song that nobody's ever heard of, which makes it a good subject for a MeFi post, but this sort of hyperbole just detracts from it.
posted by languagehat at 11:23 AM on August 5, 2006


"Nickel Under The Foot" as performed by Polly Jean Harvey. From the 1999 film, Cradle Will Rock.
posted by grabbingsand at 11:43 AM on August 5, 2006


From the 1999 film, Cradle Will Rock.

Well, from the end credits anyway.
posted by theonetruebix at 12:11 PM on August 5, 2006


That was very interesting--thanks, tellurian. And many thanks to grabbingsand for that gorgeous recording. I'm a PJ Harvey fan, but hadn't heard that one before.
posted by elizard at 4:16 PM on August 5, 2006


"Nickel Under The Foot" as performed by Polly Jean Harvey. From the 1999 film, Cradle Will Rock.

The sheer atrociousness of that cover nearly ruined the whole film for me. Harvey utterly failed to get this song, and her souless arrangement shows it.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 4:28 PM on August 5, 2006


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