Do It All Again

In the weeks leading up to the first cabaret performance of Regretting Almost Everything, there came a day William Finn (Bill) asked us to play through what we had. We did. When we’d finished, Bill said our musical comedy was missing two things: A song where we saw Anne and Clay having fun together, and a ballad.

So we wrote those things. The fun song we wrote was about tater tots and Jello shots. Suffice it to say it was not our proudest moment. (We had replaced it with Anymore by the time we did the second cabaret at 54 Below the following April). Bill also nixed my first attempt at a ballad… Something about chocolate chip bagels. (Clearly, I should stay away from songs about food). The second ballad we wrote, Do It All Again, is still our closing number.

I will never forget Bill’s reaction the first time we did it for him. We were in his living room. Bill and I were sitting across the room from one another. Danny was at the piano.

Bill had had us print out the lyric. As Danny played, Bill followed along. When Danny finished, Bill looked up at me, and in utter disbelief, said, “You wrote this?”

Now, I am not natural ballad writer, and when Bill said that, I was sure it was because the lyric was terrible. Turned out, I was wrong. Bill liked the lyric. He was shocked to find I could write a love song.

I’m not sure which is worse…I suppose it would have been worse if he’d thought the lyric was terrible; I would’ve had to do it all again.

There is now a recording of Beth Leavel and Jeff Blumenkrantz singing that very song on the Regretting Almost Everything Concept Album, our two-person musical about marriage.