My pick for #23 was "Atención", but today, for number 23, I picked "The Club".
Yeah, I know. I know, salsa is great, and I agree with you, but we're talking about technique here.
This song fits just right in its place before the ending of the first act, and really embodies the way Latino people celebrate pretty much anything: with dance, drinks and music.
Now, let's get to the analysis:
Damn, this is nice,
I really like what they’ve done with the lights.
So, the hot club in Washington Heights;
You might be right, this music’s tight.
Yo, did I mention that you look great tonight?
Because you do you really—
The rhyme scheme lights/Heights is mentioned in the opening number, although there it's presented in a more creative way. (Yeah, sorry.) Then again, I'm not saying this is bad, this is just way more conventional and we're all used to this kind of rhymes at the end of the line, which also happens with tight/tonight. This is a really popular style in writing, known as AABB rhyme scheme.
And here comes your second fancy word of this series, which is consonance. We can find it in might/right,where the similar-sounding words are close to each other to accentuate the metre.
You thought "consonance" was the only fancy word of the day? You thought wrong. Because we also have something called aposiopesis, in the last line. It's basically the interruption of a line to give an emotional effect. In this case, Usnavi's ramble is interrupted by Vanessa, trying to call him down, but failing.
We also find a little bit of a flashback to "It Won't be Long Now", where Vanessa talks about how she doesn't go out with any of the guys in the barrio because none of them has "nothing to say." But even though Usnavi seems to have a lot to say, he really can't find peace while being around Vanessa, since when he speaks again we have something similar as his first verse.
Now, here comes something interesting, with Benny's help:
BENNY:
Here’s to getting fired!
USNAVI:
To killing the mood!
BOTH:
Salud!
BENNY:
Without so much as a “thank you!”
USNAVI:
After five long years.
BOTH:
Cheers!
BENNY:
To finally getting Vanessa!
Man, fix your collar...
USNAVI:
Holler!
BENNY:
To doing shots on a weekend!
USNAVI:
As long as you buy ‘em, l’chaim!
Here, Usnavi shifts from Spanish, to English, to Yiddish, showing his own culture, along with an assimilation of others.
(You're paying for the shots, Usnavi. Benny just got fired.)
After a particularly dramatic encounter between Benny and Nina, and after Usnavi let Vanessa dance with José (yes, that José), now every single man in the club has decided to go try to dance with her, since despite Usnavi being there, it doesn't even feel like they went together.
Vanessa, let me get the next one!
Vanessa, let me interject some!
The way you sweat, the way you flex on the floor
It makes me want you more!
We know it's Vanessa they're refering to, from the first line, and from what's happening on stage.
But this anaphora (reminder here) might be also serving another purpose.
These men really want to dance with Vanessa, enough to try to call her attention by calling her name not once, but twice per verse, this last one being repeated three times.
At this point, Usnavi is not having it. But as awkward as he is, he tries to hit on another girl, who just so happened to be Yolanda (yes, that Yolanda).
USNAVI:
Bartender!
Let me get an amaretto sour for this ghetto flower!
How are you so pretty?
You complete me
You had me at "hello," you know you need me
Truly, madly, deeply, let’s get freaky.
Oh I get it, you’re the strong and silent type
Well, I’m the Caribbean island type
And I can drive you wild all night!
But I digress!
Say something so I don’t stress
YOLANDA:
No hablo inglés
USNAVI:
Yes!
And the last fancy word of the day is assonance, which we can find in the sounds of sour/flower.
It's basically the use of vowels to create a good metre.
He also says "me" three times. The repetition of a same word at the end of a rhyme symbolizes the poetic voice (Usnavi, in this case) feeling or getting stuck, according to the Man Himself.
He then breaks out of it with an incredibly awkward line.
Another consonance can be found with strong/silent/island.
And at the end, a really nice rhyming work, with digress/stress/inglés/yes, which, I dare say, is the finest rhyme in this song.
(At the end, he can be actually relieved she doesn't speak English. That way, she didn't get a word of what he said, so they're not gonna have an awkward moment after his discourse. Thank God.)
This was longer than yesterday's, and as the ranking goes up, I'm sure this posts won't do anything else than getting bigger. Because that's how it works, people, I don't make the rules.
Blame Oxford and Hirsch. (No, not that Hirsch.)
-A.
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