Andrew Lloyd Webber, Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again | FIERCE Pop + Rock 🔥🤘

In the 23rd edition of FIERCE Pop + Rock 🔥🤘, we highlight “Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again” from the Andrew Lloyd Webber classic, The Phantom of The Opera. 

Bring on the bold, FIERCE tracks! FIERCE Pop + Rock 🔥🤘 provides background information and insight into pop, rock, and metal songs that raise eyebrows and stir the pot.  Featured records can be classic or brand new. In the 23rd edition of FIERCE Pop + Rock 🔥🤘 (2023), we explore 🎵 “Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again” performed by 🎙 Emily Rossum, from the Andrew Lloyd Webber Broadway classic, The Phantom of The Opera. 

via GIPHY

Is there anything more heavenly than an expressive, gorgeous ballad from a musical? No, there isn’t! Furthermore, when that musical is one of the greatest of all time, 🎦 The Phantom of The Opera, there is no debate whatsoever! The Phantom of the Opera, which closed on Broadway in 2023, has its fair share of BOPS, haha. Among the crème de la crème is the somber 🎵 “Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again,” which finds protagonist Christine Daae memorializing her father.  In the 2004 film adaptation, 🎭 🎙️ Emily Rossum portrays Christine.  The original Christine was 🎭 🎙️ Sarah Brightman.   

“You were once my one companion / You were all that mattered,” Christine sings at the beginning of the ballad, initially set in G minor.  She continues singing, “You were once a friend and father / Then my world was shattered.” Later, stricken with the grief of his passing, Daae asserts in the poetic text, “Passing bells and sculpted angels / Cold and monumental / Seem for you the wrong companions.” Of course, the centerpiece is the chorus, varied slightly each time it occurs, where the minor key shifts to the parallel major.  It is incredibly tuneful, accompanied by more enthusiastic orchestration:   

“Wishing I could hear your voice again 
Knowing that I never would 
Dreaming of you won’t help me to do 
All that you dreamed I could.”  

Also, the outro is worth highlighting, as Christine has closure regarding the loss. She knows that she can’t wallow in grief.  🎼 ✍ Andrew Lloyd Webber, you are truly legendary and brilliant for this one! 

🎙 Andrew Lloyd Webber • 💿 The Phantom of The Opera (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) • 🏷 Polydor Ltd. • 📅 2004 

Andrew Lloyd Webber, “Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again”: FIERCE Pop + Rock 🔥🤘 No. 23 (2023) [📷: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; Polydor Ltd.; Conna Lee, Madelin Berry, anna-m. w., Johan  Duran, RODNAE Productions via Pexels; Pete Linforth via Pixabay]