The Last 5 Years - .09 A Miracle Would Happen/When You Come Home To Me video free download

Mads Kisby

I am gonna side with the "Jamie being human" side. Discarding the story, just listening to the song, he does explain himself kinda rationally. Cheating happens, and this is by far a more sympathetic excuse than what you would find in the real world.I love this musical, but thinking of Jamie as a villain simplifies it to the point of terribleness

Claire Baker

I'm laughing because of all the people defending him in the comments. Him "just being human" as some of you say doesn't excuse his actions.

Eric Pfeiffer

The song doesn't show that he is terrible. It just states that he's a normal guy who has temptations. That's all

Ethan Edwards

"And you're like. That's not fair." I love the honesty of his irritation in that line, it's relatable.

Michael Chu

Welcome to Part 9 of my Last Five Years analysis, now officially past the halfway mark of the show. Today I’ll be covering “A Miracle Would Happen / When You Come Home To Me”.But Michael, how there be two song titles? Isn’t that destroying the entire rigid structure of the musical?Well, yes. Kind of. But for necessary reasons. But before I talk about that, we need to get through the first part of this particular song (or track, if you’re listening to it on a CD and/or playlist), and oh boy. It’s something.So, after the almost painful beauty of “The Next Ten Minutes”, we get … this. And really, I’m gonna let the first verse speak for itself before I really get into it.*Everyone tells you that the minute you get married**Every other woman in the world**Suddenly finds you attractive**Well, that's not true**It only affects the kind of women**You always wanted to sleep with**But they wouldn't give you the time of day before**And now they're banging down your door**And falling to their knees**At least that's what it feels like because you**Can**Not**Touch**Them**In fact, you can't even look at them**Close your eyes, close your eyes, close your eyes**Except you're sitting there**Eating your corned beef sandwich**And all of a sudden, this pair of breasts walks by**And smiles at you**And you're like "That's not fair."*Ugh.Let me repeat.*Ugh*.I mentioned at some point that Jason Robert Brown stacked the deck a little bit against Jamie in terms of who’s ultimately to blame for the relationship falling apart (the real answer is, of course, no one, and also both of them). Well, this song is a great example of that, because there’s so much terrible bullshit to unpack in here.First of all, there’s the tonal whiplash. This is one of those songs whose chronology is unspecific. Obviously it takes place after “The Next Ten Minutes”, but we’re not sure exactly how long. That being said, much of it seems to be implying that it really wasn’t very long at all, so basically Jamie marries Cathy and then immediately has to deal with the temptation to sleep around.And I want to really emphasize this. Jamie spent the what seems like the entire time leading up to his marriage to Cathy completely head-over-heels in love with her. His career was also taking off like a shot, which gave him his first major detour into doucheville in “Moving Too Fast”, but in terms of romance and personal affection, he only ever had eyes for her. But after the openly romantic, supportive “The Schmuel Song”, and the tender way he proposed in “The Next Ten Minutes”, he IMMEDIATELY goes “Oh, shit, look at all these other women it turns out I totally want to fuck! Man, I wonder why I’m only noticing them now, after I’ve vowed eternal commitment to my wife?” That’s really rough to hear. It’s plain ol’ hard for me to listen to the songs Jamie sings in the first half and come to root for the guy, only to have the rug pulled out from under me so suddenly.I would like to take this time to highlight how abhorrent I find his comment about “this pair of breasts” that “walks by and smiles” at him. It’s such a wonderful representation of the awful way men reduce women to mere sexual objects (see also anyone who ever talks about going out to find “pussy”) and I think of it every time I hear about some asshole doing some asshole thing to some woman because nobody explained to him in a clear, easy to understand way what a fucking asshole that shit makes you.I also find the bit about him not being able to look at them stupid, but to be fair, that’s probably something that he has internalized as a result of the fact that he’s obviously got quite the wandering eye.Finally, I’d like to note that *specifically for this in-depth analysis*, I looked up corned beef sandwiches to see if there’s a reason why Jason Robert Brown picked that, and it’s listed in wikipedia as an “Irish Food”. So basically it’s a holdover from when Jamie was more clearly obsessed with Irish culture and women. Which was neat!*And in a perfect world**A miracle would happen**And every other girl would fly away**And it'd be me and Cathy,**And nothing else would matter**But it's fine, it's fine, it's fine**I mean, I'm happy**And I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine**It's not a problem**It's just a challenge**It's a challenge to resist**Temptation*Here, the overt scumminess of Jamie’s abrupt transformation is tempered somewhat by the fact that he wishes it wasn’t happening. And it’s important to keep in mind that Jamie, unlike Cathy, tends to say *exactly* what he’s thinking and feeling during most of his songs. So part of the shock of it all might just be hearing someone we’ve grown to identify with admit that sometimes he views women as “a pair of breasts”, or that he is otherwise tempted to stray from his marriage vows.That being said, the way says Norbert says “I mean, I’m happy” makes my jaw clench because it’s the exact phrasing/delivery someone uses when they clearly don’t believe what they’re saying.Also, another mention of how good Norbert Leo Butz is at sounding like he’s just talking when he’s also singing. Because seriously, he’s so good at that. I’ve been listening to this show for almost ten years and and I’m still not over it.*And I have to say that**What exacerbates the problem**Is I'm at these parties**I'm the center of attention**I'm the grand fromage**And here she comes:**"Let's get a cup of coffee.**Will you look at my manuscript?"**And I'm showing her my left hand**I'm gesticulating with my left hand**And then WHOOMP! There's Cathy!**'Cause she knows**They always know**And there's that really awkward moment**Where I try to show I wasn't encouraging this**Though of course I sort of was**And I don't want to look whipped in front of this woman**Which is dumb - I shouldn't care what she thinks**Since I can't fuck her anyway!*I’ve been giving you these solid chunks of verse because it feels wrong to break them up into individual chunks, given their rapid-fire delivery. I should also point out that once again, there aren’t rhymes, because Jamie isn’t trying to be clever or witty. He’s rambling, he’s scattered, he doesn’t really know what he’s saying and he knows even less why he’s saying it.Both Jason Robert Brown and Stephen Sondheim are very good at knowing when not to include rhymes. I should probably pay attention to them more when they do that since I’m really bad at not including them.In any event, a few word choices I love. I really enjoy the use of the word “exacerbates”, the phrase “grand fromage” (although that might be the delivery), and the word “gesticulating”, because all three of those are really fun to say. And the bit about “showing her my left hand” is another one of these specific details that I love because it’s a wonderful example of nervous behavior, when your hands just kind of go all over the place.I enjoy that Jamie acknowledges that he was, of course, kind of encouraging the flirtation, as well as the fact that he realizes that a lot of this behavior he’s engaging in is kind of ridiculous. Because again, he is nothing if not mostly self-aware and honest.This song is, in a way, the natural culmination of “Moving Too Fast”. Because the twin developments of his love life and his professional life developed so rapidly, he hasn’t had enough time to wrap his head around the full ramifications of what that would actually *mean*. He’s not used to being considered so successful (and therefore so desirable) on the one hand, and he perhaps did not take enough time to really consider the ramifications of his rapid marriage to Cathy and the full nature of what that would mean on the other.I’m going to point out every time each character says the word “fuck”, because every time I feel like it’s deployed perfectly. Because it is.*And in a perfect world**A miracle would happen**And every girl would look like Mister Ed*Nice pop culture reference there, although I have to say that the premise of “Mister Ed” always seemed incredibly stupid to me.That being said, the fact that Jamie almost seems to blame the existence of other women for his woes is one of those things where it seems like he’s dancing around the actual issue.*And it'd be me and Cathy**And nothing else would matter**But it's fine, it's fine, it's fine**You know I love her**And it's fine, it's fine, it's fine**It's what I wanted**And I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine!**It's not a problem**It's just a challenge**It's a challenge to resist**Temptation*The more people repeat things, the less likely it is that they actually believe them. Him saying that “it’s fine” six times indicates that it’s emphatically not fine. I wish I could describe the delivery on “You know I love her” and “It’s what I wanted” (especially the latter) without saying “it breaks my heart”, but yeah. It breaks my heart. Compare that to the simple way he ends “The Schmuel Song”. Whole different ballgame.Now, let’s have words about this next bit, which again, I’m gonna present in it’s entirety before I talk about it.*When you come home to me**I'll wear a sweeter smile**And hope that for a while, you'll stay**When you come home to me**Your hand will touch my face**And banish any trace of gray**Soon, a love will rise anew**Even greater than the joy I felt**Just missing you**And once again, I'll be**So proud to call you "mine"**When you finally come home**To me*It’s not really much of a spoiler to say that this is Cathy’s audition song. I believe in the stage production it’s fairly obvious. It comes up a few more times (well, mostly in the next number), but it’s introduced here.Which is kind of weird, because it’s one of the very few times that Jason Robert Brown breaks his otherwise quite rigid structure of alternating solos between Cathy and Jamie. It’s stuck in the middle of Jamie’s number, seemingly out of nowhere, but it accomplishes a few purposes.One, it introduces the song. This version is the “correct” one, the one she sings successfully when she’s auditioning for the job in Ohio. The other times, well … you’ll see.Two, it provides a strong contrast to what Jamie is singing about. It reminds us what’s at stake.And finally, the song provides valuable insight into her character and motivations. It’s a perfect encapsulation of much of what is tragic about her worldview.“When You Come Home To Me” is a song that is dripping with with innocence crossed with ignorance. It’s such an overly simplistic view of romance and love, this idea of just waiting for your man to come home, and once he does, everything will be alright.Part of what makes The Last Five Years special is that it takes something that’s incredibly complicated, like love, and really explores all the ways in which it really is stupidly complicated. There’s a lot to love about musical theater, but I would say that more often than not, the romance tends to be pretty basic. It happens quickly, and the obstacles in the way are usually almost entirely external. Whereas The Last Five Years is all about how the external influences the internal and fucks everything up, despite the best of intentions.And so for her, she gets thrown into this whirlwind romance with this wonderful man, and for a while it seems to play out exactly like she always imagined it would. And when it doesn’t, she’s unprepared to deal with the fallout.The most dramatic, heart-wrenching thing about Cathy’s storyline from now on is that it only ever reinforces this fact. Whereas the first half of it was characterized by our ignorance, not knowing exactly why she was so upset and angry and clinging so strongly to a relationship that was clearly headed south, the second half of it is characterized by hers, as we see how little she was truly prepared for everything life would throw at her. “A Summer In Ohio” is probably Cathy at her strongest (which is one of the reasons I like it so much), because it shows her being able to marry the unexpectedly bad with a determination to look at what’s good about her life. It’s her doing her best to toughen up and make the best of it all. As we’ll see in the next number, it took her awhile to even get that far.So, for as much as it might anger purists (i.e., me about 7 years ago) to include a Cathy song in the middle of a Jamie one, it accomplishes too many things structurally (and there are so few other places where he could put it) that I’m totally fine with it.See how the word “mine” is highlighted in the lyrics and in the song? Remember how I’ve told you to pay attention to every time Cathy says that? More on that later, but just pointing that out one more time.*I'll be there soon, Cathy**I'll finish up this chapter and be out the door**I swear I'll be there soon, Cathy**Don't give up on me yet**I am so proud of you, baby**You're doing what you never got to do before**And I will be there, ripe and crawling**If fuckin' Random House stops calling**Don't lose faith**Don't get down**Don't despair**I'll be there*An important bridging point between the unconditional support of “The Schmuel Song” and the Jamie who seemed to value his career and schmoozing above all else in “See I’m Smiling”. Here, Jamie is doing his best to balance those two halves of his life. He’s not doing a great job of it, but at least he’s trying.Also, I actually almost forgot that he says "fuckin' Random House" here, but really, what other word would work there? None, is what.*And in a perfect world**A miracle would happen**And that day would finally be here*Ultimately, the message of this song is just that sometimes shit happens that you can’t control. Could Jamie find a way to not be attracted or distracted by other women? Probably. But also, maybe not. There’s extenuating circumstances, because there’s ALWAYS extenuating circumstances, but what defines people is often how they deal with that.Like, one might think that Jamie should definitely be able to rearrange his life so that he isn’t trying desperately to finish something work-related in time to support his wife the way he wants to. Again, probably. But also, maybe not. It’s hard to be sure. Ultimately, the only thing you can safely say is that miracles almost never happen.*And it'd be me and you**Riding it together**And the things we do**Goin' like we planned**We're gonna make it through**And nothing else will matter**We'll be fine, we're fine**We're fine, we're fine, we're fine**I'll be there soon, Cathy...**I swear I will*I’ve talked a lot about Cathy’s innocence, and I think I’ve mentioned that she has this particular conception of how life is supposed to go, and is distraught when it doesn’t turn out that way.Jamie has that, too. Not, I think, as badly as Cathy does, but he certainly does suffer from that. It might be part of what drew them together, this sort of romanticized notion the two of them had about the ways in which they completed each other.Well, as we know, things don’t work out the way the two of them thought it would. They don’t end up fine. And a lot of Jamie’s jerkish behavior can probably be boiled down to the simple fact that he realizes that first.

Krystal Hardwick

meee lol !

unclejohnthezef

lol 2:29

Jon Harris

I think this song shows the humanity of Jamie and, if anything, his honesty in his imperfection. It shows despite his love for this woman, he cannot be perfect (like every other man). It's an admission to himself. And in it, a realisation that there's something not right in their relationship. And sure, cheating later on was wrong, but i feel was inevitable without working out their problems. Neither of the pair was solely to blame, both were at fault, but in different ways.

Brett Griffith

I love how these two people later starred together in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels on Broadway, where Norb won his first Best Actor Tony.

strangelittlebeing

Nah. Just nah. He did what he did because he's a bit of a prick. No excuses. I think Cathy could pretty much read Jamie's mind, and considering even at this stage, where he still does love her, he's already thinking about cheating, she had every right to be afraid. I'll agree Cathy probably didn't handle it the best way, but she handled it the most natural way. And cheating is cheating, if he didn't have the guts to break up with her before moving on, then the fault lies with him.

Cosmic Poet

All of us

solidraiden242

The fact of the matter is that despite that, Jamie still loves Cathy, the problem, which Jamie explains in Nobody Needs to Know, is that she would not give him the proper trust and space a couple should give each other. That's not to say Jamie is faultless, it's just that his actions, you can see why he did what he did.

Natalie Schloss

Well, I guess my point is that he gives into the temptation and ultimately hurts Cathy with that. That's what I'm not okay with.

solidraiden242

Terrible? The guy is human, and he is faced with temptation just like everyone else.

Maddy Janakis

This song is hilarious and is it me or does the opening part sound sort of like "The Executive Washroom" from How to Succeed in Business? or is that just me?

PhantomLover111

This and the Schmuel song are definitely my two favourites!! What fantastic songs

Michaella Crane

@xoClassifieds aida, the little mermaid, dirty rotten scoundrels, etc.

Natalie Schloss

This song shows just how terrible Jamie is, but I still love it.

Hannah Hamburger

My new favorite song (:

Erica Rothman

this is one of my favorite songs everrr.

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