Wicked: Lyrics for “Defying Gravity”

Seeing the story tip over like an overflowing bucket of water is fascinating. In musicals, that excitement is heightened over. As I have learned months ago, opera was invented because the spoken word is not enough.

So seeing sites that included the verbal tussles between Glinda and Elphaba made sense. In musicals, song and dance serve as expressions of heightened emotions that refused to be bottled up. And when you encounter a rude awakening of sorts that tested your beliefs, principles and courage, breaking out in song numbers end up serving a purpose (at least in musicals). Ready to analyze the lyrics of “Defying Gravity”?

Glinda
Elphaba, why couldn’t you have stayed calm for once? Instead of flying off the handle!
I hope you’re happy
I hope you’re happy now
I hope you’re happy how you’ve hurt your cause forever
I hope you think you’re clever

Elphaba
I hope you’re happy
I hope you’re happy too
I hope you’re proud how you would grovel in submission
To feed your own ambition

Both
So though I can’t imagine how
I hope you’re happy right now

Glinda
Elphie, listen to me. Just say you’re sorry!
You can still be with the Wizard
What you’ve worked and waited for
You can have all you ever wanted…

Elphaba
I know
But I don’t want it
No!
I can’t want it anymore…

Something has changed within me
Something is not the same
I’m through with playing by the rules of someone else’s game
Too late for second-guessing
Too late to go back to sleep
It’s time to trust my instincts, close my eyes, and leap…

It’s time to try defying gravity
I think I’ll try defying gravity
And you can’t pull me down

Glinda
Can’t I make you understand
You’re having delusions of grandeur?

Elphaba
I’m through accepting limits ’cause someone says they’re so
Some things I cannot change, but ’til I try, I’ll never know
Too long I’ve been afraid of losing love I guess I’ve lost
Well if that’s love, it comes at much too high a cost

I’d sooner buy defying gravity
Kiss me goodbye, I’m defying gravity
And you can’t pull me down!

Glinda, come with me. Think of what we could do together!
Unlimited, together we’re unlimited
Together we’ll be the greatest team there’s ever been
Glinda, dreams the way we planned ’em

Glinda
If we work in tandem

Both
There’s no fight we cannot win
Just you and I, defying gravity
With you and I defying gravity

Elphaba
They’ll never bring us down!
Well, are you coming?

Glinda
I hope you’re happy, now that you’re choosing this…

Elphaba
You too.
I hope it brings you bliss…

Both
I really hope you get it
And you don’t live to regret it
I hope you’re happy in the end
I hope you’re happy, my friend

Elphaba
So if you care to find me, look to the Western sky!
As someone told me lately, everyone deserves the chance to fly
And if I’m flying solo, at least I’m flying free
To those who ground me, take a message back from me!

Tell them how I am defying gravity
I’m flying high, defying gravity
And soon I’ll match them in renown
And nobody in all of Oz
No Wizard that there is or was
Is ever gonna bring me down!

Glinda
I hope you’re happy

Citizens of Oz
Look at her, she’s wicked
Get her!

Elphaba
Bring me down!

Citizens of Oz
No one mourns the wicked
So we’ve got to bring her…

Elphaba
Ahhhh!

Citizens of Oz
…down!

If ever there would be one fairy tale that really taught kids today how most villains really are not who they seem, it would be Wicked. Some folks like Elphaba simply accept the label and stop caring about what other people think. Unlike majority of the citizens of Oz, she’s immune to brain-washing tactics.

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