"Sue Me" from Guys & Dolls

For inexplicable reasons, I was thinking about "Sue Me" from Guys & Dolls last night.  (A book I was reading mentioned Sinatra's "My Way," which may have had something to do with it.)  This afternoon, I transcribed the lyrics, and what I'd suspected turns out to be true - the pacing of the song is connected to the lyrics (or the lyrics are connected to the pacing).

In the first three lines of the first two of Adelaide's verses, the words are both repetitive and fast-paced:

You promised me this
You promised me that
You promised me everything under the sun

And

But you gamble at here
You gamble at there
You gamble on everything, all except me

Both of which emphasize Nathan's flaky behavior.  Like Adelaide's repetitive diction suggests, there have been many times where Nathan has stood her up.  And the fast tempo at which the words are sung seems to indicate that there are so many of these instances that Adelaide has to sing quickly in order to fit them all into the song.

In the line after those parts ("When I think of the time gone by") "time" is long and drawn-out, as is "way" in the line after that ("And I think of the way I try").  The elongation of both of those words helps to illustrate that Adelaide has lengthily waited and earnestly tried for Nathan.

There's also the contrast between these two parts:  there's the fast-paced part when she's listing off Nathan's flaws, and then there's the drawn-out part where she explains her own suffering.  Together, they demonstrate at least her agitation and possibly even her conflict between staying with Nathan or leaving him.

Nathan's parts in the song are very even in tempo and syllable distribution, as if he's trying to placate and mollify her not only with his words but also with the manner in which he says (or sings) them.  His part also includes some repetition, but it's immediate ("sue me, sue me" and "hate me, hate me"), which - together with the steady pace - lends a sense of predictability and maybe even security.  In Adelaide's part, the repetition is in each successive line and is coupled with the fast-paced lyrics, which makes each repetition like an attack.

I liked the song well enough before, but now that I can see how the pacing fits in with the lyrics, I like it even more.