I Am What I Am
I Am What I Am ("I am what I am") is the best-known song from Jerry Herman's musical La Cage aux Folles ([la kaʒ o fɔl]; Eng. A cage full of fools ), which premiered on Broadway in New York that year 1983. The song is the final number of the first act.
In the same year a disco version of Gloria Gaynor was released . Many other interpreters have already performed or published one or the other version. It is one of the few songs in a gay musical that has been successful outside of the piece.
The song is about the fact that you only really live if you stand by yourself, and that this should be accepted. It contains essential feelings and reasons for the last step of a coming-out , “going public”, and describes the basic feelings of Gay Pride . That's why it's one of several symbolic songs by gays , lesbians , bisexuals and some transgender people . The topic discussed is applicable to many similar issues, which contributes to its popularity.
The phrase "I am what I am" itself has been used for a long time. There are also several different songs with this title, including titles translated into other languages. This phrase has also been used repeatedly in the gay and drag queens environment .
La Cage aux Folles
Framework story
The travesty star Albin , called Zaza on stage , is currently preparing for his appearance in the cloakroom. His partner and nightclub manager Georges tells him through the door about George's biological son, whom they raised together. His chosen wife has that very conservative politician as a father who wants to implement his strict moral standards on the Riviera. Now a family visit is to take place. Because a same-sex couple, the owner of a nightclub and a queen would not be acceptable for the bride's father as future in-laws, there is a plan that Albin should not be present during the visit. Georges will pretend to be a diplomat from the Foreign Office and will pretend to be the happy couple for one night with the son's mother. Georges tries to make the plan as palatable as possible for him, but Albin is hurt and upset about the planned denial of his person and the entire deception. He comes out of the cloakroom, just says that he still has to go on stage and performs as planned with the travesty ensemble.
foreplay
The Cagelles ensemble performs the title We Are What We Are , which was played at the beginning of the musical . What they are is just a delusion and they love to create confusion. You face the sometimes sweet and sometimes bitter life with a little dismantling and glitter. Zaza now interrupts the performance and asks the others to leave him alone.
I Am What I Am
The melody of the song stays the same. Albin begins to sing very softly and tentatively. After the first few words, the music starts again with a few instruments. During the first verse the voice becomes more and more solid, more and more instruments are used and the beat becomes faster. At the beginning of the second verse the normal tempo is reached, but gradually increases. Albin is upset and sings himself in a rage, he demands acceptance for what he is and indirectly reproaches Georges. Depending on the stage interpreter, the expression moves between pride, anger and bitterness. (In contrast, outside of the theatrical setting, the song is simply performed with pride.) With the third verse, the orchestra doubles its tempo, and in contrast Albin falls back to half the tempo in his performance. After the song, Zaza usually walks off brusquely, takes off her wig and throws it at Georges.
Albin sings that he is what he is, something of his own, his own personality. He doesn't need an apology for what he is. He would like a little pride in his world and not have to hide ashamed. Because life is not worth a damn and just a deception until you can finally say: “Hey world. I am what I am". This part in particular is also addressed to Georges. People can kick you out or compliment you. But he doesn't want praise or compassion. He lives in his own way that some find bad, he finds it nice. And what about if you like jewelry and glitter? Why not try to look at things from another angle? He minds his own business, sometimes good, sometimes bad. But there is only one continuous life, and one cannot repeat a part or set up a temporary store. Because there is only one ongoing life, it is time to “open the closet”, stand by yourself and stop hiding in the closet. Because life is worthless until you can say "I am what I am."
Included idioms :
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I bang my own drum, Some think it's noise, I think its pretty (“I hit my own drum, some think it's noise, I think it's nice”) refers to the American idiom march to [the beat of] a different drummer (“marching to the beat of another drummer”), which also occurs as bang [ing] on a different drum . In British English there is the phrase to march to a different tune (" march to a different tune "). It describes a person who behaves, lives and thinks in an unusual way, is motivated by different values than the average person. The phrase can be translated into German as “dancing out of line”. By referring to one's own drum in the song, the individualistic is emphasized.
The origin of the phrase lies in the book Walden by the American philosopher Henry David Thoreau , published in 1854 . In it he wrote: If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away. ("If a man doesn't keep up with his comrades, maybe it's because he's listening to another drummer. Let him step to the music he hears, however moderate or distant it may be.") - One life, so it's time to open up your closet (" One life, so it's time to open your closet ") refers to the expression to come out of the closet (" to come out of the closet ") that was common at that time, especially among homosexuals. to take the last step of a coming-out , to stand by yourself, no longer to try to hide your own homosexuality or even to play something to others.
Further recovery
After 15 rehearsals, the piece premiered on August 21, 1983. That same week, New York Magazine wrote that the song was already being referred to as the new national gay anthem. In a generally very negative review, which appeared two weeks later in the same magazine, it is said that it was “intrusively touted” as a gay anthem.
Herman had written the song for that specific dramatic moment when a homosexual breaks down and demands acceptance for who he is. For a disco hit, for example, he would not have used the phrase "opening up your closet". The publisher asked to change a few lines in case someone wanted to record the song. So Herman wrote something else with "blow my horn and sound my trumpet / My song - and if you don't like it, you can lump it". Herman can't remember ever hearing this version, even from Sammy Davis. He was very surprised that the song with Gloria Gaynor had become a hit. Contrary to Herman, Sammy Davis Jr. sang the modified version without the second verse on the television program The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson in 1983 . In the moderation, however, he referred to the new musical.
After the success of La Cage Aux Folles , the song was also included in the second, expanded version of the revue Jerry's Girls , which is based on songs by Jerry Herman and premiered in Palm Beach in 1984 . In 1985 it was performed at Brodway. This song was not used in the subsequent films A Cage Full of Fools - Getting Married and The Birdcage - A Shrill Birds Paradise .
Performers
Starring from Zaza / Albin
Over the years, countless actors on international stages in the role of Zaza (or Albin) have also performed I Am What I Am and in some cases reinterpreted them. Here is a selection:
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Gloria Gaynor
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Gloria Gaynor had her greatest success in 1979 with her surprising hit I Will Survive . In 1982 she became a born again Christian. In 1983 she released a disco version of I Am What I Am as a single, and it is also included on her 1984 album I Am Gloria Gaynor . The record was not particularly successful on the US sales charts, but it became a hit in dance clubs and hit the club charts in late 1983 / early 1984. In Germany and especially in Great Britain the single was more successful. This song made her a gay icon. Over time, Gaynor released various slightly modified versions and remixes, including one that only begins with the second verse.
In the original disco version, Gaynor begins to sing softly, but not hesitantly. After the first few words the orchestra starts softly and at the end of the first verse the beat starts, which maintains the tempo for the entire duration. In the maxi version, the third stanza is repeated after an instrumental part. At the end she sings some positive self-affirmations that contrast the evaluations of others about the marginalized: I am Good (“I am good”), I am Strong (“I am strong”), I am Worthy (“I am honorable”), I belong ("I belong to"), I am Useful ("I am useful"), I am True ("I am correct"), I am Somebody ("I am someone") and I am as good as you (" I'm as good as you ”).
According to JD Dyle, the host of the specialized radio show Queer Music Heritage , Gloria Gaynor's version of several iconic songs is most likely to be called " Gay Anthem". In a 2008 survey conducted by an Australian website among 15,000 users about the personal "gayest song of all times", this version landed in 11th place. It was also used as the national anthem of the Gay & Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands selected. In a survey also carried out by the radio station SWR in 2008 for a hit parade for the station's tenth anniversary, the song reached number 219. In the similar campaign WDR 200 , the song reached number 132 in 2002.
In 2008, the Swiss supermarket chain Migros used the song for a care campaign called "I Am" in TV and cinema spots. This was the first time the title entered the Swiss charts.
More artists and languages
- True to the original musical version:
- John Barrowman made the song “his anthem” in 2005 and made it an integral part of his Con appearances and concert tours, before recording it for his fifth solo album in 2008 , playing the role of Zaza in the West End in 2009 and his that same year Memoir named after the song .
- In at least one television program in 1983, Sammy Davis Jr. sang a version based on the musical with an increased tempo, a swing orchestration, with the text changed by the author and without the second verse. According to Herman, Davis (otherwise?) Sang the original text.
- Linda Eder made it into the Top40 charts in the Internet Sales area with her musical version.
- Alexander Duke
- George Hearn
- Anthony Warlow
- Lola Cortes (Mexico)
- The disco version of Gaynor was covered by Gerard Joling , Respect featuring Hannah Jones, Lena Zavaroni , Soraya and Rank 1 under the pseudonym Janoah . Several times - including Gloria Gaynor - this version was used as an appearance song at the beginning of a show, with performers coming on stage during or after the first verse.
- In 2002, Karen Mulder released a cover version of the Gaynor version, which was also included in the soundtrack of the film How the Rabbits , and thus entered the charts in the French-speaking world.
- Sonia processed the song in her The Anthem Medley in 1994 .
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Shirley Bassey (1984) provides a rather independent interpretation in which two verses are sung very slowly and the beat only starts on the third.
- Marti Webb also adheres to these .
- Conchita sang the version for the opening of the Wiener Festwochen in May 2017
- Countless drag queens have the song in the versions of the musical, by Gloria Gaynor or by Shirley Bassey, either live or as playback. Drag is primarily about disguise, illusion and show, this is by no means to be confused with the terms transgender and transsexuality . In old-style travesty or drag shows, it was often common practice to remove the wig from the head and drop the mask at the end of the show. For many drag queens, especially in the USA, it became a ritual to perform this final dissolution of the illusion during the song I Am What I Am .
- Pia Zadora (1986) sings it comfortably over the entire length, but with increasing tension and intensity.
- Beverly Knight sang her very own interpretation with the support of a gospel choir to round off the opening ceremony of the 2012 Paralympic Games in London . In between the arrangement contains elements of the more traditional versions, the performance lasted 7.5 minutes.
- There is hardly a gay men's choir that does not have the "anthem of the gay community" in its repertoire - for example the GMC of Boston, Washington DC, London and New York City. New arrangements are constantly being created for this.
- Modified English versions
- The comedy music duo Amateur Transplants has a version with humorously modified text in their program.
- In the satirical revue Forbidden Broadway , the song appears as I Ham What I Ham and was released on the second album in 1991.
- Translations
- Spanish disco versions under the title Soy lo que soy exist by Sandra Mihanovich (1984, Argentina) and Giovanni Falchetti (2004, Chile). There is also a complete translation of the musical and a CD of a performance.
- Icelandic disco versions under the title Ég er eins og ég er were recorded by Páll Óskar Hjálmtýsson and Hafsteinn Þórólfsson (2001). She can also be heard in the film 11 Men Out .
- In Swedish the song is called Jag är som jag är and there is a recording (1999) with drag queen Lars-Åke Wilhelmsson, aka Babsan.
- A complete musical translation exists in German. The musical performance at the Theater des Westens with Helmut Baumann is known as Albin / Zaza on CD .
- Modified non-English versions
- In the rock revue Rock op Platt - Episode twee | Rock op Platt - Episode twee (2006) by Sandra Keck , a Low German version was performed under the title Ik bün, wat ick bün with adapted text. In it, three snails ( hybrid beings ) sing about their lives, including the following: They are sometimes a man, sometimes a woman, crawl their own way, and if it takes a long time, it only makes them stronger. No lettuce leaf is safe from them, they eat everything Ratzeputz. They are hidden during the day, but there are many at night.
- Mao Daichi ( 大地 真 央 , male roles), Hitomi Kuroki ( 黒 木 瞳 , female roles) and [?] ( 郷 真 由 加 ) sang a Japanese version with a different content in the Takarazuka Revue from 1984 , whereby the title line remained in English (into Japanese translated with わ た し は 私 = "I am I", "I am I"). Especially the appearance of Mao Daichi is repeated from time to time on television to this day.
- Ross Antony sang a German-language version in the television program Schlagerboom 2018 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ JD Doyle: Queer Music Heritage, script from the August 25, 2003 broadcast , queermusicheritage.us
- ↑ Cambridge Idioms Dictionary, 2nd ed., Cambridge University Press, 2006, quoted in The Free Dictionary under "march to a different drummer"
- ^ "Drummer" in Merriam Webster's Leaner's Dictionary
- ↑ "drummer" at dictionary.com
- ↑ “to march to a different drummer” in the Leo online dictionary
- ↑ The Origins of Famous Literary Quotes , tutor.com, with reference to The Facts On File Dictionary of Cliches, Second Edition
- ↑ Ross Wetztsteon: , La Cage aux Folles' comes to Broadway , in: New York Magazine, August 22, 1983 , p 34
- ↑ John Simon: Guys as Dolls , in: New York Magazine, September 5, 1983 , p. 62
- ^ Mark Steyn: Broadway Babies Say Goodnight: Musicals Then and Now , Routledge, 1999, ISBN 0-415-92286-0 , p. 108
- ↑ Sammy Davis Jr. - I Am What I Am on youtube.com
- ↑ Dresden State Operetta: La Cage aux Folles (A cage full of fools) ( Memento of the original from February 27, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , February 26, 2018
- ↑ La Cage aux Folles Australian Cast (1985) . BroadwayWorld.com. Archived from the original on October 8, 2012. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
- ↑ Jerry Herman News . July 21, 2012. Archived from the original on July 21, 2012. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
- ↑ Show report: La Cage aux Folles ( Memento from March 19, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), January 18, 2011
- ↑ Musical La Cage aux Folles - 2010 ( Dutch ) Stage entertainment Nederland.
- ↑ Korea Times: La Cage 2012
- ↑ Archived copy . Archived from the original on March 8, 2013. Retrieved March 31, 2013.
- ↑ Por primera vez, version musical de La Jaula de las Locas in Puerto Rico .
- ↑ El Vocero de Puerto Rico | La verdad no tiene precio. . Archived from the original on December 3, 2013.
- ↑ La Cage aux Folles | The Gothenburg Opera .
- ↑ Átrium: Az Őrält Nők Ketrece | Átrium .
- ↑ https://www.broadwayworld.com/australia-melbourne/article/BWW-Reviews-LA-CAGE-AUX-FOLLES-A-Disappointing-End-to-2014-for-The-Production-Company-20141124
- ↑ http://artsreview.com.au/la-cage-aux-folles/
- ↑ http://artsreview.com.au/la-cage-aux-folles/
- ↑ http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/musicals/musical-review-la-cage-aux-folles-uncages-wonderful-wit-of-simon-burke-and-todd-mckenney-20141124-11slll .html
- ↑ La noche de estreno de La jaula de las locas - Cartelera de Teatro DF ( es-ES )
- ↑ La Cage Aux Folles ( sv-SE ) Archived from the original on July 28, 2017. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Charts DE Charts CH Charts UK
- ↑ Charts CH
- ^ JD Doyle: Queer Music Heritage, broadcast on January 24th & 31st, 2004 , queermusicheritage.us
- ↑ Michael Lenz: SCHWULE CHARTS - Australia is looking for the gay anthem , Spiegel Online, March 9, 2008
- ↑ Gay & Lesbian Kingdom - History ( Memento of July 3, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), on archive.org
- ↑ Press release 10 years, 100 hours, 1000 hits , swr.de, September 12, 2008
- ↑ 10 years - 100 hours - 1000 hits - The SWR1 Hit Parade 2008 (PDF; 178 kB)
- ↑ The anthem of John Barrowman - I am what I am - Royal Albert Hall 2010 Uploaded to YouTube by Scarabaeus37 on December 17, 2010.
- ↑ Elizabeth Kaminski, Verta Taylor: "We're not just lip-synching up here." , In: Jo Reger, Rachel L. Residents, Daniel J. Myers: Identity Work in Social Movements , University of Minnesota Press, 2008, ISBN 0-8166-5139-6 , p. 58
- ↑ I Am What I Am - Boston Gay Men's Chorus. Uploaded by BGMC1982 to YouTube on April 6, 2017. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
- ↑ Gay Men's Chorus “I Am What I Am” Uploaded by GMCWashington to YouTube on November 3, 2017. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
- ↑ I Am What I Am Uploaded by LdnGMC to YouTube on February 12, 2017. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
- ↑ Bruce Stapleton sings "I Am What I Am" @ NYC GMC Sing-A-Thon 2012. Uploaded by craig0period to YouTube on September 17, 2012. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
- ↑ Rock op Platt ( Memento of the original from August 28, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , sandra-keck-fanseite.de
- ↑ Rock op platt - Episode twee - song texts ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , sandra-keck-fanseite.de
- ↑ 上演 作品 ☆ 月 組 （昭和 ５６ 年 ～ 昭和 ６０ 年） ( Memento of the original dated December 10, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vELO79davFM
