The context: Well into act II of Nothing Like Broadway!, Annabelle wonders if maybe they'd be better off as platonic life-mates away from all this chaos and excitement. Milo reluctantly agrees. 

A little about the creation of this song: This is one of the few times (ever!) that I actually wrote the music and the lyrics totally separately. Like, I wrote a version of the lyrics months earlier, then was just tinkering around with a melody that wasn't part of any song or show. At some point, I realized that the lyrics for this moment in the show fit nicely on the new melody I had just written. A little nipping and tucking, and there it was. 

An Underwhelming Life
​Music & Lyrics by David Rackoff

          ANNABELLE
​WE’LL MAKE
AN UNDERWHELMING LIFE.
I’LL TAKE
AN UNDERWHELMING LIFE.
ON A COUCH WITH SOMEONE KIND.
I WOULD BARELY EVEN MIND.
AT NIGHT, I’LL KNIT.
I WON’T MIND…
A BIT.

          MILO
SOUNDS FAIR.
AN UNDERWHELMING LIFE.
WE’LL SHARE
AN UNDERWHELMING LIFE.
IN SOME SUBURB IN VERMONT,
WE’LL PRETEND THAT’S WHAT WE WANT.
NO TENDER TOUCH.
I WON’T MIND…
TOO MUCH.

         ANNABELLE                    MILO      
     NOON BY NOON,                 DUSK BY DUSK,             
     SUN BY SUN,
     ONE BY ONE…                   MOON BY MOON...

               MILO
     AND THEN IT’S ALL DONE.

LET'S BUILD
AN UNDERWHELMING LIFE.

          ANNABELLE
I’M THRILLED!
AN UNDERWHELMING LIFE.

          MILO
WE CAN REST IN BED AND READ,

          ANNABELLE
AND YOU’LL FIND THAT’S WHAT YOU NEED.

          ANNABELLE/MILO
WE’LL MUDDLE THROUGH.
I WON’T MIND…
WOULD YOU?

OUR FRONT YARD WILL BE FLOWERED,
AND OUR BACK YARD WILL BE ELMED.

          MILO
IT MIGHT BE BETTER THAN WE THINK,

          ANNABELLE/MILO
PERHAPS WE’LL BE JUST...
WHELMED.

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