Stephen Sondheim & Bernadette Peters - "Stay With Me"

This song has been rumbling through the back of my mind for the past few days. Like a dream that you can’t quite remember, hints and whispers seem to drift around you, just out of reach, at the edge of your periphery. So today I took it upon myself to look it up and give it a hearty listen.

What strikes me is how beautifully intricate the emotional nuance of this song is. She is pleading and yet knows at the back of her heart that this is a losing battle. She is giving so much of herself that she forgets to take care of herself also. She flashes between rage and hope, despair and fear, love and joy, all in milliseconds of music. It’s a brilliant piece and it is made even more so by the incredible talents and subtle color shifts of Bernadette Peters. Her beautifully flexible voice transitions seamlessly through the delicate shifting shades of her emotions.

This song was once again brought beautifully to life by the incomparable Meryl Streep in the movie adaptation. While Meryl was incredible, and her choices (some different and some the same) were spot on, I can not say she was better than Bernadette. They both crafted beautifully rich characters.

So today, with sand slipping through my fingers like rain through a paper cup with no bottom, I choose Stephen Sondheim & Bernadette Peters’ version of "Stay With Me" from Into The Woods, as my, hold on as long as you can, tears like rain, tears like tissue paper, song for a, into the gray, don’t go chasing waterfalls, accept the things you cannot change, Wednesday.

I’m also giving you Meryl’s version, because it is certainly worth listening to again.