A New “As Far As I Know”
I’ve been playing around with the idea of a new version for “As Far As I Know,” Katya’s plaintive song that ends the opening sequence (after “When the Red Morning Dawns”). I like the original song well enough, but I fear that it’s structure limits its memorability (the ostensible title is heard only twice, and no musical theme, with the exception of the connecting melody, ever repeats). You have to establish what kind of musical you are up front, and if you throw a wandering melody at the audience that early, they may get the impression that “Oh, this is THAT kind of show - a show with pretty but aimless music,” and first impressions are not easily counteracted.
So I’ve written another attempt at the melody, restructing the song so that the title appears more often and the main theme repeats, while still trying to retain that feeling of build-up that I liked so much from the original number. Let me know what you think.
KATYA:
As far as I know,
He’s still out there, somewhere…
Perhaps some cafe, still debating.
As far as I know,
He still writes me from there…
In his pack
There might be
A great stack
Of letters for me!
And somehow I know that he’s waiting…
Waiting for me.
As far as I know,
He still dreams he’ll kiss me
And I’m in the poems he’s creating
As far as I know
He will always miss me
Til he flees
From that war,
And he sees
His girl by the shore!
As far as I know,
He could ride tomorrow
Far from the storm that’s abating!
As far as I know,
There’s an end to sorrow -
Never fear!
Never doubt!
When it’s clear
Love will win out!
And somehow he’ll know, I’ve been waiting…
Waiting so long!
So long!
So long!
As far as I know…