yet, but everyone knows they have fallen for each other—
because they sing the same tune and repeat it the same way.^6
The song works this way. The lyric structure is AABA, and
the A sections depend on melodic leaps of a fifth on each
“Don’t” phrase:
Don’t throw bouquets at me,
Don’t please my folks too much.
Don’t laugh at my jokes too much.
Then the A sections answer these leaps with some tight chro-
matic writing on the refrain, “People will say we’re in love.”
The chromatic motif stands out on the bridge or B section, the
part that keeps the second A away from the third A. But the
tight chromatic writing in the bridge occurs only after a dra-
matic drop of a fifth on the one “Don’t” phrase which occurs
in B—“Don’t start”—as though what rises a fifth after every
other “Don’t” ought to drop a fifth after this one. We could go
on about the patterns of repetition that give this duet its lift,
but the point is that this beautifully crafted song is not well in-
tegrated into Oklahoma!, it does not fit its plot and character, it
violates the theory of the unified musical, and no one cares. In-
tegration is not the point. The book has been interrupted for a
good song about love, giving Laurey and Curly a chance to
switch into performance mode, and the musical is finding its
groove.
Recognitions and Turning Points
Rodgers and Hammerstein show tunes are thought to “for-
ward the action,” as though the book were actually making
progress through the lyrics of the numbers. It is more accurate
to say that the plot is suspended for the time of the number,
THE BOOK AND THE NUMBERS 41
(^6) Hammerstein originally wrote a different duet in this position, “Someone
Will Teach You,” with lyrics more in keeping with Laurey’s character. This can
be seen in an early script entitled “Green Grow the Lilacs: Musical Version,”
now in the Performing Arts Library at Lincoln Center, No. NCOF 1942. I
have not found music for this lyric.