Published 1965 | Writer(s) Richard Rodgers | |
"Something Good" is a song written by Richard Rodgers for the film version of The Sound of Music. It replaced the original song sung by Maria and Captain Georg von Trapp called "An Ordinary Couple". Since then the song has been used in the various reproduction of the play and most recently the 2013 television special, The Sound of Music Live!.
Contents
Background
It was first recorded by Julie Andrews and playback singer Bill Lee (dubbing over the voice of actor Christopher Plummer) for the film's soundtrack and was covered by Carrie Underwood and Stephen Moyer on the television special's soundtrack. In The Making of The Sound of Music by Max Wilk, Wilk stated that when Robert Wise and Saul Chaplin confronted Rodgers on replacing "An Ordinary Couple", Rodgers automatically agreed to the idea and admitted he and lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II had been talking of replacing the song but Hammerstein had been too ill to do so. This was not the only song to be written for the film, the second song, "I Have Confidence" was also added. Due to both songs popularity in the film, both have sometimes been integrated in the productions with "Something Good" always replacing "An Ordinary Couple".
Within the film
The song is a confession of love between Maria Kutschera and Captain Georg von Trapp. It appears in the film shortly after Maria returns to the house and after the Captain and Baroness Schräder have their falling out.
Within The Sound of Music Live!
As with the film the song is again used as a confession of love between Maria and the Captain, it is used shortly after the falling out between the Captain and Baroness Schräder. It comes right after the musical number between the Captain, Baroness Schräder and Max Detweiler, "No Way to Stop It", in the broadcast.
Critical response
Entertainment Weekly considered the song "boring" stating "This snoozefest is the musical representation of why some people say they can’t sit through Sound of Music." and that the song "is actually, well, bad."