I Cain't Say No
"I Cain't Say No" | |
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Song | |
Published | 1943 |
Songwriter(s) | Oscar Hammerstein II |
Composer(s) | Richard Rodgers |
"I Cain't Say No" is a song from the 1943 musical play Oklahoma! written by composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist/librettist Oscar Hammerstein II,[1] initially performed by Celeste Holm.[2]
In the song Ado Annie Carnes describes her sexual awakening (albeit in highly euphemistic terms) and the conflicts that it brings. One of two female leads, Ado Annie has a pair of principal suitors, a Persian traveling salesman Ali Hakim and the cowboy Will Parker, recently returned from an excursion to Kansas City. She describes to her friend Laurey the attention she is now receiving from men "since she filled out" and her inability to say "no" to their advances.
Sample lyrics:
- It ain't so much a question of not knowing what to do.
- I knowed what's right and wrong since I was ten.
- I heared a lot of stories and I reckon they are true
- About how girls're put upon by men.
- I know I mustn't fall into the pit
- But when I'm with a feller,
- I fergit!
- I'm just a girl who cain't say no
- I'm in a terrible fix
- I always say "come on, let's go!"
- Jist when I orta say nix...[2]
In the british comedy Fawlty Towers, the character Polly sings the songs to entertain the guests in the episode "Gourmet Night".
References
- ^ Roden, Timothy; Wright, Craig; Simms, Bryan (17 April 2009). Anthology for Music in Western Civilization. Cengage Learning. p. 1714. ISBN 978-1-111-78420-1.
- ^ a b "Pop Chronicles 1940s Program #8". 1972.
See also
- "All Er Nuthin'", near the end of the musical where Will extracts a promise of fidelity from Annie, and vice versa.
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- Richard Rodgers
- Oscar Hammerstein II
- Oklahoma!
- Carousel
- Allegro
- South Pacific
- The King and I
- Me and Juliet
- Pipe Dream
- Flower Drum Song
- The Sound of Music
- A Grand Night for Singing
- State Fair
- Cinderella
- I Remember Mama
- Annie Get Your Gun
- Happy Birthday
- John Loves Mary
- Show Boat
- The Happy Time
- Burning Bright
- State Fair (1945)
- Oklahoma!
- Carousel
- The King and I (1956 film)
- South Pacific
- Flower Drum Song
- State Fair (1962)
- The Sound of Music
- The King and I (1999 film)
- Cinderella
- Carousel
- Cinderella (1997)
- The Sound of Music Live!
- The Sound of Music Live
- "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'"
- "The Surrey with the Fringe on Top"
- "Kansas City"
- "I Cain't Say No"
- "Many a New Day"
- "It's a Scandal! It's a Outrage!"
- "People Will Say We're in Love"
- "Lonely Room"
- "The Farmer and the Cowman"
- "All Er Nuthin'"
- "Oklahoma"
- "If I Loved You"
- "Soliloquy"
- "You'll Never Walk Alone"
- "It Might as Well Be Spring"
- "That's for Me"
- "A Fellow Needs a Girl"
- "So Far"
- "Some Enchanted Evening"
- "There Is Nothing Like a Dame"
- "Bali Ha'i"
- "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair"
- "I'm in Love with a Wonderful Guy"
- "Younger Than Springtime"
- "Happy Talk"
- "You've Got to Be Carefully Taught"
- "I Whistle a Happy Tune"
- "Hello, Young Lovers"
- "Getting to Know You"
- "We Kiss in a Shadow"
- "Something Wonderful"
- "I Have Dreamed"
- "Shall We Dance?"
- "No Other Love"
- "I Enjoy Being a Girl"
- "The Sound of Music"
- "Maria"
- "My Favorite Things"
- "Do-Re-Mi"
- "Sixteen Going on Seventeen"
- "The Lonely Goatherd"
- "Climb Ev'ry Mountain"
- "So Long, Farewell"
- "No Way to Stop It"
- "Edelweiss"
- "Something Good"
- The Sound of Music (1965 soundtrack)
- The Sound of Music: Music from the NBC Television Event
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