Matthew L. Kearns
Composer, Lyricist, and Singer
A Cappella and Choral Compositions & Arrangements
αlphasongs music productions, Alphasongs LLC (ASCAP)
You Made a Mistake
Copyright ©2024 Alphasongs LLC (ASCAP), all rights reserved.
Lyrics by Kai Cofer (ASCAP) Music by Matthew L. Kearns (ASCAP)
For Solo Tenor/Rapper Soprano, Mezzo-Soprano, Tenor, Bass, and Hand Rhythm
You Made a Mistake Copyright ©2024 Alphasongs LLC (ASCAP), www.Alphasongs.net Lyrics by Kai Cofer, Music by Matthew L. Kearns From: The Process, a play by Kai Cofer. Verse 1 A critical error. Mistaken identity I've done nothing wrong. Why are you arresting me? Double check your sources. I've committed no crime. Something's smelling fishy. Mistakes happen all the time. Refrain No need to wonder It happens every day. You made a blunder Now make it go away. Now make it go away. Verse 2 So own up to it. Time to take it back. No one is perfect. I'll cut you some slack. You have to live and live dude. Not easy to do There's no way around it. Even for a guy like you Refrain No need to wonder It happens every day. You made a blunder Now make it go away. Now make it go away. Verse 3 You made a mistake making statements that aren't true. I am the victim here, but I will forgive you. If you take it all back. Without any delay, I'll forgive you this time. What do you say? Refrain No need to wonder It happens every day. You made a blunder Now make it go away. Now make it go away. Finale So own up to it. Time to take it back No one is perfect I'll cut you some slack. No need to wonder. **it happens ev'ry day. So, you made a blunder. Now make it go away! Notes: This is the second song of the musical, “The Process”, and Joseph, the primary character is in a state of utter disbelief as the cast enters to provide a backdrop for Joseph’s passionate message. Joseph cannot believe he just got arrested. Like in the first song, we have acapella harmonies and rhythms backing up the lead from a small mixed choir with Joseph in the play, rapping his state of disbelief. The refrains emphasize the title phrase, You Made a Mistake and emphasizes Joseph’s final plea to, “Make it go away!” in acapella harmony. Performance Notes: Although there are notes for Joseph's solo part in the verses, in the theatre performance, this lead part is intended to be performed in rap, rather than sing. The notes designated for rap are shown with crossed noteheads in this score. But these notes also have a musical position on the staff and in a concert performance outside of the theatrical presentation, the lead part could be sung with the note positions and values in this score. The “melody” in the singing version is meant to be on a chord note with minimal motion in the melody when the chord changes and no melodic motion for the duration of the chord. Basically, crossed noteheads means a theatre performance of this song in rap and a concert performance that could be rapped or sung. This piece is scored for small to medium vocal ensemble. The theatre performance will generally have one person on a part. There is a written hand clap part in this score. The clap line is a suggested starting point for adding rhythmic emphasis to this song, The clap line can also be a starting point for a good improvisational beat boxer add to add their rhythmic improvisations to enhance the beat and rhythms in this song even further. In one spot the lyrics you will see a double asterisk in front of the word "it", as in "**it", representing a leading consonant sound because we all know "**it happens", and that is intended for theatrical performances of this piece in the play. An optional substitute for **it would be the word, “stuff”. Audio tracks generated with Cantamus software