# The funny song in “Miss Saigon”? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 18, 2002, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-funny-song-in-miss-saigon/104318 "2002-04-18T14:43:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![KXL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@KXL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KXL)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-funny-song-in-miss-saigon/104318/1 "2002-04-18T14:43:16Z")
When the soundtrack to “Miss Saigon” first came out, I bought it, listened once, and sold it to a used CD shop. Yesterday I had a craving to hear the one song I remember (if I’m not nuts), a funny song (perhaps performed by Pryce?) about the hookers. Something like “Girls, lots of girls…”etc. A look at the CD track list on Amazon and at [www.misssaigon.com](http://www.misssaigon.com) reveals no track which rings a bell or suggests it’s funny. What’s the title of that song? Do I have the right musical? ---
**Author:** ![scott\_evil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@scott\_evil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scott_evil)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-funny-song-in-miss-saigon/104318/2 "2002-04-18T15:00:27Z")
It’s called “What a Waste.” The lyrics can be found [here](http://www.geocities.com/Broadway/Balcony/5705/Saigon3.html). - s.e. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-funny-song-in-miss-saigon/104318/3 "2002-04-18T15:16:02Z")
It’s near the beginning of Act II – The Engineer had taken Kim and her baby to Thailand, convinced that the child would serve as a way to get him a U.S. visa – but nothing came of it. So the once-proud pimp is reduced to hawking passersby into one of the many Thai nudie bars. It’s upbeat and humorous, yes, in that The Engineer is hardly a sympathetic character, and the fact that he’s now earning ten cents an hour spinning ever-more-fantastic lies to get people into his bar, and not the other ones, is kind of funny. Just as an aside… there are a few spots in musical theater that really cause me to tear up… or would that is, if I weren’t such a tough, manly bastard. And the point in _Miss Saigon_ where Chris is on the phone, pleading that Kim be home to hear him call, while Kim is outside is the embassy, pleading that Chris somehow see her… that’s just heart-wrenching. I’ve seen the show ten times, and the memory of that moment still gets me. - Rick ---
**Author:** ![KXL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@KXL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KXL)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-funny-song-in-miss-saigon/104318/4 "2002-04-18T15:21:13Z")
“What a Waste.” Yep, that was it. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-funny-song-in-miss-saigon/104318/5 "2002-04-18T15:24:32Z")
The Engineer had another very funny number, toward the end of the show, called “American Dream,” in which he fantasizes about what a big shot he’d be in America. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-funny-song-in-miss-saigon/104318/6 "2002-04-18T23:20:11Z")
Am I the only one that VERY MUCH prefers the original ending (as it is on the Original London Cast Recording) to the one that they changed it to circa 1992? That one is just WEAK and not nearly as powerful emotionally. Colin ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-funny-song-in-miss-saigon/104318/7 "2002-04-19T03:33:11Z")
What’s the new ending? I saw the show in the summer of '92 with my musical-freak roommate, and since he never mentioned a changed ending, I assume the one we saw (where Kim kills herself at the end so that her son can go with Chris) was the original. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-funny-song-in-miss-saigon/104318/8 "2002-04-19T12:46:29Z")
Oh, the ending itself is the same, but they completely changed the music and lyrics from the way they originally went. Colin ---
**Author:** ![scott\_evil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@scott\_evil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scott_evil)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-funny-song-in-miss-saigon/104318/9 "2002-04-19T13:49:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by interface2x \* > **Oh, the ending itself is the same, but they completely changed the music and lyrics from the way they originally went.** Changes made since the original 1989 London production: - Lyrics to opening number (before “The Heat Is On In Saigon”) radically changed. - Ellen (Chris’ American wife) made out to be less of a bitch. “It’s Her or Me” changed to a more sympathetic lyric, titled “Now That I’ve Seen Her” (same tune). - and the ending, of course. There are a couple of other lyrical tweaks here and there, but these are the main ones I can remember right now. - s.e. ---
**Author:** ![scott\_evil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@scott\_evil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scott_evil)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-funny-song-in-miss-saigon/104318/10 "2002-04-19T14:02:34Z")
I have to say, the whole fall of Saigon sequence was incredibly well conceived, choreographed, and executed - going from floor to floor, from place to place. It’s too bad Nicholas Hytner isn’t doing more musicals. That kind of fluidity, as well as that seen in the Kate Bush video “This Woman’s Work,” inspired the opening sequence (“The Ride Home”) of my second musical, _Willows_. - s.e.