If Only

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This new song from the Broadway stage show is melancholy number of hope and longing that brings together four characters and their respective points-of-view to the love story that is the core of "The Little Mermaid". There's been quite a bit of praise for this song (well-deserved, in my opinion), which starts out as an Ariel solo but then brings in Eric, Sebastian and Triton into a quartet, with Eric and Triton singing to the tune of "Her Voice".

It's a love song, though not the typical Disney kind, and I think stands out all the more for how the original film "The Little Mermaid" didn't have a long song either, unlike the other romance-focused films.

Ariel:
If only you could know the things I long to say
If only I could tell you what I wish I could convey
It's in my every glance, my heart's an open book
You'd see it all at once if only you would look

If only you could glimpse the feeling that I feel
If only you would notice what I'm dying to reveal
The dreams I can't declare, the needs I can't deny
You'd understand them all if only you would try

All my secrets, you would learn them
All my longings, you'd return them
Then the silence would be broken
Not a word would need be spoken

Eric:
What is it about her that's so wonderfully, impossibly familiar?
Why do I feel dizzy in a way I've only felt but once before
How come when she looks at me it seems like time stops moving
Almost like the way it did that day upon the shore
But that voice

Ariel:
If only it were true, if only for a while

Eric:
Oh, that voice

Ariel:
If only you would notice how I ache behind my smile

Eric:
Where's that voice?

Ariel:
I guess you never will, I guess it doesn't show
But if I never find a way to tell you so
Oh, what I would give if only you could know

Sebastian:
Bless you, child. Tomorrow the prince will have his pick of any princess in the land. How can a little mermaid compete with that?
If only I knew how, I'd make him see the light
If only it were up to me this all would turn out right
And if I only could, I'd tell ya what I'd do
I'd simply wave me claw and make ya dreams come true
And wouldn't that surprise ya if ya only knew

Triton:
How could she just suddenly, completely disappear into thin water?
It's been two whole days and I don't know where she has gone

Eric:
If only

All:
Oh what I would give if only you could know

Eric:
And at the ball
What will occur?
Maybe I'll find that voice
But I'll lose her

Ariel:
If only

Sebastian:
If only

Triton:
If only

The conflict between father and daughters gets its closure here in the Broadway show's "If Only" reprise, where both sides finally understanding each other. It's always good to remember that even the best happy endings need sacrifice somewhere or the other.

Ariel:
I've caused you so much trouble. Can you ever forgive me?

Triton:
Why, I've never been prouder. Somehow, in the blink of an eye when my back was turned, you grew up.

If only you could stay
And never say goodbye
If only I could make time stop
Believe me, I would try

But fathers have to learn
That daughters have to grow
And if you truly love them
You must let them go

And oh, I love you
If only you could know

You love him very much, don't you? You belong to his world now.

This is the earlier demo version of the song "If Only", which is more straightforward compared to the final quartet version, but still lovely in its melancholy character expression, where Ariel yearns and is frustrated about the limitations of the spell she's under, while Eric struggles to make sense of his being drawn to Ariel even as he still dreams of the mysterious voice.

Thanks to Mariah, Rebecca and Elly for helping with these lyrics!

This reprise of "If Only" in the Broadway demo album is sung by Sebastian about Ariel, though from the lyrics, she may not be directly listening. Sebastian cares a lot for Ariel, and here he shows a little of just how much. This reprise ended up being folded into the final quartet version that's used in the stage show.

Thanks to Elly for helping with these lyrics!

For the 2008 "BBC Radio 2 Celebrates the Music of Disney" concert, the quartet was performed by Kerry Butler as Ariel, Drew Sarich as Eric, Titus Burgess as Sebastian and Adam Pascal as King Triton. The lyrics are near identical to the Broadway version, but as happens in concerts there's raw emotion injected into the performance, which I dig. I'm mainly including this for the niftiness of Kerry, who sang as Ariel in the musical workshop, and Titus, who originated Sebastian on Broadway, performing together.

Auli'i Cravalho and Graham Phillips perform the stage musical's "If Only" for "The Little Mermaid Live!", though because it's a duet instead of a quartet they've gone back to the lyrics of the earlier demo version of the song. It's still lovely to see this version rendered live and in a set that shows Ariel and Eric's mirrored conflict in their feelings for the other.