Annotations for Barrett wilbert weed and ryan mccartan dead girl walking

Lyric: Yeah
Annotation:
This final “yeah!” seems to indicate they’ve “finished”, so to speak.

Lyric: No sleep tonight for you
Annotation:
When Veronica says this, we know she is going to have intercourse with JD all night because in a line she says, “tonight I’m yours.” She also says “spend these 30 hours getting freakay!” this leads us to know she plans to do this with JD before she gets supposedly killed.

Lyric: Yeah
Annotation:
to me, at least, all the ‘Yeah’s and the 'C'mon!’ indicates that Veronica is… rather excited to have this encounter with J.D..

Lyric: Shh
Annotation:
Veronica would rather let J.D. know what’s up, than him talk, or possibly try to get her out of his room, (because he seemed so shocked when he said “Veronica, what are you doing in my room?”)

Lyric: ’Cause Heather says I gots to go
Annotation:
Veronica definitely does not want to die a virgin. Now obviously she’s not actually going to die but just ostracised by Westerburg High but the fact that she’ll be way down at the bottom of the Social Hierarchy, much lower than the nerds, basically says that she’ll be socially dead

Lyric: Love this dead girl walkin’
Annotation:
She was telling him to sex her

Lyric: Let’s break the bed
Annotation:
This mere stance “Let’s break the bed.” Happens in a literal way a few seconds after.

Lyric: Take this dead girl walkin’
Annotation:
Take her, take her romantically, take her virginity, Veronica want’s J.D. to take it all.

Lyric: [Instrumental Break]
Annotation:
Cue this super awesome instrumental, with some pretty fitting choreography…

Lyric: Yeah, yeah, yeah
Annotation:
This could be Veronica and JD moaning during sex… they’re probably both close to finishing.

Lyric: I don’t have to stay and die like cattle
Annotation:
This could be an allusion to Wilfred Owen’s poem Anthem For Doomed Youth “what passing bells for those who die as cattle” Which could suggest that the Heathers have done this before, and Veronica knows that she’s going to be the same It’s also a bit of zoomorphism – “which indicates that the humans killed in this struggle have become no more significant than animals killed” What a crazy world of literacy!

Lyric: So the world’s unfair, keep it locked out there
Annotation:
These lines demonstrate the unique solace that JD and Veronica find in each other and their relationship, (in this point of the narrative anyway) which is a sentiment echoed throughout the musical as they develop an ‘us against the world’ mentality. This is particularly present in “Our Love is God” as they prove they would do anything for each other- but also how manipulative JD can be as his obsessive feelings grow- further exemplified in “Meant to be yours”

Lyric: Veronica
Annotation:
Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles. He remembers her name…which earlier he said he never does. “I don’t learn the names, don’t bother with faces.” This shows that, already, she has had some unusual impact on his life, enough to make him go against his usual ‘get in, get out’ philosophy and make him interested.

Lyric: In here it’s beautiful
Annotation:
In the show, Veronica lightly pokes him in the chest to signify his heart, and with the other hand gestures to encapsulate his room. The lyric is a kind of expression of affection aside from lust, as she means here that she accepts and likes him.

Lyric: No-oh-oh-oh
Annotation:
In the musical, he says “No-oh-oh-oh!” signaling he agrees with Veronica; no more talking.

Lyric: I’m in your yard
Annotation:
This is a reference to the film’s opening scene, in which Veronica imagines herself buried up to her neck in a yard and being used as a croquet post by the Heathers.

Lyric: Love this dead girl
Annotation:
Veronica and J.D. have two separate meanings when they sing this verse. Veronica is telling J.D. to “love her” (in the physical way), whereas J.D. is saying that he does love her (in the emotional way).

Lyric: Sorry, but I really had to wake you
Annotation:
Veronica showing how desperate she is for JD currently, to the point she is willing to wake him up. This is also later shown in the line: No sleep tonight for you Better chug that Mountain Dew In the West End production, these lines are changed to: Had to see you I hope I didn’t wake you

Lyric: Shut your mouth and lose them tighty-whities
Annotation:
This is Veronica telling JD to shut up and take off his underwear so he knows what she wants. When she says “shut your mouth” in this line, it is because, on stage, JD opens his mouth to speak and makes a gesture with his hand before Veronica tells him to shut it, to which he obeys.

Lyric: And you know, you know, you know
 It’s ’cause you’re beautiful
Annotation:
These lines take a full turn back to the intro song, “ Beautiful”. It’s almost as if Veronica is switching between her usual meek personality and her bold new Heather personality, trying to comprehend what’s happening.
Also because this line shows JD she really cares about him. By telling him he’s ‘beautiful’ and to ‘make this beautiful’ she’s strengthening their connection

Lyric: See, I decided I must ride you ’til I break you
Annotation:
This line is a reference to the choreography where she actually has to straddle JD and dry hump on stage. “Till I break you” is indicating that the Deans' residence is gonna be rocking all night long.

Lyric: How’d you find my address?
Annotation:
Veronica recognised the motorbike outside of J.D.’s house when she was walking home from Ram and Kurt’s homecoming party, and assumed that was where he lived.

Lyric: I need it hard
Annotation:
It is no surprise that a drunk Veronica would want to lose her virginity before she dies, she blatantly says it in this line claiming it is a need.

Lyric: I could change my name
Annotation:
This, along with the motorbike, allude to her infatuation with JD. (As one way she could change her name is if she gets married, taking her spouse’s last name.) Veronica mentions later in the show that  when she marries JD, his dad will not be invited to the wedding.

Lyric: Spend these thirty hours gettin’
Annotation:
If Heather C. has decreed that Veronica will be dead by 8 am Monday, and Veronica has 30 hours of freaky time, she’s having this revelation Sunday at 2am.

Lyric: You’re my last meal on death row
Annotation:
When someone gets the death sentence, they are put on death row, and before their execution, they get a last meal which can be anything they want. Veronica is saying here that she wants to “eat” JD before she dies, claiming she would like to have sex with him before Heather kills her. This is also a nod to how “dead girl walking” is referring to what prison wardens shout out to the inmates as a condemned man walks down to the execution room so they can pay their respects.

Lyric: Woah, woah, hey, hey, wait, wait
Annotation:
J.D. realises how crazy the whole situation is. He wants to treat her like a girlfriend. Or, he’s close to finishing.

Lyric: I think you tore my mattress
Annotation:
Veronica keeps her promises. Exactly how in the world they tore the mattress, rather than just the sheets, is left open for speculation.

Lyric: Freaky
Annotation:
This last line doesn’t rhyme with anything.  This is a very unusual way to end a verse.  In the vast majority of theater and pop songs, the very last syllable of a whole verse rhymes with some previous line, which help tie the whole stanza together. This same unusual rhymeless ending recurs in verse 2 (“Shut your mouth and lose them tighty-whities!”). Co-lyricist Kevin Murphy is credited with this idea, which he says helps to establish that Veronica has unusual ways of thinking, and that in this moment of emotional extremity she’s grasping at new solutions and learning new ways to behave and construct her identity. This same strategy, of no rhymes where the listener would expect rhymes, is used for a different reason in “Kindergarten Boyfriend”.  That song contains no rhymes at all.  But in that case it’s not to indicate innovative thought patterns; it’s used to show that Martha’s memories of her kindergarten boyfriend are so simple and guileless that it doesn’t occur to her to rhyme. Stephen Sondheim once said that rhyme indicates education or sophistication.  So when a character who would ordinarily rhyme a lot does  not rhyme, that might indicate she’s having a moment of unusual honesty; and when a character uses no rhymes at all, that indicates she’s especially simple, plainspoken or heartfelt, or having a moment of unusual candor;  in both cases it can indicate something very important is coming up.

Lyric: Thirty hours to live – how shall I spend them?
Annotation:
Veronica of course doesn’t know it yet, but ironically, it’s Heather Chandler who’ll be dead within thirty hours… thanks to her and J.D.

Lyric: The demon queen of high school has decreed it:
Annotation:
The “demon queen of high school” refers to Heather Chandler, the leader of the Heathers and the most popular girl at her school. She is extremely mean, rude, selfish, and is blackmailing Veronica. Her signature color is also red, associated with the devil, violence, and rage.

Lyric: I’m snappin’ off your window lock
 Got no time to knock
Annotation:
This is probably foreshadowing  “Yo, Girl” where, at the end of the song, J.D. sneaks in through the window.  Also, the series of “-ock” rhymes in these few lines, combined with the fact that it’s already been established that this song is about sex, makes the listener think that the next word is “cock.” This is a clever reference to a dirty phrase: to “snap off [someone]’s cock” is to have raunchy, uninhibited sex and is intended to suggest a tight “fit”. Here, Veronica skates over the expected reference.

Lyric: And ride up to Seattle
Annotation:
This could be referencing the movie, as Heather Chandler tells Veronica to “Transfer to Washington. Transfer to Jefferson.” At a population of 700,000 people, Seattle is the largest city in Washington state (not to be confused with Washington D.C.) Seattle is also on the west coast, and if she were to move as far away from Heather C. as possible, Ohio is VERY far from Washington State.

Lyric: Full steam ahead
Annotation:
This was actually the title of the song before the Off-Broadway version, but they decided to change that. It makes more sense that it is now named, “Dead Girl Walking”

Lyric: Before they punch my clock
Annotation:
If you punch a clock—ie. break it—it no longer works. She means before her time stops running; before she dies. “Punch my clock” refers to “punching out” – factory and other workers must feed an attendance card into a clock to prove they showed up on time and worked their full assigned shift.

Lyric: I’m a dead girl walkin’
Annotation:
This line is sung with almost the same inflection as  this line in the reprise.

Lyric: That works for me, whoop—
Annotation:
Consent. J.D’s submissiveness during this song is sometimes mistaken for an indication of rape, but in the musical, it’s not until this line comes up that they kiss for the first time—though J.D. is cut off during the word “me” because Veronica kisses him.

Lyric: Okay, okay
Annotation:
Veronica wants to distract herself from her problems, and of course if all she thinks about is J.D., she can forget the town, making it “disappear” from her mind. The idea of making the town disappear is what ends up shaping the relationship between J.D. and Veronica. J.D. believes that he and Veronica are above society on their own, and Veronica gets sucked into that idea on the basis of “love.” Though in this context it is much more humorous, it is the same thing. She is saying that they are the only ones that matter because of her attraction to J.D.. At this point, neither of them probably know that Veronica is already playing into J.D.’s manipulation. Further proof of J.D. taking her words to heart is his tone of voice. When he says “okay, okay” the first time, it’s adorably submissive. But the second time he says it, it’s more passionate and determined. This signifies him taking Veronica’s words as a demand, to which he agrees. She unknowingly gave him permission to act on his psychotic and murderous ideas.  In other words: J.D. takes this line a bit too seriously.

Lyric: What are you doin’ in my room?
Annotation:
Veronica coming into J.D.’s room here is a way of foreshadowing. Later, J.D. will come into her room with malicious intent, joking that he wasn’t paying attention to his manners.  In the original movie, J.D. is the one that sneaks into Veronica’s room at this point for a night of “strip croquet”. The roles are reversed in the musical, causing J.D. to become less of a “creepy stalker” at this early point and saving the revelation that he’s a psycho for later.

Lyric: She says, Monday, 8 a.m., I will be deleted
 They’ll hunt me down in study hall
Annotation:
The grotesque phrasing that Veronica uses here highlights the power that Heather Chandler has over her and school in general. The use of the word ‘hunt’ implies that the Heathers and more specifically, Heather Chandler, are vicious like animals.

Lyric: Slap me, pull my hair
 Touch me there and there and there
Annotation:
Veronica seems fairly inexperienced in sex before this point in the musical (she even tells J.D. that he was her first in a line right after “very”) so it’s so surprising when we (the audience) learn that apparently she likes it rough!  But just because Veronica has never had sex before this point in the play, there’s nothing suggesting that she neither fantasizes nor reads plenty enough to know exactly what she’s into. As we learn later, Veronica has depths, and it’s a foolish person who believes otherwise.

Lyric: Come on!
 Tonight I’m yours, I’m your dead girl walkin’
 Get on all fours, kiss this dead girl walkin’
 Let’s go, you know the drill
 I’m hot and pissed and on the pill
 Bow down to the will of a dead girl walkin’
Annotation:
Veronica is surprisingly confident and domineering in this song, which is quite out of character for her usual bookishly sarcastic personality. The audience sees another side to J.D. as well: he’s being unusually innocent and submissive. His adorably befuddled lines like “how did you find my address?” when Veronica wants to “break the bed” add to the excellent comedic timing and sharp contrasts of personality for both characters. J.D. said multiple times that he never had friends/time to make them. The only thing we knew up until this point was that, and also that he gets in fights. So, it’s likely that he’s a virgin here too. If Veronica wasn’t drunk/about to socially die, she would be in the same boat as him. Also, this solidifies the relationship. The gentleness J.D. gives her is a sign that he’s really starting to assimilate her into his “property” or his life, at least. The “pill” Veronica mentions is a  form of birth control, which would lessen the need to use a condom during this encounter.

Lyric: Ow
Annotation:
This line’s delivery differs in every version of the play. In some shows, Veronica yanks on JD’s hair. In others, she slaps him, or drags her nail’s down his back. In the 2014 Off-Broadway version (OC), she rides him a little too wide here then pushes forward again which is… pretty painful for a guy, to say the least. But basically, Veronica is being a little rough with J.D. here. Or another option which is very common among first timers, he could have gotten a leg cramp.

Lyric: But I don’t own a motorbike
 Wait – here’s an option that I like:
Annotation:
Veronica may not own a motorbike, but J.D. does. She is immediately reminded of J.D. once she talks about a motorbike. In the film Veronica comments on his bike after going into the 7/11 (after “Freeze Your Brain” would be) so she must have formed a connection between the bike and him. In this moment in the published script, Veronica has walked through the darkened suburban streets and stumbled upon J.D’s house, where she recognizes J.D.’s motorcycle.

Lyric: Stuff and mount me on the wall
Annotation:
This is a reference to taxidermy, in which  animals are stuffed and hung on their wall as prizes.

Lyric: But I can’t agree
Annotation:
Until the Off-Broadway previews, this line was “But you’re really not”. The change suggests that, although it is Veronica’s choice to deny it, she doesn’t know JD well enough to confirm if he really is numb inside or not.

Lyric: I’m a dead girl walkin’
Annotation:
The title of this song is a reference to a prison tradition. When a condemned man makes his final walk to the execution room, a guard calls out “Dead man walking!” to alert all other prisoners to pay their respects as their colleague passes their cells for the last time. This is the first time Veronica refers to herself as a “dead girl walking” and she does it due to the fact that her reputation in school is doomed after the falling out she had with Heather Chandler at Ram and Kurt’s party. In the reprise of this song, she uses the same expression to refer to herself after faking her own suicide. The first use of this title is a great depiction of how little things like high school social hierarchy seem like all that matters when you’re young and imersed in that universe, while the next time she calls herself a “dead girl walking” will be when facing an actual case of life and death.

Lyric: You say you’re numb inside
Annotation:
Veronica recalls what JD told her in  “Freeze Your Brain”: Happiness comes When everything numbs Who needs cocaine?

Lyric: Better chug that Mountain Dew
Annotation:
In J.D.’s song “ Freeze Your Brain”, he references drinking sugary slushies to numb himself: Yeah I live for that sweet frozen rush… Freeze your brain Suck on that straw Get lost in the pain Mountain Dew is a caffeinated soft drink filled with sugar (77 grams per bottle, to be exact) and caffeine. After spending the night with Veronica, J.D. is gonna need a jolt of energy to keep him going. This may be a reference more towards the myth that  Mountain Dew lowers your sperm count, especially when considering that Veronica says she’s on the pill as well. So in a sense she’s just saying to not get her pregnant.

