I Cain't Say No

"I Cain't Say No"
Song from Oklahoma!
Published	1943
Writer	Oscar Hammerstein II
Composer	Richard Rodgers

"I Cain't Say No" is a song from the musical play Oklahoma! written by composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist/librettist Oscar Hammerstein II.^[1]

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...

References

↑ Roden, Timothy; Wright, Craig; Simms, Bryan (17 April 2009). Anthology for Music in Western Civilization. Cengage Learning. p. 1714. ISBN 1-111-78420-5.

Rodgers and Hammerstein

Stage musicals	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

Productions	I Remember Mama Annie Get Your Gun Happy Birthday John Loves Mary Show Boat The Happy Time Burning Bright

Films	State Fair Oklahoma! Carousel The King and I South Pacific Flower Drum Song The Sound of Music Cinderella

Television	Cinderella The Sound of Music Live!

Songs	"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" "No Way to Stop It" "Edelweiss"

Related articles	"Something Good" The Sound of Music The Sound of Music: Music from the NBC Television Event

Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II's Oklahoma! (1943)

Source

Lynn Riggs' Green Grow the Lilacs

Adaptations

Oklahoma! (1955 film)

Music

Act 1	"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"

Act 2	"The Farmer and the Cowman" "All Er Nuthin'" "Oklahoma!"

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, January 10, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.

I Cain't Say No

References

See also