"One Day I'll Fly Away" (Nicole Kidman v.) — Music Analysis 2

 

Moulin Rouge! (2001) is one of my favorite movies, and "One Day I'll Fly Away" is one of my favorite songs from the film. From the first time I heard it, I was blown away by Nicole Kidman's range (see: that high note on the chorus) and emotive power. As Moulin Rouge! is a "jukebox musical," this is not an original song, but was adapted for the film. "One Day I'll Fly Away" was first released in 1980 by American R&B/Jazz singer Randy Crawford, for her album Now We May Begin. It was written by Joe Sample and Will Jennings, and they retain most of the credit for the lyrics as they appear in the movie, with Craig Armstrong receiving additional credit for arrangement on the film version.

When the movie came out, Nicole Kidman was known as a talented actress but not noted for her musical abilities. She wasn't initially the director's top choice for the role, but I'm glad she was ultimately chosen, and I can't imagine it any other way (actually, I can ... I just don't like it! I vote Nicole Kidman.).

For a brief bit of background on the story, Kidman plays the major role of Satine (opposite Ewan McGregor as the main character, Christian), a French courtesan who is the star of the Moulin Rouge (a fin de siècle cabaret) and wants to be a "real" actress. She's jaded by what passes for "love" in her world, but upon meeting Christian, who seems sincere and treats her like a person rather than an object, she becomes conflicted. The song comes in at a time of reflection, after Christian has just disrupted her "normal" life, and she's considering whether she should open up and allow him to change her situation, or shut him out and keep to her own plans. The main question of the song is, is it ("love") worth it?

And here is the song, as it's played in the film (there's about 30 seconds of preamble, before the song really gets going -- it also cuts off right before the next sequence and makes Christian look like a bit of a creep, but...don't worry! He's not.):

 Lyrics

As an adaptation of the original to the needs of the story, this version of the song cuts some lyrics and changes others to make it a good fit. The original song speaks about "leaving your love to yesterday" -- which is the opposite of the storyline, where the romance is just getting started. The film version has Kidman sing "leave all this to yesterday" instead, to reflect the unhappiness of her current state of affairs. There are also changes in phrasing that seem to better fit the tone of the story, such as "When will I begin / to live again?" rather than "When will I begin / my life again?" (You can see the original lyrics here, vs. the film lyrics here.)

Overall, the (modified) lyrics support the moment quite well. They share Satine's sense of her own relatively hopeless situation, and her desire to hope, but her fear that hope is just an escape ("dreaming"), and her concomitant fear of the vulnerability that comes with hope ("dread the day when dreaming ends"). Much of the song revolves around her own trajectory -- her own plans to "fly away" and become a real, respected actress -- and questioning whether to accept this potential alteration to her plans (i.e. Christian): "what more could your love do for me?" (The next sequence involves her choice, for better or worse, to let go of her cynicism and see whether "love" is worth it.)

Melody & Phrasing

Fun fact: The melody "hook" (where Kidman sings "one day I'll fly away") is actually a quotation from Tchaikovsky's "Waltz of the Flowers" from The Nutcracker. I couldn't find any information about why, but I thought it was interesting!

The song opens with the verse, with a relatively slow, measured, and wistful/sad melody, in a minor key. The move to the chorus has a more major-key feeling at first (probably due to that Tchaikovsky quote), then returns to the more melancholy minor key. This major key bit is well-placed, being paired with the "happiest" line in the song ("one day I'll fly away"). The melody through the chorus progresses higher and higher, reaching the almost defiant heights of "from dream to dream" -- then quickly descends to "dread the day," and draws out "when dreaming ends," where the extended duration reflects the "dread" of that day, by prolonging the phrase. An instrumental interlude and then truncated repeat of the chorus underlines her dilemma, and a quiet, wistful outro leaves the situation unresolved (she still hasn't decided).

Timbre & Articulation

Kidman makes use of a tremulous style of vibrato, and sings in a style that's almost like talking in places (more musical theatre style vs. recording artist), but still melodious, with a warm, almost bright but velvety tone and hints of sweetness. Her voice is breathy in places, but she maintains clear enunciation (very important when a song is directly telling the story); she executes an almost staccato attack on certain syllables, which gives way to sustained notes especially during the chorus -- ending in a melancholy decay/break on "day" -- and then sustained, legato-like treatment on "when dreaming ends." She conveys a great deal of emotional intensity, with little imperfections that make the piece feel more natural in context (not overly polished), and the tension in her voice communicates the tension in the character. The internal conflict is evident in her delivery, making her vocal performance very effective.

Range

The song begins relatively low in pitch, and reaches quite high heights at the top of the chorus -- definitely more than an octave (I counted eleven notes between the lowest and highest pitches). It's not a record-breaker, but the expanse of available notes in the melody help support the epic (broad, sweeping) feeling of the romance.

Dynamics (& Silence)

This song makes full use of dynamic range, from a loud and soaring second chorus (led up to by an orchestral crescendo), to very quiet and stripped down in other places -- Kidman almost whispers, with only minimal instrumental accompaniment. There are also moments of silence to punctuate dynamic/emotional shifts. This use of the whole gamut -- from ff to pp -- effectively conveys the intensity of her emotional state and the personal importance of the decision she's making.

That concludes this analysis. I have a lot of memories, especially from high school, of singing this song (or at least attempting to -- as a contralto, I only ever hit that high note if I was in practice and really warmed up), as well as several others from the soundtrack. I rewatched the film a couple years ago for a film studies class, and was pleasantly surprised that I still liked it (so many things end up better in memory, ha). Whether or not it's your cup of tea, I think we can all agree -- Nicole Kidman is super talented.

SOURCES:

Bergren, Joe. “‘Moulin Rouge!’ at 20: Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman Talk Singing for the Iconic Soundtrack (Flashback)." Entertainment Tonight, www.etonline.com/moulin-rouge-at-20-ewan-mcgregor-and-nicole-kidman-praise-baz-luhrmanns-vision-from-the-set-166623.

“Nicole Kidman – One Day I’ll Fly Away.” Genius.com, genius.com/Nicole-kidman-one-day-ill-fly-away-lyrics. Accessed 24 Feb. 2024.

“Randy Crawford – One Day I’ll Fly Away.” Genius.com, genius.com/Randy-crawford-one-day-ill-fly-away-lyrics. Accessed 24 Feb. 2024.

Wikipedia Contributors. “One Day I’ll Fly Away.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 8 Feb. 2024, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Day_I%27ll_Fly_Away. Accessed 24 Feb. 2024.