Evita Lyrics – All Songs from the Musical

"Evita" the Musical: The Life, the Legacy, the Lilt.

Origins & Production

Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber tell it like a fever dream: a postcard rack in Buenos Aires, the face of Eva Perón staring back, half saint, half insurgent. Rice scribbles ideas on an airplane napkin; Lloyd Webber hums a chord progression over the roar of the engines. Back in London, they hammer melodies in a chilly rehearsal room where the tea never stays hot. By 1978, Evita storms the West End, and suddenly everyone is chanting “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina” on the night bus. The original cast album cracks open new territory, fusing rock-opera swagger with orchestral pomp. Elaine Paige’s voice is both velvet and volcano. A year later, Broadway calls; Patti LuPone answers, tears into the score like it’s red meat. She’ll later swear the part aged her vocal cords and gilded her trophy shelf in equal measure. The recording booths smelled of tape reels and nervous ambition, they say, yet every take felt electric. Fast-forward to 1996: Alan Parker’s film adaptation lures Madonna at peak stardom, Antonio Banderas in rakish narrator mode, Jonathan Pryce as the general who can’t quite keep up. The soundtrack drops first in the U.K. on October 28, 1996, then two weeks later stateside—cue queues outside record shops and headlines about the Queen of Pop turning Argentina’s first lady.

Track Highlights

Side A: Rise

• A Cinema in Buenos Aires, 26 July 1952 – Barely ninety seconds, yet the newsreel static and muffled sobs set the film’s sobriety.
• Requiem for Evita / Oh What a Circus – Banderas unleashes tango-edged cynicism while choir and brass clash behind him like shutters in a storm.
• Buenos Aires – Madonna spits rapid-fire Spanish phrases, swaggering from small-town nobody to capital-city comet in under four minutes.

Side B: Reign

• Don’t Cry for Me Argentina – Yeah, the centerpiece. Recorded in a cavernous London studio with strings stacked sky-high; you can almost hear the chandeliers trembling.
• Rainbow High – Synths swirl with martial drums as Eva orders gowns like a field marshal mapping a campaign.
• Waltz for Eva and Che – A pas de deux that feels like two chess masters circling the same queen on the board.

Side C: Fall

• She Is a Diamond – Pryce’s cool baritone, all resignation and realpolitik, floating over muted trumpets.
• Lament – The closing aria: Madonna sounding smaller, human, fading into distant organ chords—one last curtain flutter.

Plot & Character Tapestry

Eva Perón

From dusty Junín to the Casa Rosada balcony, Eva claws past class ceilings with sheer will and savvy media sense. The soundtrack mirrors that arc—bright brass for ambition, haunted woodwinds for the toll it takes.

Che (the Everyman Narrator)

No, not exactly Guevara; more a Greek chorus in a leather jacket. Che pokes holes in the myth, yet can’t resist being seduced by it. His numbers crackle with Latin-rock guitars, as if protest flyers are fluttering in the breeze.

Juan Perón

Steel in the speeches, softness in private. The orchestration around him is measured—military drums softened by cellos—hinting at a statesman torn between love and legacy. The film condenses coups and charity balls into a swirl of costumes and camera cranes, but the score does the heavy emotive lifting: you feel Eva’s pulse, hear the crowd roar, sense the champagne losing its bubbles.

Behind the Curtain

Studio Alchemy

Sessions sprawled across London’s CTS Studios and Los Angeles’ Ocean Way. Producers demanded analog warmth, so vintage Neumann mics butted heads with spanking-new digital consoles. Madonna reportedly nailed the balcony sequence on take three, then insisted on six more “for luck.” The choir spent an afternoon perfecting the whispered “Evita… Evita…” that ghosts beneath the reprise.

Oddball Anecdotes

• Banderas kept a mate gourd on the mixing desk, offering sips to string players between takes.
• Webber allegedly wept quietly behind the control room glass when LuPone sang “Rainbow Tour” back in ’79, and did so again hearing Madonna’s version seventeen years later.
• A rain machine malfunction during the “Lament” shoot soaked the orchestra’s sheet music; they played on, ink running like mascara.

“I still remember that first E-major chord—we all looked around like, this isn’t theatre anymore, this is revolution.”—Session Violinist, 1996

Voices from the Crowd

Critics

• One British broadsheet called it “a political fever-dream wrapped in silk and brass.”
• An American magazine quipped, “Madonna finally found a role that matches her ambition note for note.”

Fans

• Online forums still swap stories of wearing out cassette copies on family road trips.
• A Buenos Aires street busker claims tips double when he strums “Another Suitcase in Another Hall.”

Tech Specs

• Release (U.K.): 28 October 1996
• Release (U.S.): 12 November 1996
• Label: Warner Bros./Hollywood Records
• Genres: Symphonic Pop, Latin Rock, Musical Theatre
• Length: 108 min (Complete Edition)
• Chart Peaks: No. 1 U.K. Soundtrack, Top 10 Billboard 200
• Awards: Golden Globe for Best Original Song, Oscar for “You Must Love Me.”

FAQ

Did Madonna really sing live on set?

Mostly no. The majority of vocals were pre-recorded, but a few ambient snippets—street-market shouts, whispered prayers—were captured on location for texture.

Is “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” historically accurate?

The balcony speech happened, but the exact words were quite different. Rice distilled the sentiment into pop poetry.

Why two soundtrack versions?

The single-disc release trims reprises for casual listeners; the double album offers every cue, including orchestral underscores.