Grind Lyrics – All Songs from the Musical

"Grind" – The Musical Guide & Song Meanings

Review

What happens when a show tries to turn a burlesque bill into a moral ledger? “Grind” lives in that tension. Its story is set in 1933 Chicago, inside Harry Earle’s burlesque theatre, where backstage intimacy collides with onstage segregation and civic policing. The lyrics keep pushing the characters toward confession: who gets to be seen, who gets to be safe, who gets to be believed. That pressure gives the score a bite even when the book starts stacking plot turns like IOUs.

Musically, Larry Grossman writes in big Broadway brass with blues and jazz shading. The style matters because it fits the house: a world of patter, turns, bumps, and survival rhythms. Ellen Fitzhugh’s lyric approach tends to land on character arguments more than character poetry. People talk to win, to flirt, to deflect, to control the room. That is why the best songs are the ones that stop “performing” and let somebody tell the truth without an audience laugh to hide behind.

If you’re listening for motifs, track the show’s obsession with “place.” The opening number welcomes you to the theatre like it’s a sanctuary. By the end, the same idea is tested: is this house home, cage, workplace, or battlefield? That question is the engine under the plot.

How It Was Made

“Grind” arrived on Broadway with top-tier theatre machinery: Harold Prince directing, Paul Gemignani conducting, Bill Byers orchestrating, Ken Billington lighting, Florence Klotz costuming. It also arrived with a structural problem that “serious” musicals often face: the creative ambition is larger than what the form can comfortably hold. Burlesque is already theatre about theatre. Add segregated staging rules, an Irish rebel’s trauma, and romance triangles across a company split by race, and you are writing a show that has to explain itself while it sings.

The behind-the-scenes story is also marked by labor conflict. Reports tied the production to controversy over a “substandard” contract, and Prince and other team members were suspended by the Dramatists Guild in connection with that dispute. That context matters because it frames how the show was built: under pressure, in public, with reputations on the line.

One fascinating afterlife clue sits in archival breadcrumbs. The Library of Congress finding aid for the Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon Collection lists “press clippings on Grind” and “Bob Fosse’s dance notes.” Even if Fosse wasn’t the show’s choreographer, the paper trail hints at how closely Broadway’s top artists watched each other’s work in that decade.

Key Tracks & Scenes

"This Must Be the Place" (Company)

The Scene:

Prologue. The ensemble floods the stage like a house act warming the crowd. Footlights, bright signage, the sense that the theatre itself is speaking. The welcome is upbeat, almost salesmanship, but it carries the weight of people who need tonight’s show to land.

Lyrical Meaning:

This is the show’s thesis disguised as an opening. “Place” is refuge and trap at once. The lyric sells belonging while quietly admitting dependence: the company needs the house because the world outside is harsher, and the house makes its own rules.

"A Sweet Thing Like Me" (Satin and the girls)

The Scene:

Onstage burlesque number for Satin, framed by the theatre’s gaze. The choreography reads as bravado, but the staging can’t help revealing the transactional nature of attention.

Lyrical Meaning:

The lyric plays with sweetness as camouflage. Satin’s persona sells ease, yet the subtext is negotiation: she is defining her own value before anyone else defines it for her. It is flirtation as self-defense.

"My Daddy Always Taught Me To Share" (Leroy)

The Scene:

Backstage, where Leroy’s charm becomes a weapon. The number can feel like a grin stretched too wide: funny until it isn’t.

Lyrical Meaning:

The lyric weaponizes folk wisdom. “Sharing” becomes entitlement dressed as tradition. It’s one of the clearest moments where Fitzhugh writes a character telling on himself while trying to be liked.

"All Things To One Man" (Satin)

The Scene:

A quieter pocket in the backstage sprawl. Satin steps out of the company noise and sings as if the room finally stopped moving.

Lyrical Meaning:

The song is about being flattened into a single story by somebody else’s desire. Satin is not asking for romance; she’s asking to be seen in full, beyond the role the house sells.

"The Line" (Leroy and Earle’s Pearls)

The Scene:

A performance number that turns the theatre’s segregation into choreography. Bodies arrange themselves with the clean geometry of a rule no one chose.

Lyrical Meaning:

The lyric treats “the line” as both punchline and boundary. It’s social commentary delivered with show-biz snap, which makes the cruelty easier to swallow, then harder to forget.

"Katie, My Love" (Doyle)

The Scene:

Doyle’s private grief breaks through. The staging often reads best with a dimmer palette: a man singing into an absence, not into a spotlight.

Lyrical Meaning:

Unlike the house numbers, this lyric is not bargaining with an audience. It is memory as obsession. The show needs this because it reframes Doyle: not a “type,” but a wound walking around.

"This Crazy Place" (Leroy and Company)

The Scene:

Act I closer. The company is in motion, alliances shifting, panic rising. The theatre becomes a pressure cooker with music as steam.

Lyrical Meaning:

The lyric names the contradiction: the place that feeds you also eats you. It’s a chorus of people admitting they can’t quit, because quitting means the world outside wins.

"These Eyes of Mine" (Maybelle and Company)

The Scene:

After a gunshot and a death, the burlesque house drops its mask. It’s communal mourning, staged like a slow procession that refuses the night’s usual jokes.

Lyrical Meaning:

The lyric turns sight into testimony. “Eyes” are witness, record, and accusation. The song’s power is that it forces the audience to sit in consequence, not spectacle.

"Down" (Doyle)

The Scene:

Late in the show, in a private room away from the stage. Doyle recounts the catastrophe that follows him, and the staging works best when it feels almost too close.

Lyrical Meaning:

The lyric is about moral gravity. No matter how far Doyle travels, the past pulls. It’s also the show’s sharpest argument that violence is not abstract, it has names.

Live Updates (2025/2026)

As of January 27, 2026, “Grind” is not an active Broadway or touring title in the way a repertory staple is. What has stayed alive is the recording. Jay Records continues to circulate the Original Broadway Cast Recording digitally and on CD, listing current purchase and streaming outlets and a track program that preserves several key sequences as medleys.

For modern context, there is also documentation you can actually watch. A surviving Broadway commercial remains on YouTube, and the 1985 Tony Awards broadcast clip of “This Must Be the Place” has been posted as well. For the craft side, CUNY TV hosts an American Theatre Wing “Working in the Theatre” episode focused on the production team, which is a rare window into how a large Broadway musical was sold and managed in that era.

Licensing is the one area where public information is thin. One theatre reference site states the show is not currently available for licensing. I could not confirm a widely listed, official licensor page in the public catalogs surfaced during this research pass, so producers should treat availability as a rights-holder inquiry rather than an assumption.

Notes & Trivia

• The Broadway production received Tony nominations for Best Musical, Best Book, and Best Original Score, and won two Tonys: Leilani Jones (Featured Actress) and Florence Klotz (Costume Design).
• IBDB lists the full musical number lineup by act, including “Timing,” “New Man,” and “A Century of Progress,” which helps map plot turns to songs more precisely than many short-lived shows allow.
• The orchestrations were by Bill Byers, with additional orchestrations credited to Harold Wheeler and Jim Tyler, and Paul Gemignani is credited as musical director.
• The show played the Mark Hellinger Theatre in New York, a large house that amplifies spectacle and can punish intimacy if the book doesn’t keep pace.
• The Dramatists Guild suspension tied to “Grind” is part of its historical footprint, not just gossip. It’s cited as a reputational shockwave in accounts of Harold Prince’s 1980s Broadway period.
• The Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon Collection finding aid at the Library of Congress lists “press clippings on Grind” and “Bob Fosse’s dance notes” connected to the title.
• A 2008 York Theatre Company “Musicals in Mufti” concert staging revisited the score, indicating that musicians and historians have kept interest in the material even without a mainstream revival.

Reception

Critics heard the ambition and questioned the architecture. Some reviews treated the show like it was trying to win too many arguments in one night. Others admired the score’s classic Broadway punch while doubting the show’s ability to integrate its themes without strain.

“...a desperate barrage of arbitrary musical numbers...”

“...he had been talking about it long before.”

“...‘Grind,’ a short-lived 1985 burlesque musical.”

Quick Facts

• Title: Grind
• Year: 1985 (Broadway)
• Type: Original Broadway musical
• Book: Fay Kanin
• Music: Larry Grossman
• Lyrics: Ellen Fitzhugh
• Director: Harold Prince
• Choreographer: Lester Wilson
• Orchestrations: Bill Byers (additional orchestrations credited to Harold Wheeler and Jim Tyler)
• Musical director / conductor (recording): Paul Gemignani
• Setting: 1933 Chicago, inside a burlesque theatre operating under segregation
• Selected notable placements (in-show): “This Must Be the Place” (Prologue), “These Eyes of Mine” (mourning sequence), “Down” (Doyle’s confession)
• Album status: Original Broadway Cast Recording released and distributed digitally and on CD by Jay Records (catalog listing includes streaming outlets)
• Awards: Multiple Tony and Drama Desk nominations; wins include Featured Actress (Leilani Jones) and Costume Design (Florence Klotz)

Frequently Asked Questions

Is “Grind” the same as the 2003 film soundtrack called “Grind”?

No. This is the 1985 Broadway musical (Grossman, Fitzhugh, Kanin). The 2003 “Grind” is a separate film soundtrack with unrelated material.

Where does “This Must Be the Place” happen in the story?

It opens the show as a prologue welcome from the company inside Harry Earle’s burlesque house, establishing the theatre as the world of the musical.

Who are the central characters tied to the biggest songs?

Leroy (the black comedian), Satin (stripper and emotional center), Doyle (Irish exile), and Maybelle (the company’s witness figure in the mourning number).

Is there a modern revival or tour running in 2025/2026?

Not in the standard commercial sense. The most visible “current” access points are the cast recording and surviving video documentation (Tony clip, commercial, production-discussion episode).

Why do people still talk about this score if the show was short-lived?

The songwriting is built for Broadway voices and Broadway brass, and several numbers function as self-contained character portraits. Concert stagings and archival listening keep that alive.

Can I license “Grind” for a community or school production?

Public information is inconsistent. One theatre reference source states it is not currently available; prospective producers should verify rights directly with the current rights holder or an established licensing agent.

Key Contributors

Sources: IBDB; Playbill; Jay Records; Tony Awards (official site); The New York Times (via cited excerpt record); Los Angeles Times archives; The Washington Post archives; American Theatre Wing / CUNY TV; Library of Congress finding aid; TheatreTrip; TheatreMania.