Finale Lyrics
Finale
FRANK BUTLER:The cowboys, the wrestlers, the tumblers, the clowns
The roustabouts that move the show at dawn
ANNIE OAKLEY:
The music, the spotlights, the people, the towns
Your baggage with the labels pasted on
FRANK BUTLER:
The sawdust and the horses and the smell
ANNIE OAKLEY:
The towel you've taken from the last hotel
ANNIE OAKLEY, FRANK BUTLER and CHORUS:
There's no business like show business
Like no business I know
Everything about it is appealing
Everything the traffic will allow
No where could you have that happy feeling
When you aren't stealing that extra bow
There's no people like show people
They smile when they are low
Even with a turkey that you know will fold
You may be stranded out in the cold
Still you wouldn't change it for a sack o' gold
Let's go on with the show
Let's go on with the show!
ANNIE OAKLEY and FRANK BUTLER:
They say that falling in love is wonderful
It's wonderful, so they say.
And with a moon up above it's wonderful
It's wonderful, so they tell me.
ANNIE OAKLEY:
I can't recall who said it
FRANK BUTLER:
I know I never read it
I only know that falling in love is grand
And to hold a girl in your arms
Is wonderful,
ANNIE OAKLEY:
Wonderful...
ANNIE OAKLEY and FRANK BUTLER:
In every way
So they say.
Song Overview
In Annie Get Your Gun, "Finale" is not one fixed tune so much as a pair of bookends, depending on which act you mean. The first act often ends with a brief "You Can't Get a Man with a Gun (Reprise)" - Annie snapping the audience back to her point of view before intermission. The second act closes with "They Say It's Wonderful (Reprise)" - a calmer, company-sized exhale that lets the romance stop arguing and simply exist. Irving Berlin uses reprise logic as stagecraft: the show does not need new melodies at the finish line. It needs the right memory, at the right temperature.
Review and Highlights
Quick summary
- Work: Annie Get Your Gun (opened on Broadway May 16, 1946) - stage musical
- What "Finale" usually means here: Act I ends with "You Can't Get a Man with a Gun (Reprise)" and Act II ends with "They Say It's Wonderful (Reprise)" in common editions
- Usual singers: Act I: Annie; Act II: Annie, Frank, and Company (varies by edition)
- Stage job: Act I seals Annie's public identity; Act II seals the relationship
Annie Get Your Gun - stage musical - not diegetic. These are not attractions performed for Buffalo Bill's customers inside the plot. They are the show talking to the audience in its own musical language, reminding you what mattered and what changed.
Act I "Finale" is a quick slap of clarity. The joke-song logic of "You Can't Get a Man with a Gun" returns in miniature, like Annie signing her name at the bottom of the act. Act II "Finale" does the opposite: it takes a romantic refrain and turns it into closure. If Act I says "watch me," Act II says "we are finished fighting about it."
Key takeaways
- Act I finish: Annie asserts control and keeps the crowd on her side
- Act II finish: the score softens into harmony and resolution
- Performance note: reprises are short, so diction and timing must land immediately
Creation History
Major track lists and licensing descriptions confirm the two-finale pattern in widely used editions: "You Can't Get a Man with a Gun (Reprise)" is labeled as the Act I finale, and "They Say It's Wonderful (Reprise)" is labeled as the Act II finale. The 1999 Broadway cast album even titles the closer explicitly as "Finale Act II: They Say It's Wonderful (Reprise)," which is a rare moment of record-company plainness that theater people can appreciate.
Song Meaning and Annotations
Plot
The show ends after the final contest and the last round of pride-trading between Annie and Frank. Once the romantic stalemate breaks, the score shifts into a short closing gesture that confirms a new balance: rivalry gives way to partnership. The final reprise, rather than a brand-new anthem, signals that the story has circled back, but with the characters changed.
Song Meaning
The Act II closer (often "They Say It's Wonderful (Reprise)") is not about proving love. It is about accepting it without fanfare. The Act I closer (often "You Can't Get a Man with a Gun (Reprise)") carries the opposite meaning: Annie is still defining herself through attitude and self-protection, even as the romance is warming underneath. Together, the finales trace a simple arc: defensive wit to open agreement.
Annotations
In common published lists, Act I ends with "You Can't Get a Man with a Gun (Reprise)" and Act II ends with "They Say It's Wonderful (Reprise)."Edition structure, rewritten
This is not trivia. It is dramaturgy. The show chooses which melody gets the last word in each act, and that choice tells you what the act is really about.
The 1999 cast album labels the closer "Finale Act II: They Say It's Wonderful (Reprise)."Recording metadata, rewritten
Album naming can be blunt, but it is useful: it pins down how that revival framed closure - romantic refrain, company finish, quick exit.
Technical Information (Quick Facts)
- Song: Finale (Act I and Act II reprises, by edition)
- Artist: cast and recordings vary
- Featured: Act I: Annie; Act II: Annie, Frank, and Company (common editions)
- Composer: Irving Berlin
- Producer: varies by recording/label
- Release Date: written for the 1946 stage premiere (finale titles are reprise placements)
- Genre: musical theater
- Instruments: voice and orchestra
- Label: varies (example: Angel Records for the 1999 Broadway cast album)
- Mood: Act I: brisk and wry; Act II: warm and resolved
- Length: 1999 cast examples: Act I finale about 1:05; Act II finale about 1:10 (varies by edition)
- Language: English
- Album (if any): Annie Get Your Gun (The 1999 New Broadway Cast Recording)
- Music style: short reprise closures designed for narrative punctuation
- Poetic meter: accentual, speech-shaped, tuned to punchy phrase endings
Frequently Asked Questions
- Is there one definitive "Finale" song?
- Not exactly. Many editions label Act I and Act II closings as separate finale reprises.
- What is the Act I finale most commonly called?
- Often "You Can't Get a Man with a Gun (Reprise)."
- What is the Act II finale most commonly called?
- Often "They Say It's Wonderful (Reprise)."
- Who sings the Act I finale reprise?
- Typically Annie, sometimes with minimal support depending on staging.
- Who sings the Act II finale reprise?
- Commonly Annie and Frank with Company support.
- Why use reprises for finales?
- Because they let the audience feel closure through recognition, while the characters supply the change.
- How long are these finale reprises?
- They are short: the 1999 cast album lists Act I at about a minute and Act II at a little over a minute.
- What is the main rehearsal risk?
- Sloppy endings. In a short reprise, a late cutoff or blurred consonants can weaken the final impression.
- Which cast album labels the closer explicitly as "Finale Act II"?
- The 1999 Broadway cast album uses that title for the closing track.
Additional Info
The licensing paperwork quietly backs up what performers already know: Act I is about Annie's persona, Act II is about Annie and Frank together. Concord Theatricals lists the Act I closer as the brief gun-song reprise, then places the romantic reprise at the end of Act II in the same package. Wikipedia's numbers list shows the same spine, which is why many productions feel "right" when they follow that pattern: you leave the theater hearing, not an argument, but an agreement.
If you move these around, you change the show. End Act II with a gun-song reprise and the evening tips back toward rivalry. End Act I with romance and you soften the intermission kick. Berlin and the book writers did not always give you long finales, but they gave you effective ones: the last sound tells you what the story decided.
Key Contributors
| Entity | Type | Relation (S-V-O) |
|---|---|---|
| Irving Berlin | Person | Berlin wrote the score; the finales reuse his best-known refrains as narrative punctuation. |
| Annie Oakley | Person | Annie carries the Act I finale reprise and shares the Act II closing in common editions. |
| Frank Butler | Person | Frank joins Annie in the Act II closing reprise that signals reconciliation. |
| Concord Theatricals | Organization | Concord lists the finale placements in a widely used licensed edition. |
| Angel Records | Organization | Angel released the 1999 Broadway cast recording that labels the Act II closer as a finale. |
| Universal Music Group | Organization | Universal distributes a label-uploaded track for "Finale Act II: They Say It's Wonderful (Reprise)." |
How to Sing Finale
Because "Finale" is usually a reprise, the safest technical approach is to borrow the published details of the parent songs and sing them like concentrated dialogue. For "They Say It's Wonderful," sheet-music listings commonly place the original published key in F major with a voice range of C4 to D5. For "You Can't Get a Man with a Gun," a major sheet-music listing also places it in F major with a range of C4 to D5, marked Moderately with a metronome around half note equals 100. In practice, the finale job is not range, it is landing the last line cleanly.
- Tempo: set the pace quickly and commit. A short reprise cannot afford a cautious start.
- Diction: treat every consonant as the final statement of the act. Finale text must read on first hearing.
- Breath: plan a single efficient refill before the last phrase so you do not clip the ending.
- Ensemble balance: if Company joins, unify cutoffs and releases. The final chord should feel shared, not messy.
- Act I attitude: keep Annie's edge and timing alive. It is a stamp, not a sigh.
- Act II warmth: soften the tone without slowing down. Resolution should feel easy, not heavy.
- Pitfalls: do not add extra rubato or extra volume at the finish. Clarity beats display in a reprise closer.
Sources
Sources: Wikipedia (musical numbers list), Concord Theatricals licensed edition number list, YouTube label audio (Finale Act II track), Spotify track listings (Act I and Act II finales, 1999 cast), Apple Music release metadata (1999 cast album), Musicnotes sheet music listings (They Say It's Wonderful and You Can't Get a Man with a Gun)