A Little More of Your Time (Charles) Lyrics
A Little More of Your Time (Charles)
No one tells youHow to be a father
One day, there's a baby
Staring at you
So perfect and unblemished, head to toe
And all you see is
All the ways you'll fail her
All the ways you're lacking
Best to hide in work
'Cause money is the only thing you know
You tell yourself
Don't even bother
A daughter needs her mother
She'll be fine
Go earn that dime
But all she wants is
A little more of your time
One day she looks up
And you're a stranger
You don't know the names
Of any of her friends
If there's a door, she's on the other side
In your house
You never know your role
No title of control
So back to work you go
You'll always find a reason there to hide
You tell yourself
That all this stuff
You accumulate's enough
And then you just ignore the signs
When all she wants is
A little more of your time
The only thing that counts
You gave to someone else
A little more of your time
Song Overview
A late-night confession in 2 minutes and 40 seconds, this cut ballad opens a window into Charles Deetz - the work-first dad who misses the point. It plays like a private voicemail he never sent his daughter, and it shows why the musical kept looking for moments that humanize him without stalling the story.
Review and Highlights
Quick summary
- Character solo for Charles Deetz written during development, later cut and preserved on the official demos set.
- Midtempo, piano-led pop theatre piece focused on fatherhood, avoidance, and regret.
- Released digitally with the 24-track demo compilation that gathers cut songs and early drafts.
- Placed in drafts near the Act Two top to show Charles’s interior life after the family rupture.
Creation History
The creative team cycled through multiple placements and perspectives while shaping Act Two. This song offered a direct confession from Charles - a man who mistakes providing for parenting. When pacing needs pushed the show toward momentum, the solo was set aside and the demos release became its home. According to Playbill, the compilation dropped digitally on October 30, 2020 via Ghostlight Records; BroadwayWorld’s track list includes this title at position 14 on the album.
Song Meaning and Annotations
Plot
Charles admits what Lydia already suspects: he hid in work because it was measurable, controllable, and safer than love. He catalogs the drift - not knowing her friends, taking refuge in the office, convincing himself a daughter only needs her mother - then lands on the truth she needed from him all along.
Song Meaning
The hook is a plea: time beats money. That lesson reframes his earlier choices without excusing them. The number’s value is clarity - it turns a sitcom-stoic dad into a man who understands the cost of absence. In the staged show, similar beats get redistributed so Act Two can rejoin the larger comic engine without losing the heart.
Annotations
“Best to hide in work - ’cause money is the only thing you know”
Core belief, named. The line pins Charles’s status anxiety to his parenting failures.
“A daughter needs her mother - she’ll be fine”
Self-exoneration disguised as wisdom. He outsources the job, then wonders why the distance grows.
“If there’s a door, she’s on the other side”
Stage picture and metaphor at once - the house becomes a map of emotional logistics.
“The only thing that counts you gave to someone else”
Cleanest thesis statement in the song. He finally weighs value in hours, not invoices.
Style and feel
Conversation-first writing over a steady 4-beat grid; short phrases bloom into a mantra-like refrain. The production stays spare - piano and rhythm bed - keeping the voice forward and the text unmissable.
Key Facts
- Artist: Eddie Perfect
- Featured: Solo perspective - Charles Deetz
- Composer: Eddie Perfect
- Producer: Eddie Perfect (demo compilation)
- Release Date: October 30, 2020
- Genre: Musical theatre pop
- Instruments: Piano-led rhythm section with light guitars and kit
- Label: Ghostlight Records
- Mood: candid, rueful, steadied
- Length: 2:40
- Track #: 14 on the demos set
- Language: English
- Album: Beetlejuice - The Demos! The Demos! The Demos!
- Music style: narrative ballad with pop cadence
- Poetic meter: mixed, speech-like scansion over common time
Canonical Entities & Relations
People
Eddie Perfect - wrote and performs the demo. Charles Deetz - character voice of the lyric. Alex Timbers - Broadway director of the production that ultimately streamlined Act Two pacing.
Organizations
Ghostlight Records - released the demos compilation. Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures - lead producer of the stage musical.
Works
Beetlejuice - The Demos! The Demos! The Demos! - digital album featuring the track. Beetlejuice (musical) - Broadway show from which this cut originates.
Venues/Locations
Winter Garden Theatre - original Broadway home in 2019 where the produced version ran.
Questions and Answers
- Where would this have landed in the running order?
- Near the top of Act Two as a quiet reset for Charles before the story swings back to the larger ensemble.
- Why cut a strong lyric like this?
- Structure. The team prioritized velocity and integrated Charles’s realizations into dialogue and later scenes so Act Two could lift sooner.
- Is there an official audio release?
- Yes - it’s on the 24-track demos compilation from Ghostlight Records, also available on major streaming services.
- How does it change your view of Charles?
- It reframes him as avoidant rather than indifferent, which softens conflict without removing accountability.
- Any melodic callbacks elsewhere?
- No explicit reprises in the final show, but the value system here - time over trophies - echoes in Lydia’s later choices.
- How finished is the arrangement?
- Polished demo. Clean guide vocal, crisp piano bed, minimal adornment.
- Does it quote other score motifs?
- Not directly. Its strength is text clarity and a refrain built for quiet emphasis rather than inter-song weaving.
How to Sing A Little More of Your Time (Charles)
Tempo & key: about 100 BPM in D major. Common time. Moderate dynamic ceiling - aim for presence, not push.
Vocal range & approach: conversational mid-range with a supported mix on sustained “time” phrases. Think focused placement over big belt.
Step-by-step HowTo
- Tempo: Practice at 100 with a click. Keep sub-divisions steady so phrases feel unhurried.
- Diction: Land the consonants on “work,” “mother,” “time.” Short releases keep the honesty crisp.
- Breath: Mark space before each refrain. Quiet nose inhales maintain the confessional vibe.
- Flow: Sit a fraction behind the beat in verses; move to center on the final hook.
- Accents: Lean on operative words - “hide,” “ignore,” “signs.” Avoid melodrama; let the text carry.
- Mic: Stay close for verses, step back a touch on the last “time.”
- Pitfalls: Over-singing the apology. Keep it interior so the regret reads as truth, not theater.
Additional Info
The demos compilation arrived as a Halloween digital drop. Playbill noted the date and label, while BroadwayWorld printed a full track list that includes this piece. Apple Music and Spotify list runtime at 2:40. For rehearsal planning, tempo and key references published by Musicstax, Tunebat, and SongBPM align at roughly 100 BPM in D major. The Second Disc’s roundup situated the demos album among late-2020 archival releases that filled in backstory for fans.
Sources: Playbill, BroadwayWorld, Ghostlight Records, Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube, Musicstax, Tunebat, SongBPM, The Second Disc.