I Know a Girl Lyrics - Chicago

Song Overview

Review & Highlights

This is Velma’s eye-roll turned showstopper. Bebe Neuwirth fires off dry wit over a sly, shuffling pit-band groove, and the lyrics keep needling Roxie’s lucky break while the scene pivots like a camera flash. You can feel the newsboys, the shutters, the smirk. The song is quick, tart, and built for sting.

One-sentence snapshot: a star who’s losing the spotlight skewers her rival’s miraculous luck and the city that buys it.

Verse 1

Velma clocks the press frenzy, then draws blood with contrast humor - her misfortune vs. Roxie’s golden bounce. The patter lands like rimshots, each image flipped into a punchline.

Chorus

The hook circles a single idea: some people always land on top. It’s catchy because it’s conversational, almost offhand, which fits the vaudeville frame of Chicago.

Exchange/Bridge

Reporters, doctor, lawyer - the scene turns into courtroom burlesque. The cutaways feel like blackouts between gags, tightening the coil around the “pregnant” ploy.

Final Build

Velma’s envy curdles into civic satire. By the button, the joke isn’t Roxie - it’s the audience that buys the story.

Song Meaning and Annotations

At heart, I Know a Girl is a press gag set to jazz - Velma’s standup set about Roxie’s suddenly convenient pregnancy. The scene pivots on a dirty sight gag, then snowballs into a takedown of spin-doctoring and celebrity appetite.

The implication of the doctor’s open fly is that while the doctor was in the examination room with Roxie, she offered the doctor sexual favors...

That image snaps the theme into focus - not just corruption, but how quickly the press lets itself be sold. The joke lands because it’s brazen and because everyone keeps smiling.

The rhythm is vaudeville patter over brass and reeds, tight and lightly swung. It’s an in-one bit, built for mic technique and eyebrow work rather than belting fireworks.

...in order to persuade him to lie to the press and also lie under oath in court that she is pregnant.

So the con is layered: seduce the gatekeeper, feed the headline, weaponize sympathy. In a city that treats scandal as sport, that’s practically a business plan.

The emotional arc starts puckish and turns acidic. Velma pretends it’s all a lark, then slips - envy, injury, pride. That wobble makes the comedy bite.

She offered the doctor sexual favors... to persuade him to lie...

Repetition matters here. The song rubs the same nerve again and again until it’s raw, the way tabloid cycles do - one angle, twenty headlines.

Culturally, the number leans on 1920s tabloid theater - real-life glamorized defendants, cigarette wit, the courtroom as cabaret. It’s the Jazz Age mirror we still recognize.

...lie to the press and also lie under oath...

Perjury becomes punchline, which is the point: when fame is the prize, everyone - doctor, lawyer, front page - joins the act.

Message

Luck isn’t luck - it’s packaging. Velma’s gripe reads like media literacy in heels.

Emotional tone

Wry, clipped, then sharp. The grin freezes for just a beat before the next quip lands.

Production and instrumentation

Orchestra in lean, brassy colors: woodwinds, trumpets, trombones, piano, accordion, banjo, bass, tuba, violin, drums - the classic Kander and Ebb pit reduced to essentials for snap and sting.

Language and devices

Patter, reversal, and idiom - images that set up one outcome, then flip to the opposite. It’s satire by contrast, scored for timing.

Creation history

John Kander and Fred Ebb wrote the score and lyrics for Chicago in 1975, with Bob Fosse shaping the book alongside Ebb. Velma’s number I Know a Girl appears in Act II across the show’s productions.

The 1996 Broadway revival put Bebe Neuwirth center stage as Velma; the revival’s cast recording followed on RCA Victor in January 1997.

Key Facts

• Featured: Velma Kelly character - vocal by Bebe Neuwirth.
• Producer: Jay David Saks.
• Composer: John Kander; Lyricist: Fred Ebb.
• Release Date: January 28, 1997.
• Genre: Broadway, jazz-inflected vaudeville.
• Instruments: woodwinds, trumpets, trombones, piano, accordion, banjo, bass, tuba, violin, drums.
• Label: RCA Victor Broadway.
• Mood: sardonic, nimble, press-room snark.
• Length: 2:05.
• Track #: 14 on Chicago The Musical (New Broadway Cast Recording (1997)).
• Language: English.
• Album: Chicago The Musical (New Broadway Cast Recording (1997)).
• Music style: patter song with syncopated swing feel.
• Poetic meter: mixed patter meter with conversational stresses.
• © Copyrights: 1997 BMG Music - cast recording.

Questions and Answers

Who produced “I Know a Girl” by Bebe Neuwirth?

Jay David Saks produced the 1997 Broadway revival cast recording, including this track.

When was the track released?

It arrived with the revival’s cast album on January 28, 1997.

Who wrote the song?

Music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb.

Which character sings it in the show?

Velma Kelly - the vaudeville star who can’t believe Roxie’s lucky streak.

Is “I Know a Girl” in the 2002 film?

No - the film cut several stage numbers, including this one.

Awards and Chart Positions

The 1996 Broadway revival cast recording - featuring Bebe Neuwirth - won the 1998 Grammy for Best Musical Show Album.

Milestones worth noting: the album was reissued on vinyl to mark the revival’s longevity, and the song was omitted from the Oscar-winning 2002 film adaptation - a tidy reminder that stage syntax doesn’t always port to screen.

Notable covers: the London cast recording with Ute Lemper as Velma includes a sharp take on the number.

Chicago remains a Jazz Age satire of crime-as-entertainment; I Know a Girl sits right in that sweet spot of scandal and show.