Tick Tock Lyrics — Company

Song Overview

The number you found comes from the Act II dance sequence "Tick-Tock" in Stephen Sondheim and George Furth's musical Company. In the 2011 New York Philharmonic concert staging at Lincoln Center - filmed with Neil Patrick Harris as Robert - the sequence was reset by choreographer Josh Rhodes and performed by Chryssie Whitehead as Kathy while Bobby is in bed with flight attendant April. That explains the collage of murmured phrases you transcribed: they are not standard lyrics but whispered, overlapping fragments and breathy exclamations used in some productions to heighten the scene's sensual, slightly comic mood.

Review and Highlights

Quick summary

• An instrumental dance sequence from Act II of Company, commonly titled "Tick-Tock".
• In the 2011 New York Philharmonic concert film, Chryssie Whitehead dances it as Kathy while Bobby lies in bed with April.
• Choreography nods to Michael Bennett's original 1970 staging that made this interlude famous with Donna McKechnie.
• No fixed lyrics exist - the murmurs you quote are staged vocal textures, not a sung verse-chorus.
• Function: dramatizes Bobby's conflicted desire and the blur between intimacy, fantasy, and avoidance.

Creation History

"Tick-Tock" began as an instrumental interlude in the original 1970 Broadway production of Company, famously staged by Michael Bennett and danced by Donna McKechnie. The title captures the ticking of time - a recurring idea in the show - and the pulse of urban coupling. Later revivals sometimes trimmed or cut it; concert versions tend to restore it because the sequence communicates Bobby's interior life without dialogue. The 2011 Lincoln Center concert, conducted by Paul Gemignani and directed by Lonny Price, keeps the piece and lets Rhodes fold it into a sleek bedroom montage, with silhouetted dancers gliding behind scrims while Bobby and April tangle on a bed. Visually, it is both a private movie in Bobby's head and a kinetic bridge to "Barcelona."

Rhodes' vocabulary rides a steady backbeat: hinge-kicks that knife through space, floor slides that melt into back-arches, jazz turns against the mattress frame, and a recurring flick of the wrist that marks the clock. The number ends with a stylized crest - a release that reads as burlesque-witty rather than graphic, echoing the show's habit of letting comedy and ache blend.

Highlights

1. Pulsing structure: the orchestration clicks like a metronome, letting dancers phrase on eight-count swells and two-count snaps.
2. Bed as prop: a movable bed becomes a duet partner, architecting shapes - lunges, climbs, corner perches - that map Bobby's indecision.
3. Silhouette chorus: secondary dancers create a soft-focus city of bodies that alternately tempt and witness.
4. Character focus: casting Kathy for the central dance while Bobby is with April externalizes a mental detour - desire is present, aim is elsewhere.
5. Comic undercurrent: moans and muttered "oh" lines puncture the glamour, reminding us this is awkward, human sex - not perfume-ad fantasy.

Song Meaning and Annotations

Plot

After the buoyant "Side by Side by Side" sequence in Act II, the plot follows Bobby's flirtations. He brings April, a flight attendant, home. While Bobby and April end up in bed, the show cuts inside Bobby's mind. "Tick-Tock" plays: a dream-logic dance where time blurs and a parallel version of intimacy unfolds. In the 2011 staging, Kathy - the woman Bobby once considered marrying - becomes the focal body of the dance. Around her, an ensemble sways and darts, like the pulse of the city pressing in. The number dissolves into the next scene where Bobby and April exchange the tender-funny dialogue of "Barcelona."

Song Meaning

"Tick-Tock" is about the countdown of options. The clock sound is literal and metaphorical: Bobby is running out of excuses to grow up, and out of time to choose. The choreography embeds three energies: thrill (sharp accents, kicks), comfort (melting torso work on the bed), and hesitation (pauses, pulls away, look-backs). Placing Kathy at the center reframes the fling with April - it is not just pleasure, it is deflection. In other words: he is physically present, mentally elsewhere.

Annotations

You quoted a string of murmurs that appear in some versions as stylized voiceover or onstage whispering. A few of them - and what they tell us - below.

All this is sensational. Oh, I think he really likes. Oh. Oh. I like that. I go. Wow, that is nice. He's so nice. Oh God. Oh dear.

These are the sound-effects of seduction and self-encouragement. They build an ironic frame: the body says yes; the mind keeps narrating, as if watching itself from the outside. That split is Bobby's problem in miniature.

Oh, she has such a lovely smooth body. Oh, what is he doing? It's gorgeous. It's beautiful. I think I've got to look. If only I could remember her name.

The gaze swings from partner to projection - "her" could be April or Kathy, and the lapse about "her name" mocks anonymous intimacy in a crowded city. The dance mirrors this with turns that face downstage, then away, a literal re-direction of attention.

I love you. I love you. Hi. I. I. I love your hair. I love you, Sam. I love you, Jenny. I love you, Joan. I love you.

The roll call of names underscores the theme of multiplicity: Bobby's relationships are plural but shallow. Onstage, the ensemble ripples by in quick cameos; in your clip the whispers layer like passing strangers on a platform. The music keeps ticking - love is declared, then it moves on.

Genre and style fusion

The piece welds theater jazz to concert phrasing: classic Bennett-era lines and isolations, but with concert-film polish. The New York Philharmonic's full pit color adds swell and depth - high strings for shimmer, woodwind flutters for comic nudge, low brass for grind - while rhythm guitars and percussion keep the city heartbeat. If you know A Chorus Line you can feel the ancestry: focus on a single dancer's psyche, sensual athleticism, a narrative arc told through breath and timing.

Emotional arc

It begins as curiosity, turns into glow, spikes to frenzy, then lands in quiet - the hush before "Barcelona." That shape allows the audience to register the aftermath with extra clarity. Bobby looks at the person beside him and senses the distance he built.

Historical touchpoints

In the original 1970 staging, Donna McKechnie used "Tick-Tock" to announce a new kind of Broadway sexual candor. The 2011 version treats it as homage: sleek lines in silhouette, then a witty curtain of bodies. According to The New York Times, this concert had a "downright sexy" charge, but the sex serves the character study, not the other way around. As stated in a Playbill report, the filmed concert brought the restored number to cinemas and later home release, letting devotees see how the dance snaps the story together.

Key Facts

• Artist: Stephen Sondheim - music; performed by the New York Philharmonic and the 2011 Company cast
• Featured: Chryssie Whitehead as Kathy (central dancer); Neil Patrick Harris as Robert; Christina Hendricks as April
• Composer: Stephen Sondheim
• Producer: Lonny Price (concert film director-producer), New York Philharmonic presentation
• Release Date: June 15, 2011 (limited theatrical release of the concert film); live performances April 7-9, 2011 at Lincoln Center
• Genre: Musical theatre, instrumental dance interlude
• Instruments: Full orchestra; rhythm section with percussion and guitar providing the pulse
• Label: n/a for the stage interlude; the filmed presentation later appeared on DVD/Blu-ray
• Mood: sensual, playful, ambivalent
• Length: short instrumental sequence in Act II, leading directly into "Barcelona"
• Track #: appears between "Poor Baby" and "Barcelona" in many concert/recorded running orders
• Language: English-language production; sequence itself is wordless aside from staged murmurs
• Album: not a standalone single; part of Company in-concert captures
• Music style: theater jazz with metronomic pulse; silhouette ensemble textures
• Poetic meter: not applicable - instrumental

Canonical Entities & Relations

• Stephen Sondheim - composed - the music for "Tick-Tock".
• George Furth - wrote - the book of Company surrounding the sequence.
• Michael Bennett - staged - the original 1970 "Tick-Tock" with Donna McKechnie.
• Donna McKechnie - danced - the defining early version in the original Broadway production.
• Josh Rhodes - choreographed - the 2011 concert film sequence.
• Chryssie Whitehead - portrayed - Kathy and headlined the 2011 "Tick-Tock" dance.
• Neil Patrick Harris - starred as - Robert in the 2011 concert.
• Christina Hendricks - portrayed - April in the 2011 concert.
• Paul Gemignani - conducted - the New York Philharmonic for the concert.
• Lonny Price - directed - the filmed concert at Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center.
• New York Philharmonic - presented - the 2011 concert staging of Company.

Questions and Answers

Is "Tick-Tock" a song with lyrics?

No. It is an instrumental dance sequence. Some productions add whispered or spoken textures for color, which explains the montage of phrases you found.

Why does Kathy dance while Bobby is with April?

It externalizes Bobby's headspace: the body is with April, the thought drifts to Kathy and to the idea of a different life he might choose.

What is the dramatic function of the number?

To compress desire, fantasy, and avoidance into a clock-driven montage, setting up the morning-after scene in "Barcelona."

How does the 2011 staging reference the original?

Through a theater-jazz vocabulary and a central female soloist who channels the sleek, sensual arc pioneered by Donna McKechnie under Michael Bennett.

Is there a canonical recording?

There is no pop single. The 2011 New York Philharmonic concert film preserves a high-profile modern version many viewers know today.

What is the tempo and feel?

Quick pulse with a clean metronomic drive - think brisk city heartbeat - supporting sharp accents and flowing transitions.

Why do the whispered lines often sound funny?

They are staged to puncture the glamour - a wink at how clumsy and sweet intimacy can be - while the dancers maintain heat and line.

How does the bed staging work?

It is a moving set-piece: a platform for balances, slides, and partner leans that map Bobby's push-pull. The bed becomes a character.

Where does it fall in the running order?

Act II, after "Poor Baby" and before "Barcelona." It bridges the wives' chorus and Bobby's dawn duet with April.

Who else stood out in the 2011 concert?

Critics singled out Patti LuPone as Joanne and Katie Finneran as Amy, while Christina Hendricks' April landed the comic beats around "Barcelona."

Additional Info

Whitehead - known from A Chorus Line - brings a clean classic-jazz line to the solo, arms like compass needles, hips on the backbeat. According to TheaterMania and Playbill coverage, she is credited as Kathy in the concert, with Christina Hendricks as April and Neil Patrick Harris headlining as Robert. Many reviewers appreciated that the production restored the dance, a choice that also reads as a quiet salute to Michael Bennett's original flourish. One critic highlighted how the film treats "Tick-Tock" as an homage, framing Whitehead with translucent panels and an ensemble in silhouette - an image that matches your memory of a bed, a woman rising to dance, and others circling around her.

Sources: New York Times; Playbill; BroadwayWorld; Wikipedia; TheaterMania; JK's TheatreScene; DCTheaterScene; Filmed Live Musicals; MTI Shows news.