In Vain [Version 2] Lyrics - EPIC: Cut Songs

Song Overview

Personal Review

In Vain [Version 2] is pure seismic rage. These Lyrics scrape barnacles off Poseidon’s pride, revealing raw nerve and father-wound beneath godhood. A pulsing trap-rock beat slams against minor-mode strings; each down-beat feels like a tidal fist. Key takeaways: vengeance as self-preservation, a divine ego bruised by one clever mortal, and an eight-year echo of a son’s screams. One-sentence snapshot: the Sea King swears to drown regret in blood so his suffering— and the cyclops’—won’t be “in vain.”

Song Meaning and Annotations

Penned for Act II’s “Vengeance Saga,” the song was later replaced by the leaner “Get in the Water.” Yet this draft dives deeper into Poseidon’s shame. He calls Odysseus “coward,” echoing the surviving opener in the final cut. Lines about a festering anger and a stripped-down stranger reference the earlier massacre in “Ruthlessness,” when storm-winds sank most of Odysseus’ fleet.

Poseidon’s self-interrogation fires in triplets:

“What kind of man / cannot avenge his crying son?
What kind of monster / gets outsmarted and outrun?”

The word “monster” nods to the cut song “Monster,” where he first coined the brutal maxim “Ruthlessness is mercy upon ourselves.” The chorus pivots on the title motif—“In vain, in vain”—which was once meant to recur throughout Act II before the rewrite.

Halfway through, Poseidon taunts Odysseus with the alias “Nobody,” twisting the clever lie that blinded Polyphemus. He counts the corpses—first the 43 sailors spared in “Ruthlessness,” then the full six-hundred lost before Ithaca’s shore—and brands every death meaningless if the hero lives.

The lyric “If my world must go down in waves” winks at Poseidon’s dominion, a sea-god pun embedded in raw threat. Rapid-fire brasses swell beneath that line, evoking surf colliding with cliff. When the instrumental drops out for “Ruthlessness is / Mercy upon / Ourselves,” you feel the ocean hold its breath before the final cry—“Die!”

Fans first heard the full demo on Patreon in December 2023; Rivera-Herrans posted an early cut titled “Poseidon – In Vain (Draft 1).” A SoundCloud leak followed in April 2024, sparking YouTube animatics that now top 120 K combined views.

Verse Highlights

Opening Soliloquy

Low strings drone on a single pedal tone while Poseidon half-speaks, half-growls—more theatrical recitative than rap.

Mind-Games Bridge

Glitchy hi-hats and distorted bass underpin the taunt “Nobody, where did your friends go?”; the meter skews into 7/8, mirroring Odysseus’ off-balance fear.

Song Credits

• Artist: Jorge Rivera-Herrans
• Composer & Lyricist: Jorge Rivera-Herrans
• First Patreon Preview: December 2023
• Fan Leak: April 2024 (SoundCloud / YouTube)
• Genre: Trap-rock musical theatre
• Language: English
• Album: EPIC: The Musical – Cut Songs
• Instruments: electronic trap kit, distorted bass, brass ensemble, cinematic FX
• Mood: wrathful, tragic
• Label: Independent
• Poetic Meter: mixed dactylic over 4/4 and 7/8 shifts
• Copyright: © 2019-2025 Jorge Rivera-Herrans

Songs Exploring Themes of Vengeance

“Hellfire” from Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame mirrors Poseidon’s self-laceration: a powerful figure battling guilt and desire amid choral flames. Both tracks pit sacred duty against personal rage, underscored by an ominous Latin-style choir.

Stephen Schwartz’s “The Wizard and I” offers the hopeful inversion—Elphaba dreams of recognition instead of revenge. Hearing Poseidon’s bitterness next to her optimism highlights the thin boundary between ambition and wrath.

Finally, Jonathan Larson’s “One Song Glory” captures the urgency to leave a legacy before time runs out. Poseidon and Roger both fear meaninglessness; one chooses destruction, the other creation.

Questions and Answers

Why was “In Vain” replaced by “Get in the Water”?

Rivera-Herrans wanted a shorter, higher-stakes confrontation; “Get in the Water” transfers key lines but amps immediacy.

Is the “In Vain” motif reused elsewhere?

Yes—snippets cameo in “Get in the Water” and the reprise of “Ruthlessness.”

Did the song ever chart?

No official release means no chart eligibility; popularity lives in fan uploads.

Are there notable covers?

YouTube boasts metal remixes, piano reductions with sheet music, and a viral TikTok lip-sync, each topping 25 K views.

Will an official studio version surface?

Jorge hinted during a Patreon Q & A that a “Cut Saga” EP is under consideration, and “In Vain” is on the shortlist.

How to Sing?

Range: A2–F?4. Growl the lower register; let distortion ride the chest voice. Practice breath bursts on eight-bar phrases—Poseidon never seems to inhale. For the 7/8 bridge, subdivide 2-2-3 before adding pitch. On “In vain,” sustain the diphthong with slow vibrato; it should feel like an undertow pulling vowels down. Finish with a controlled shout, tight breath, open throat to land the final “Die!” without shredding cords.