My Name Lyrics – Oliver!

Song Overview

“My Name” is Bill Sikes’ calling card - a clenched-fist entrance that freezes the room at the Three Cripples. In Lionel Bart’s score it’s the darkest color on the palette: short, percussive lines over a stomping groove, low brass and percussion punctuating each threat. On the Oliver! (2024 London Cast) live album, Aaron Sidwell chews into the consonants and lets the rests do half the menacing. You hear the room react. You also hear how this new production leans into the grime without losing Bart’s music-hall snap.

Review and Highlights

Quick take: a two-minute gut-punch. Sidwell’s delivery favors stillness between phrases, which actually makes the outbursts land harder. The band drives a march-like pulse; the chorus never shows up to soften the edges. It’s all barked threats, clipped rhyme, and the kind of swagger that keeps a Victorian pub very, very quiet.

• Highlights: the opening quatrain - every line ends like a slammed door; the mid-song boast that sounds almost amused before it turns cold; the final cadence that doesn’t resolve so much as glare.
• Key takeaways: Sikes doesn’t sing to share feelings - he sings to dominate the space; the number reshapes the show’s energy at the top of Act II; the production’s live mix leaves in the air of the room, which fits the character.

Creation History

The song has been part of the stage score since the 1960 premiere and sits at Bill Sikes’ first big moment. The 1968 film famously dropped it, keeping Sikes as a wordless threat. In 2024, Cameron Mackintosh’s reconceived West End revival - made with Matthew Bourne - recorded the show live, capturing “My Name” with Aaron Sidwell as a bass-baritone snarl over a tight pit band. The album rolled out on January 10, 2025 via First Night Records in partnership with Warner Classics/Parlophone. The track listing places “My Name” late in the set, exactly where the stagebook wants it.

Song Meaning and Annotations

Plot

The tavern crowd roars, then slams to silence as Sikes arrives. He introduces himself not with backstory but with threat: men “tremble,” prayers begin, and the room learns what his name buys him in these streets. Within minutes we’ve got the show’s violent fulcrum in view, ready to topple Nancy’s hopes and drag Oliver back into danger.

Song Meaning

“My Name” is status - that’s the whole point. Sikes treats reputation as currency, more reliable than coin and faster than the law. The rhythm pounds forward like boots on cobbles; rhyme turns into a cudgel. Mood-wise, it starts with cool contempt, flashes of bitter humor, then hardens into coercion. Context matters: in the stage version, this is how Act II declares the stakes; in the 1968 film, the choice to silence Sikes makes him a different monster altogether.

Annotations

Think of the number as a collision of music-hall and menace. The groove hints at a pub stomp; the vocal sits low and clipped; phrases often begin stressed - trochaic push that matches the character’s bluntness. The emotional arc goes from performative swagger to quiet, lethal certainty. Historically, audiences learned to hear Sikes before they saw him work - a theatrical tradition that this 2024 recording restores without apology.

Production & instrumentation

Low brass and percussion carry the threat; strings double to thicken the line; woodwinds are mostly color. The pit plays it straight at a moderated clip, leaving space for the actor to place consonants like daggers. No rubato crooning here - just tempo as intimidation.

Key phrases & idioms

• “Strong men tremble” - exaggeration as social fact. The line sells a reputation, not a specific deed.
• “With me jemmy in me hand” - a crowbar, not a gentleman’s nickname. Tools stand in for biography.
• “Once bad, what’s the good of turning?” - the creak of fatalism; you hear the moral ceiling of Sikes’ world.

Key Facts

• Artist: Aaron Sidwell
• Album: Oliver! (2024 London Cast) [Live]
• Composer/Lyricist: Lionel Bart
• Producer: Cameron Mackintosh (stage production)
• Release date (album): January 10, 2025
• Label: First Night Records in partnership with Warner Classics/Parlophone
• Genre: Stage musical - music-hall inflected drama
• Length (track): ~2:16
• Track #: 16
• Language: English
• Vocal type: Bass-baritone lead with ensemble reactions
• Music style: minor-key march, heavy downbeats, punctuated brass
• Poetic meter: primarily trochaic, short lines
• Instruments: pit orchestra - low brass, strings, reeds, percussion, rhythm section

Questions and Answers

Why is “My Name” crucial to the show’s structure?

It flips the tone at Act II’s start, reframing the world from Oliver’s wonder to Sikes’ control. The stakes are suddenly visible.

Was the number always in Oliver!?

On stage, yes. The 1968 film removed it, which turned Sikes into a near-silent force and changed how he reads on screen.

How does the 2024 London cast recording treat the song?

As a live, close-miked threat: crisp diction, air in the room, band held on a tight leash so the text hits first.

Who else has recorded “My Name” memorably?

Danny Sewell on the 1963 Broadway cast set; Burn Gorman on the 2009 London revival; and now Aaron Sidwell on the 2024 London cast album.

What’s the mood a singer should chase?

Authority without volume - the kind of quiet that makes people stop talking before you raise your voice.

Awards and Chart Positions

(as reported by the Official Charts Company)

How to Sing “My Name”

• Range & tessitura: write it for a bass-baritone - think B2 to D4 living low in the staff. Sit the sound in the chest, not the throat.
• Placement: forward, consonant-led. Let the plosive attacks set the tempo; end-of-line cutoffs should be clean and short.
• Tempo & feel: moderate march. Think boots-on-boards. Keep the pulse strict; avoid crooning or rubato.
• Breath strategy: short inhales between clipped phrases. Plan the longer boasts so you don’t sag on the final word.
• Character work: lead with stillness. If you move, it should matter. Threat lands best when it feels controlled.
• Dialect: a light East End bite reads; don’t over-season. Keep intelligibility high.
• Common traps: shouting the top notes; letting vibrato widen on sustained threats; turning menace into melodrama.

Additional Info

• Notable recordings: Original Broadway cast with Danny Sewell; 2009 London revival with Burn Gorman; 2024 London cast with Aaron Sidwell.
• Film note: the 1968 movie drops “My Name,” reshaping Sikes as a near-mute presence.
• Performer insight: Aaron Sidwell has said he “find[s] stillness in moments, to make his action much more explosive” - you can hear that approach in this cut.