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Life Support Lyrics Rent

Life Support Lyrics

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(ANGEL and COLLINS attend an AIDS Life Support group.
PAUL, the support leader, sits on the downstage railing above. GORDON,
one of the members of the group, is standing downstage left, facing the audience.
As the members enter, they introduce themselves and form a semicircle.
Note: The names of the support group members should change every night and should honor
actual friends of the company who have died of AIDS.)

STEVE
Steve.

GORDON
Gordon.

ALI
Ali.

PAM
Pam.

SUE
Sue.

ANGEL
Hi, I'm Angel.

COLLINS
Tom. Collins.

PAUL
I'm Paul. Let's begin


ALL
There's only us
There's only this ...

(MARK blusters in noisily.)

MARK
Sorry ... Excuse me ... oops

PAUL
And you are?

MARK
Oh -- I'm not --
I'm just here to --
I don't have --
I'm here with --
Um -- Mark
Mark -- I'm Mark
Well -- this is quite an operation

PAUL
Sit down Mark
We'll continue the affirmation

ALL
Forget regret or life is yours to miss

GORDON
Excuse me Paul -- I'm having a problem with this
This credo -- My T-cells are low --
I regret that news, okay?

PAUL
Alright
But Gordon - How do you feel today?

GORDON
What do you mean?

PAUL
How do you feel today?

GORDON
Okay

PAUL
Is that all?

GORDON
Best I've felt all year

PAUL
Then why choose fear?

GORDON
I'm a New Yorker!
Fear's my life!
Look - I find some of what you teach suspect
Because I'm used to relying on intellect
But I try to open up to what I don't know

GORDON & ROGER (who sings from his loft)
Because reason says I should have died
Three years ago

ALL
No other road
No other way
No day but today

Song Overview

Life Support lyrics by Original Broadway Cast of Rent
Original Broadway Cast of Rent is singing the 'Life Support' lyrics in the show clip.

Personal Review

“Life Support” is Rent’s mission statement delivered as group therapy - the lyrics are spare, the pulse is soft, and the message is brutally clear. In less than two minutes, the lyrics plant the motto that guides the rest of the show and turn a meeting room into a kind of secular chapel. Snapshot: names around a circle, one credo, a door opening on “no day but today.”

Song Meaning and Annotations

Original Broadway Cast of Rent performing Life Support
Performance in the stage sequence.

The scene is a support group - low chairs, first names, unglamorous light. People who’ve learned to talk honestly about fear start by stating who they are, then sing a short affirmation. Dramaturgically, it’s the seed that blossoms across the score into reprises and echoes. On the 1996 Original Broadway Cast Recording it lands as Track 13 on Disc 1, credited to Wilson Jermaine Heredia, Jesse L. Martin, Anthony Rapp, Adam Pascal, Gilles Chiasson, Timothy Britten Parker, and Rodney Hicks.

Jonathan Larson wrote the number after spending time at Friends In Deed, the Manhattan organization that offered counseling and frank conversation during the AIDS crisis. Playbill’s oral history ties “Life Support” directly to those meetings, and even records the moment a participant asked the question that would later shape a sister song: “will I lose my dignity?” - a line that lived on as Rent’s most fragile refrain.

Style-wise it’s a miniature: chant-like phrases, almost folk-choral, set over a quiet pad. The emotional arc starts tentative - names given, defenses up - and turns communal as the group arrives at the simple rule they’ll keep repeating through the show. A single four-word line becomes ethos more than slogan.

Cultural touchpoint: the phrase “no day but today” migrated from these meetings into the popular bloodstream via the cast album and later screen versions. The 2005 film soundtrack includes “Life Support” in Act 1’s run of short cues, and the 2019 Fox Rent: Live recording preserves it with a larger company, showing how the round structure scales on camera.

One smart detail often noted in productions: Life Support members’ names are encouraged to reflect someone the company has known who died of AIDS - a choice that keeps the number tethered to real loss, not abstraction.

“There’s only us.”

Under ten syllables, infinite weight. It’s both a comfort and a dare, and the group’s harmony makes the argument more persuasive than any speech.

“Forget regret.”

Two clipped beats that push the rhythm forward. The line resists wallowing; it’s a practical instruction for surviving the week.

Creation history

The double-disc Rent (Original Broadway Cast Recording) arrived August 27, 1996 on DreamWorks, produced by Arif Mardin with Steve Skinner, collecting every song in the show. “Life Support” sits on Disc 1, right between “Tango: Maureen” and “Out Tonight” in the official track list.

Verse Highlights

Scene from Life Support by Original Broadway Cast of Rent
Scene from 'Life Support'.
Roll call

The sequence of “Steve… Gordon… Ali…” is theatrical plain speech - names as rhythm. It grounds the piece in bodies, not concepts.

Affirmation

The credo enters softly, then tightens. Each repetition feels less like theatre and more like a habit formed under pressure.

Counterpoint and exit

A brief argument about fear cracks the surface, then the group answers with the same phrase again. The music doesn’t scold; it steadies.


Key Facts

Scene from Life Support by Original Broadway Cast of Rent
Scene from 'Life Support'.
  • Featured: Wilson Jermaine Heredia, Jesse L. Martin, Anthony Rapp, Adam Pascal, Gilles Chiasson, Timothy Britten Parker, Rodney Hicks.
  • Producer: Arif Mardin - with Steve Skinner on musical arrangements and co-production.
  • Composer/Lyricist: Jonathan Larson.
  • Release Date: August 27, 1996.
  • Genre: rock musical micro-scene; folk-choral affirmation.
  • Instruments: ensemble voices in unison and light canon; keys, bass, subtle percussion; soft SFX room tone.
  • Label: DreamWorks Records.
  • Mood: steady, humane, unsentimental.
  • Length: ~1:59 on OBCR.
  • Track #: Disc 1 - Track 13.
  • Language: English.
  • Album: Rent (Original Broadway Cast Recording).
  • Music style: chant-like credo that seeds later reprises.
  • Poetic meter: clipped iambic fragments with conversational pickup.
  • © Copyrights: © 1996 DreamWorks Records - All rights reserved.

Questions and Answers

Where is “Life Support” placed in the show and on the album?
Act 1, inside the support meeting; on the OBCR it appears on Disc 1 as Track 13 between “Tango: Maureen” and “Out Tonight.”
Who performs on the Original Broadway Cast Recording?
Wilson Jermaine Heredia, Jesse L. Martin, Anthony Rapp, Adam Pascal, Gilles Chiasson, Timothy Britten Parker, and Rodney Hicks.
What real-life organization inspired the scene?
Friends In Deed, whose language and meetings shaped Rent’s “Life Support” - including the “no day but today” credo.
Is “Life Support” included in the screen and live-TV versions?
Yes - it appears on the 2005 film soundtrack and on Fox’s 2019 Rent: Live album.
Did the parent album make a commercial impact?
It debuted at #19 on the Billboard 200 in early September 1996 and was later certified RIAA 2x Multi-Platinum on March 25, 2003.

Awards and Chart Positions

The track itself wasn’t worked as a single, but its parent album arrived like a cultural weather front - entering the Billboard 200 at #19 the week of September 5, 1996, and later earning RIAA 2x Multi-Platinum certification on March 25, 2003. The show surrounding it won the 1996 Tony Awards for Best Musical, Book, and Score, plus the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

How to Sing?

Vocal layout. Treat “Life Support” as a small-group credo: speak-sung diction with gentle legato. Keep the first names crisp and unforced; the affirmation needs clean vowels more than volume.

Blend and balance. Agree on a single vowel shape for the keywords so the harmony locks. Straight tone first, then minimal vibrato as the line widens. Think chapel, not arena.

Tempo and breath. Andante tending to slow. Leave micro-silences between phrases - the rests carry meaning and keep the lyric readable.

Cut-friendly practice. Film and TV versions use shorter cues; rehearse a 60- to 120-second arc that can button quickly without feeling abrupt.

Songs Exploring Themes of community, illness, and resilience

“Will I?” - Original Broadway Cast of Rent. A canon that asks three questions and refuses to resolve. Where “Life Support” states a rule for living, “Will I?” whispers the fear underneath it. Same room, different camera angle - the choir multiplies one fragile thought until it fills the space.

“You Will Be Found” - Dear Evan Hansen Original Broadway Cast. Another meeting, another crowd, different decade. The groove builds from private panic to public promise, trading the support circle for a viral chorus. It’s glossier pop, but the thesis overlaps: community can be engineered, yet the relief still feels real.

“I Know Where I’ve Been” - Hairspray Original Broadway Cast. Illness isn’t the frame here, but the body remembers struggle. The gospel-soul shape lets a community breathe through a single lead voice. Compared to the hushed mantra of “Life Support,” this one stands up and testifies - same resilience, louder suit.

Music video


Rent Lyrics: Song List

  1. Act 1
  2. Tune Up 1
  3. Voice Mail 1
  4. Tune Up 2
  5. Rent
  6. You Okay Honey?
  7. Tune Up 3
  8. One Song Glory
  9. Light My Candle
  10. Voice Mail 2
  11. Today 4 U
  12. You'll See
  13. Tango: Maureen
  14. Life Support
  15. Out Tonight
  16. Another Day
  17. Will I?
  18. On The Street
  19. Santa Fe
  20. I'll Cover You
  21. We're Okay
  22. Christmas Bells
  23. Over The Moon
  24. La Vie Boheme
  25. I Should Tell You
  26. La Vie Boheme B
  27. Act 2
  28. Seasons Of Love
  29. Happy New Year
  30. Voice Mail 3
  31. Happy New Year B
  32. Take Me Or Leave Me
  33. Seasons Of Love B
  34. Without You
  35. Voice Mail 4
  36. Contact
  37. I'll Cover You (Reprise)
  38. Halloween
  39. Goodbye Love
  40. What You Own
  41. Voice Mail 5
  42. Finale A
  43. Your Eyes
  44. Finale B

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