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Light My Candle Lyrics Rent

Light My Candle Lyrics

Daphne Rubin-Vega & Adam Pascal
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[ROGER]

What'd you forget?

[MIMI enters, holding a candle and looking for a match;]
[her electricity is down, too.]

[MIMI]

Got a light?

[ROGER]

I know you? -- You're --
You're shivering

[MIMI]

It's nothing
They turned off my heat
And I'm just a little
Weak on my feet
Would you light my candle?
What are you staring at?

[ROGER]

Nothing
Your hair in the moonlight
You look familiar
[He lights her candle. MIMI starts to leave, but stumbles.]

Can you make it?

[MIMI]

Just haven't eaten much today
At least the room stopped spinning.
Anyway. What?

[ROGER]

Nothing
Your smile reminded me of --

[MIMI]

I always remind people of -- who is she?

[ROGER]

She died. Her name was April

[MIMI discreetly blows out the candle.]

[MIMI]

It's out again
Sorry about your friend
Would you light my candle?

[ROGER lights the candle. They linger, awkwardly.]

[ROGER]

Well --

[MIMI]

Yeah. Ow!

[ROGER]

Oh, the wax -- it's --

[MIMI]

Dripping! I like it -- between my --

[ROGER]

Fingers. I figured...
Oh, well. Goodnight.

[MIMI exits. ROGER heads back toward his guitar on the table.]
[There is another knock, which he answers.]

It blew out again?

[MIMI]

No -- I think that I dropped my stash

[ROGER]

I know I've seen you out and about
When I used to go out
Your candle's out

[MIMI]

I'm illin' --
I had it when I walked in the door
It was pure --
Is it on the floor?

[ROGER]

The floor?

[MIMI gets down on all fours and starts searching]
[the floor for her stash. She lookss back at ROGER,]
[who is staring at her again.]

[MIMI]

They say I have the best ass below 14th street
Is it true?

[ROGER]

What?

[MIMI]

You're staring again.

[ROGER]

Oh no.
I mean you do -- have a nice --
I mean -- You look familiar

[MIMI]

Like your dead girlfriend?

[ROGER]

Only when you smile.
But I'm sure I've seen you somewhere else --

[MIMI]

Do you go to the Cat Scratch Club?
That's where I work - I dance - help me look

[ROGER]

Yes!
They used to tie you up --

[MIMI]

It's a living

[MIMI douses the flame again.]

[ROGER]

I didn't recognize you
Without the handcuffs

[MIMI]

We could light the candle
Oh won't you light the candle?

[ROGER lights it again.]

[ROGER]

Why don't you forget that stuff
You look like you're sixteen

[MIMI]

I'm nineteen -- but I'm old for my age
I'm just born to be bad

[ROGER]

I once was born to be bad
I used to shiver like that

[MIMI]

I have no heat -- I told you

[ROGER]

I used to sweat

[MIMI]

I got a cold

[ROGER]

Uh huh
I used to be a junkie

[MIMI]

But now and then I like to --

[ROGER]

Uh huh

[MIMI]

Feel good

[ROGER]

Here it -- um --

[ROGER stoops and picks up a small object: MIMI's stash.]

[MIMI]

What's that?

[ROGER]

It's a candy bar wrapper

[ROGER puts it behind his back and into his pocket.]

[MIMI]

We could light the candle

[ROGER discreetly blows out the candle.]

[MIMI]

What'd you do with my candle?

[ROGER]

That was my last match

[MIMI]

Our eyes'll adjust, thank God for the moon

[ROGER]

Maybe it's not the moon at all
I hear Spike Lee's shooting down the street

[MIMI]

Bah humbug ... Bah humbug

[MIMI places her hand under his, pretending to do it by accident.]

[ROGER]

Cold hands

[MIMI]

Yours too.
Big. Like my father's
You wanna dance?

[ROGER]

With you?

[MIMI]

No -- with my father

[ROGER]

I'm Roger

[MIMI]

They call me
They call me Mimi

[They come extremely close to a kiss.]
[MIMI reaches into his pocket, nabs the stash,]
[waves it in front of his face, and makes a sexy exit.]

Song Overview

 Screenshot from Light My Candle lyrics video by Daphne Rubin-Vega & Adam Pascal
Daphne Rubin-Vega and Adam Pascal spark the “Light My Candle” verses in this smoky loft moment.

Song Credits

  • Primary Artists: Daphne Rubin-Vega (Mimi), Adam Pascal (Roger)
  • Composer & Lyricist: Jonathan Larson
  • Producer (cast album): Arif Mardin
  • Album: Rent (Original Broadway Cast Recording) – Track 8
  • Release Date: August 27 1996
  • Genre: 90s alt-rock Broadway duet
  • Instrumentation: Nylon-string guitar arpeggios, muted drum kit, upright bass, tinkling Rhodes, brushed snare rolls
  • Label: DreamWorks SKG
  • Length: 4 min 48 sec (album cut)
  • Language: English
  • Mood: Playful, sultry, cat-and-mouse
  • Copyright © 1996 Finster & Lucia Music Ltd. / Rent Musical LLC

Song Meaning and Annotations

Daphne Rubin-Vega & Adam Pascal performing Light My Candle
Flirtation flickers brighter than the lone match.

The first face-to-face between Roger and Mimi plays out like a candlelit chess match—every sidelong glance is a gambit. Larson choreographs the banter over a delicate guitar figure that feels equal parts lullaby and late-night blues. Mimi’s excuse—“they turned off my heat”—is flimsy, but her agenda flickers clear as wax drip. Roger, still haunted by April’s overdose, dances between attraction and alarm; you can hear the brakes screech every time he spots her hidden stash.

Textually, “Light My Candle” mirrors the attic scene from La Bohème, swapping 19th-century Paris for Avenue B. Instead of icy garret drafts, we get Con Edison cut-offs; instead of Puccini strings, we hear reverb-kissed guitar harmonics. Yet the heartbeat is the same: two lonely artists find warmth in a single flame.

Listen for the way Rubin-Vega leans into half-spoken lines—“I like it between my…”—letting implication do the heavy lifting. Pascal counters with clipped, wary phrasing, until Mimi’s “They say I have the best ass below 14th Street” cracks his façade. The duet ends not with a kiss but a name exchange; in Larson’s world, names are near-sacred, the first real light in any darkness.

Moonlit Compliment

Roger: “Nothing, your hair in the moonlight / You look familiar”

A half-remembered photograph triggers Roger’s grief; April hovers like an unseen third character.

Street-Cred Sizzle

Mimi: “They say that I have the best ass below 14th Street”

Downtown braggadocio wrapped in kittenish delivery—classic East Village peacocking.

Shared Fragility

Both: “We could light the candle / Oh, won’t you light the candle?”

The refrain slips from tease to plea; flame becomes metaphor for second chances.

Annotations

“What’d you forget?”
Roger thinks Mark is back—Mark would have to knock, since Roger tossed the key to Collins earlier.

“Got a light?”
Mimi claims she just needs a match for her candle. Truth: the tremor he notices is heroin withdrawal, not winter chill.

“Nothing … your hair in the moonlight … you look familiar.”
Two layers: Mimi resembles Roger’s late girlfriend, April, and he’s also glimpsed her dancing at the Cat Scratch Club.

“Just haven’t eaten much today.”
Mimi brushes off her wobble. Roger suspects drugs; later he whispers that she looked “thin”—weight loss likely from AIDS, dope, or both.

April reference. This is only the second time we hear her name; Tune-Up #3 revealed she died by suicide after writing “We’ve got AIDS.”

“Sorry about your friend—would you light my candle?”
Mimi keeps blowing it out on purpose (she admits this in I Should Tell You) to prolong the flirt.

“Dripping! I like it between my …”
She teases a sexual finish; Roger fills it in—“Fingers.”

“I’m illin’ … It was pure.”
1980s street slang from Run-DMC. She claims her heroin was top-grade, though street junk is rarely “pure.”

“They say I have the best ass below 14th Street—true?”
West Village braggadocio; 14th forms downtown’s northern edge. Roger gawks, busted.

“Do you go to the Cat Scratch Club? That’s where I work—help me look!”
She’s an exotic dancer; in Out Tonight we’ll see her onstage. Roger remembers bondage props—“didn’t recognize you without the handcuffs.”

“Forget that stuff—you look like you’re sixteen.”
She fires back: “I’m nineteen, but I’m old for my age.” The phrase echoes Mobb Deep’s 1995 line, “I’m only 19 but my mind is old.”

Roger confesses parallel sins: he once “shivered,” “sweat,” and used. He recognizes withdrawal signs she denies—“I got a cold.”

Finding her stash, Roger pockets it—torn between protecting her and resisting temptation himself.

“We could light the candle …”
Triple entendre: cook heroin, spark sex, or ignite new love. Roger’s wary—HIV, grief, and rehab have bricked up his heart.

No matches left. They concede to moonlight; Roger jokes Spike Lee is filming down the block—an ironic wink, as Lee nearly directed the Rent movie before Chris Columbus.

“Bah humbug.”
Mimi ribbing Roger’s Scrooge-like pragmatism; it’s Christmas Eve in the plot.

Cold hands meet: “Big, like my father’s.” She invites a dance—more connection, more chance to swipe her drugs back.

“I’m Roger.” / “They call me … Mimi.”
Direct lift from La Bohème: a candle, a missing key, an instant attraction—modernized with New-York grit and a syringe-shadow.

Similar Songs

Thumbnail from Light My Candle lyric video by Daphne Rubin-Vega & Adam Pascal
Lo-fi candle glow against brick-wall romance.
  1. “El Tango de Roxanne” — Moulin Rouge! Musical
    Both duets fuse seduction and danger, driven by minor-key riffs and whispered taunts.
  2. “A Little Priest” — Sweeney Todd
    Not romantic, but the same rapid-fire wordplay over a lurking musical pulse—flirtation with moral shadows.
  3. “Suddenly Seymour” — Little Shop of Horrors
    Two misfits finding tentative hope under funky 60s-rock harmonies; swap Skid Row for Avenue B and the DNA matches.

Questions and Answers

Scene from Light My Candle track by Daphne Rubin-Vega & Adam Pascal
Sparks fly—literally—over one stubborn match.
Is the duet tough for singers?
The range is moderate, but the conversational timing is tricky—every cutoff cues a guitar accent; miss it and the groove wobbles.
Why so many false candle relights?
Larson milks the motif to keep Mimi in the doorway—each blown flame resets the flirt, escalating stakes without leaving the loft.
Any hidden Puccini nods?
The guitar riff echoes the dotted rhythm from Rodolfo’s first bars in Che gelida manina, a quiet wink to opera buffs.
How does the scene foreshadow Mimi’s addiction arc?
Her “stash” hunt and Roger’s recovering-junkie confession lay groundwork for later relapse drama—danger lurking under chemistry.
Why mention Spike Lee?
Mark’s off-stage filmmaking obsession bleeds in; plus it timestamps 90s New York indie-film buzz.

Fan and Media Reactions

The scene launched countless audition reels—actors slip into Mimi’s half-whispered rasp and Roger’s guarded gravel to prove chemistry on cue. Fans adore the playful lyric innuendo, quoting “I like it between my…” in comment threads with candle emojis. Theatre critics call it the “sexiest exposition dump on Broadway,” while voice teachers use it to drill breath timing and subtext-rich phrasing.

“Four minutes of downtown flirt perfected—no swipe app needed.” Time Out NY
“Rubin-Vega turns a match strike into a mic drop.” — @LoisaidaListener
“Never has ‘candy-bar wrapper’ sounded so tragic and hot at once.” — BroadwayWorld forum
“If chemistry were paint, they’d redecorate the whole loft in one verse.” — @RentHeadReview
“Still the gold-standard example of flirtation through subtext.” — Conservatory acting coach blog

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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