Overture / Big Bright Beautiful World Lyrics – Shrek
Overture / Big Bright Beautiful World Lyrics
Once upon a time, there was a little ogre named Shrek,
who lived with his parents in a bog by a tree.
It was a pretty nasty place but he was happy because ogres like nasty.
On his birthday the little ogre’s parents sat him down
to talk just as all ogre parents had for hundreds of years before.
MOTHER OGRE:
Listen son, you’re growing up so quickly
Growing up, bigger by the day
FATHER OGRE:
Although we want you here, the rules are very clear
MOTHER OGRE:
Now you’re seven
FATHER OGRE:
Now you’re seven
OGRE PARENTS:
So it’s time to go away
FATHER OGRE:
Your Mama packed a sandwich for your trip
MOTHER OGRE:
Your Papa packed your boots in case of snow
OGRE PARENTS:
You’re gonna make us proud, no backing up allowed
MOTHER OGRE:
Just keep walking
FATHER OGRE:
Just keep hawking
OGRE PARENTS:
And you’ll find somewhere to go
It’s a big, bright, beautiful world
With happiness all around
It’s peaches and cream
And every dream comes true
But not for you
It’s a big, bright, beautiful world
With possibilities everywhere
And just around the bend
There’s a friend or two
But not for you
MOTHER OGRE:
We’re ugly son which means that life is harder
People hate the things they cannot understand
FATHER OGRE:
And when they look at us they tend to make a fuss
MOTHER OGRE:
Burn our houses down
FATHER OGRE:
And chase us
OGRE PARENTS:
Off our land
FATHER OGRE:
It’s important that you find a cozy cesspit
MOTHER OGRE:
A place no one would ever dare to tread
OGRE PARENTS:
And if they happen by, make sure you terrify them
MOTHER OGRE:
If you don’t son
FATHER OGRE:
If you don’t son
OGRE PARENTS:
Then you’ll surely wind up dead
MOTHER OGRE:
Goodbye
FATHER OGRE:
Goodbye
MOTHER OGRE:
Watch out for men with pitchforks
SHREK (voice over):
And so, the little ogre went off and found a muddy patch of swamp land far,
far away from the world that despised him.
There he stayed for many years,
tucked away and all alone, which was just the way he liked it.
SHREK:
Keep your big, bright, beautiful world
I’m happy where I am, all alone
I’ve got all I need
So read the stinkin’ sign, haha
Keep your big, bright, beautiful world
I party on my own anyway
Doing what I can with a one man conga line
Yeah, your big, bright, beautiful world
Is all teddy bears and unicorns
Take your fluffy fun
And shove it where the sun don’t shine
I prefer a life like this
It’s not that complicated
Sure I’m fated to be lonely
And I’m destined to be hated
If you read the books they say
That’s why I was created
But I don’t care
Coz being liked
Is grossly overrated
Who needs a big, bright, beautiful world
I’ve got my own little patch on the world
It’s not a big, bright, beautiful world
But it’s mine
Alone, it’s mine
And it’s mine
All mine!
Song Overview
“Overture / Big Bright Beautiful World” does what great Broadway openers do - it sketches the map, cracks a joke, and plants a bruise. The Brian D’Arcy James vocal stakes out attitude while Mama and Papa Ogre set the rules in tight harmony. As an album opener on Shrek: The Musical (Original Broadway Cast Recording), it’s five-plus minutes of world-building that makes the later reprise hit twice as hard. The arrangement mixes fairy-tale sparkle with pit-band bite, letting the lyrics flip from welcome to warning on a dime.
Review & Highlights
As theatre, this opener is the thesis. The Overture / Big Bright Beautiful World lyrics start like a bedtime story, then pop the balloon with “but not for you.” That whiplash becomes the show’s rhythm: sweetness, side-eye, truth. The pit moves from storybook brass to stomp-and-snap, and the cast album captures the contrast cleanly. Personal take: it’s one of those first tracks you replay before moving on, because the character work is already that sharp.
Key takeaways: crisp narration-to-song handoff, a chorus that doubles as worldview, and early character shading for Shrek. The groove keeps the smile bright while the text keeps the stakes visible. Twice the word Lyrics sneaks into your head like a running headline, and that’s by design.
Verse 1
Parents sing the headline and the harmony is firm. You hear advice masquerading as lullaby, and the drum book stays square to underline the rules.
Chorus
The hook blooms, then twists. “Big bright beautiful” lands like a promise; the tag undercuts it with a shrug. The band paints both truths at once.
Exchange/Bridge
Spoken scene-setting returns to song in quick cuts. It’s a storybook cut-and-paste that lets the laugh sit next to the warning without apology.
Final Build
Shrek’s solo snaps the lens into first person. The button is a barked claim of space, clearing the runway for the show to roar into “Story of My Life.”
Song Meaning and Annotations
The prologue voiceover snaps the fairy tale into place, then hands off to music that smiles with its teeth.
“Spoken.”That stage direction matters because this opener toggles between narration and song to keep you alert to tone shifts.
Right away the culture is different. At seven, you’re out of the nest, not onto a bicycle but into a bog.
“Shrek is considered an independent individual at age seven… They also caution him with parental advice regarding a dangerous world for ogres.”The lyric uses that joke to stamp the world’s rules on your ear.
Even the “go away” gag is cushioned with affection - boots, sandwich, practical love.
“The song seems to paint a picture of unloving or harsh ogre parents. However, immediately the next lines restore the caring image of both parents.”That tug-of-war between roughness and care becomes the show’s heartbeat.
The chorus’s famous hinge lands like a trapdoor.
“The prolonged silence between these two lines emphasizes the line ‘But not for you’ to showcase the twist within the big bright beautiful world.”You hear optimism, then the cost of it when you don’t fit the frame.
Under the jokes sits a social mirror.
“This musical is meant to be an analogy of the experiences of marginalized individuals… reminiscent of the talks human parents give their children.”It’s Runyonland-meets-Grimm, but the prejudice isn’t pretend.
Defense becomes doctrine.
“He pushes people away and tries to scare them away because he has been told… that if he didn’t he would be killed.”The song writes the mask Shrek wears for a living.
Time jump, key shift, new posture.
“The key change signifies… a change of attitude: Shrek shows first signs of rebelling against the idea of the ‘big bright beautiful world.’”The music tells you he’s older and stubborn by choice.
Even the signage has a punchline.
“The ‘sign’ reads: Keep Out!”That prop becomes a chorus partner, finishing Shrek’s sentences for him.
Then the mask slips.
“He does not just say that he is alone but he is in fact ‘lonely’… He still craves love and connection.”The melody doesn’t change much, but your read of it does.
And the kicker? Control is an illusion.
“The irony here being that… fairytale creatures are relocated to Shrek’s swamp and ‘given’ pieces of it for their new homes.”The opener plants that irony so the plot can spring it later.
Message
The Overture / Big Bright Beautiful World message is blunt: the world can be lovely and still shove you out. The lyrics build a shelter that doubles as a cage, and the story will make Shrek test the lock.
Emotional tone
Cheerful on the surface, wary underneath. The laughter doesn’t cancel the truth; it smuggles it in.
Historical context
Premiering in late 2008, the show uses a modern Broadway palette to tell an outsider tale. The cast album’s mix favors intelligibility over spectacle, a late-2000s trend that suits this opener.
Production
Produced by Jeanine Tesori and co-producer Peter Hylenski, the track balances narration, ensemble, and lead in a single arc. You can hear the studio respect the story beats as much as the hook.
Instrumentation
Brass for shine, reeds for color, a rhythm section that keeps everything walking. The overture wraps the fairy-tale strings around a Broadway engine so the world feels polished but lived-in.
Creation history
Recorded January 12, 2009 at Legacy Recording Studios and released March 24, 2009 on Decca Broadway, the album later sat alongside the 2013 filmed production, where the number opens the story on screen as well.
Key Facts
- Artist: Brian D’Arcy James, with Rachel Stern & Jacob Ming-Trent
- Writers: Jeanine Tesori - music; David Lindsay-Abaire - lyrics
- Producers: Peter Hylenski, Jeanine Tesori
- Release Date: March 24, 2009
- Album: Shrek: The Musical (Original Broadway Cast Recording)
- Label: Decca Broadway
- Genre: Broadway - cast recording
- Length: 5:43
- Track #: 1
- Language: English
- Conductor: Tim Weil
- Instruments: brass, reeds, strings, keyboards, rhythm section
- Music style: storybook overture fused with pop-theatre march
- Poetic meter: conversational iambs over steady 4/4
- © Copyrights: © 2009 Decca Label Group/Universal Music; composition © authors
Questions and Answers
- Who produced “Overture / Big Bright Beautiful World”?
- Composer Jeanine Tesori produced the cast album with co-producer and sound designer Peter Hylenski.
- When was it released?
- March 24, 2009, on Decca Broadway.
- Who wrote it?
- Music by Jeanine Tesori, lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire.
- Does this number appear in the filmed stage version?
- Yes, the 2013 pro-shot opens with the same sequence and theme.
- Where does it sit in the show’s story?
- It’s the prologue and first song, establishing Shrek’s worldview before the plot starts bumping against it.
Awards and Chart Positions
The cast album debuted at number 1 on Billboard’s Top Cast Albums chart and peaked at number 88 on the Billboard 200. It later earned a Grammy nomination for Best Musical Show Album at the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards, while the Broadway production picked up eight Tony nominations.
How to Sing Overture / Big Bright Beautiful World?
Vocal range & casting: Shrek sits in a grounded baritone (roughly A2–E4 on the album), with Mama and Papa Ogre in bright belt mix. Keep Shrek chest-led for bite; let the parents’ thirds ring clean without vibrato drift.
Tempo & groove: Moderate march with storybook lift. Think steady click with room for the spoken-to-sung pivot. Don’t rush the silence before “but not for you” - that breath is the punchline.
Diction & dynamics: Consonants are timekeepers. Land the t’s and k’s on the beat; shape vowels forward so the lyrics read over brass shimmer. Work mf to f, saving headroom for Shrek’s solo turn.
Acting beats: Parents are loving and practical, not villains. Shrek’s solo isn’t rage; it’s policy. Smile on the line, frown on the thought. That contrast keeps the comedy honest.
Ensemble blend: Mission is clarity. Flutes and reeds color the edges; keep chorus vowels unified on “world” to avoid spread. Brass should shine, not shout.
Music video
Shrek Lyrics: Song List
- Act 1
- Overture / Big Bright Beautiful World
- Story of My Life
- The Goodbye Song
- Don't Let Me Go
- I Know It's Today
- What's Up, Duloc?
- Travel Song
- Donkey Pot Pie
- This Is How Dreams Come True
- Who I'd Be
- Act 2
- Morning Person
- I Think I Got You Beat
- The Ballad of Farquaad
- Make a Move
- When Words Fail
- Morning Person (Reprise)
- Build A Wall
- Freak Flag
- Big Bright Beautiful World (Reprise)
- More to the Story
- This is Our Story (Finale)
- I'm a Believer
- Forever