Don't Do Sadness / Blue Wind Lyrics – Spring Awakening

Song Overview

“Don’t Do Sadness/Blue Wind” arrives in Spring Awakening as a split-screen confession: Moritz tries to outrun despair while Ilse pleads for a detour back to life. On record, it’s a taut cross-fade of punk-stung drive and wind-blown folk. Released on Decca Broadway as part of the 2006 Original Broadway Cast Recording, the track is sung by John Gallagher Jr. and Lauren Pritchard.

Review and Highlights

I’ve always heard this number as two weather systems colliding. Moritz’s verse (“I don’t do sadness…”) is all jagged guitars, clipped phrases, and a rhythm section that thinks in straight lines. Then Ilse enters with a melody that drifts and arcs, lyrics full of fields and rain. When they finally overlap, the mix doesn’t settle so much as hover: drum kit holding ground, strings and harmonium lifting the edges.

Highlights – the production lets friction do the storytelling. Moritz’s vocal sits forward and dry; Ilse’s is aired-out and roomy. The writing trades concrete images (laundry lines, corn bales) for spiritual weather reports, so the duet feels half diary, half incantation. You feel the clock running.

Creation History

Duncan Sheik wrote the music, Steven Sater the lyrics, with AnnMarie Milazzo’s vocal arrangements and Simon Hale’s additional arrangements shaping the cast album sound. The Original Broadway Cast Recording was released by Decca Broadway in December 2006, taken from the Broadway production that opened that same month at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre.

The album’s producer credits include Duncan Sheik alongside the show’s producers Joan Cullman, Patricia Flicker and Chris Roberts; Greg Calbi handled mastering, and Michael Tudor engineered.

As a single performance artifact, the 2007 morning-TV medley with Gallagher and Pritchard brought the song’s split energy to a national audience.

Worth noting: the 2015 Deaf West Broadway revival reimagined the piece in simultaneous ASL and sung English, doubling certain roles so that a signing actor and a voicing actor shared a character’s inner and outer voice. The choice sharpened the show’s themes of miscommunication.

Song Meaning and Annotations

Plot

Late in Act II, Moritz wanders town with a pistol. Ilse, an old friend now living among artists, crosses his path and tries to coax him home. He declines, doubling down on the numbness he calls survival. After she leaves, he realizes she was the last door open. The scene turns on choices not taken.

Song Meaning

The duet lets us hear two coping strategies in collision. Moritz tries to outwit sorrow by refusing to name it; Ilse admits the weather and keeps walking. The music mirrors that psychology: his sections pulse with compressed, eighth-note momentum; hers stretch into longer lines and suspended chords, a small weather front in the strings every time she sings “spring and summer.”

Annotations

“Awful sweet to be a little butterfly… Nothing going, going wild in you.”

The insect image is a dodge: a life without depth or drag, an escape hatch from responsibility.

“Or maybe cool to be a little summer wind… but no need to know.”

He fantasizes about being elemental. Ilse will answer with wind of her own, but hers howls and mourns, not erases.

“’Cause you know I don’t do sadness… I’ve done my time.”

Onstage, that line lands like armor. Listen closer and you hear exhaustion under the pose.

“Spring and summer ev’ry other day… Blue wind gets so sad.”

Ilse reframes the metaphor. Weather moves. So can you.

“Ilse?”

Her arrival pulls childhood into view. Pirates, friends, a street with the lights still on. He can’t step through.

Genre & production

Sheik’s score threads alternative rock with folk-rock and chamber textures: guitar and drum kit set a modern engine; viola and cello trace the ache; harmonium glues the air around Ilse’s lines. The result feels period-agnostic and emotionally current.

Symbols & language

• Butterfly/summer wind - fantasies of disembodiment. Martha’s and Ilse’s earlier songs establish how dangerous denial can be; here we hear it curdle.
• Fields, corn, hay, rain - Ilse’s nature imagery grounds change in cycles, not absolutes.
• “Laundry line” - Moritz’s image for being used as a rack for everyone else’s expectations.

Key Facts

• Artist: John Gallagher Jr. & Lauren Pritchard (Original Broadway Cast)
• Composer: Duncan Sheik
• Lyricist: Steven Sater
• Producers (album): Duncan Sheik; with Joan Cullman, Patricia Flicker & Chris Roberts credited on the cast album
• Label: Decca Broadway
• Release date (cast album): December 12, 2006
• Language: English
• Album: Spring Awakening - Original Broadway Cast Recording
• Track type: Duet medley - Moritz’s “Don’t Do Sadness” with Ilse’s “Blue Wind”
• Orchestration touches: drum kit, guitars, keys/harmonium, strings
• Staging note (revival): Deaf West’s 2015 Broadway revival performed the score in ASL and sung English, doubling select roles

Questions and Answers

When did the original cast recording featuring this duet come out?

Decca Broadway released the Original Broadway Cast Recording on December 12, 2006.

Who wrote the song?

Music by Duncan Sheik, lyrics by Steven Sater.

Who sings it on the album?

John Gallagher Jr. (Moritz) and Lauren Pritchard (Ilse).

How does the arrangement serve the story?

Moritz’s sections use driving rock to stage defiance and panic; Ilse’s lines open harmonically and rhythmically, arguing for change and endurance.

Is there a notable cover or adaptation?

Yes. NBC’s Rise cast released “Blue Wind/Don’t Do Sadness” in 2018, and German productions recorded the pair as “Mach nicht auf traurig/Winterwind.”

Awards and Chart Positions

The Original Broadway Cast Recording won the 2008 Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album.

On Billboard’s Top Cast Album chart, the album debuted at no. 3 shortly after release.

The Broadway production itself won eight Tony Awards in 2007, including Best Musical, Best Book, Best Original Score and Featured Actor for John Gallagher Jr., the voice of Moritz on this track.

How to Sing “Don’t Do Sadness/Blue Wind”

Ranges & color: Moritz is written for a youthful high baritone/tenor mix with a clean chest-to-mix transition; Ilse sits in a mezzo range that benefits from an easy top and a conversational middle.

Time & feel: Keep Moritz on a tight grid; straight eighths, clipped consonants. Ilse needs breath that rides phrases past the barline. Think “wind on a field,” not “metronome.”

Breath strategy: For Moritz, stagger breaths before “I don’t do sadness” repeats so the line lands without a gasp. For Ilse, plan a low, quiet inhale before “Spring and summer” and float the onset.

Blend: In the overlap, match vowels, not volume. If you’re staging with two mics, keep Moritz forward and dry, Ilse slightly wetter to imply distance.

Additional Info

• Official audio: The track is available via Universal Music Group’s auto-generated upload on YouTube.
• German versions: Vienna’s cast album pairs the songs as “Mach nicht auf traurig” and “Winterwind.”
• Television performance: The OBC performed selections including this duet on morning TV in 2007, highlighting the show’s mic-in-hand concert staging.
• Deaf West revival: The 2015 revival performed the score bilingually in ASL and English, a key interpretive lens for this number.