Gimme Gimme Lyrics – Thoroughly Modern Millie

Song Overview

Review & Highlights

Gimme Gimme is the ignition point of Millie’s heart - that moment when calculation melts and the pulse takes over. Sutton Foster rides the vamp like a fuse, and the band answers with brass that smiles and a rhythm section that won’t quit. The lyrics make a clean case for chaos - choose love, even if the ledger hates it. I’ve heard a thousand audition cuts, and this one still hits - the way that final button flips the room from polite to roaring. For anyone keeping score, yes, these lyrics land like a confession caught on a hot mic.

Verse 1

Millie sets up the coin flip - security vs. spark - with clipped rhyme and city tempo. Each image clicks like a turnstile, and you can feel the sidewalk under the shoes.

Chorus

Repetition turns hunger into groove. “Gimme” becomes percussion - a chant you can stack harmonies on while the brass lifts the roof.

Exchange/Bridge

My favorite beat is the mythic roll call - doves, sparrows, Cupid on speed dial. Broadway lets folklore punch in for a shift, and the wit lands without slowing the engine.

Final Build

That last climb is theater math done right - breath, belt, bang. On a good night, the air in the room tilts forward before the cutoff. You feel taller walking out.

Song Meaning and Annotations

At its core, Gimme Gimme is a vote for love over ladder-climbing. The number takes a character built for hustle and lets her chase heat instead of headlines.

“This is Millie choosing between her original plan of marrying her boss, Mr Graydon, or to marry the boy she loves, Jimmy, and have a green glass love.”

That’s the whole dilemma in plain clothes - strategy vs. surrender - and the song makes surrender look like courage.

The setting matters. Café society, department-store dreams, a city that rewards both nerve and luck - it’s a stew of class signals and fresh possibility.

“Muzzy, a successful performer at the Cafe Society, tells Millie about her husband, who gave her a green glass necklace... When he passed, she found out the necklace was actually pure emerald.”

The anecdote turns into a compass: value isn’t always loud. Millie learns to trust the quiet gleam.

Even the quick cultural nods pull their weight. The song calls on saints and legends not as wallpaper but as stage partners.

“Saint Valentine, officially Saint Valentine of Rome, was a widely recognized 3rd-century Roman saint... associated with a tradition of courtly love.”

That little prayer reads like a wink and a dare. She wants love that’s blessed and bold.

The lyric opens the door to bigger myth, too. It lets Greek lore drop in, then grabs Shakespeare for a cameo, all without slowing the drum.

“Greek Goddess of love.”

Aphrodite functions like a stage direction - conjure heat, keep it moving.

And when she pleads for a romance that doesn’t crash, the show hands her a promise - messy, sure, but worth the jump.

“Romeo and Juliet is a famous Shakespeare Tragedy... Millie is saying that she wants love, but doesn’t want it to end badly.”

So the anthem isn’t naïve. It’s a risk calculation that favors the heart, not the ledger.

Message

Choose the life that makes your blood move. The song argues that love - not status - is the reliable bet, even when it looks like the risky one.

Emotional tone

Starts conflicted, turns hungry, lands triumphant. The arc is audible in the vowels - narrow to wide, then wide to wildfire.

Historical context

Set in 1922, written in 2002 - a time-travel bridge that lets Jazz Age shimmer meet millennial hustle. The result is period sparkle with modern bite.

Production & instrumentation

Uptempo pit-band drive - bright piano figures, reed sparkle, sturdy drum kit, and brass that answers the vocal like a grin. The groove leans two-step with a march tint, perfect for a standing-ovation button.

Language & imagery

Simple verbs - gimme, crave, brave - paired with folk symbols. The diction is clean enough for speed, vivid enough to stick.

Creation history

Composer Jeanine Tesori and lyricist Dick Scanlan built Gimme Gimme for the 2002 Broadway adaptation of Thoroughly Modern Millie. On the cast album, the cut sits near the end of Act II and doubles as Sutton Foster’s calling card on TV spots from that season.

Key Facts

• Producer: Jay David Saks
• Composer: Jeanine Tesori
• Lyricist: Dick Scanlan
• Release Date (OBCR): June 11, 2002
• Album: Thoroughly Modern Millie (Original Broadway Cast Recording)
• Label: RCA Victor Broadway
• Track #: 19
• Genre: Broadway show tune - jazz-age pastiche
• Length: approx. 3:30 on many stage score cuts; audition cuts run shorter
• Language: English
• Instruments: pit-band rhythm section, piano, reeds, brass, strings, ensemble backing
• Mood: hungry, fearless, celebratory
• Music style: uptempo two-step feel with march-inflected push
• © Copyrights: composition by Tesori/Scanlan; master and publishing administered by original rights holders

Questions and Answers

Who produced “Gimme Gimme” on the OBCR?

Jay David Saks produced the Thoroughly Modern Millie Original Broadway Cast Recording.

When was the cast album released?

June 11, 2002, in the early weeks of the Broadway run.

Who wrote the song?

Music by Jeanine Tesori, lyrics by Dick Scanlan.

Did Sutton Foster perform “Gimme Gimme” on television during the run?

Yes - a breakout rendition aired on a major daytime talk show in spring 2002, just as the show was opening.

Is “Gimme Gimme” a charting single?

No - it’s a stage standout, not a commercial single, though the show and album received top industry honors and nominations.

Awards and Chart Positions

Broadway honors: Thoroughly Modern Millie won 6 Tony Awards in 2002 including Best Musical, Best Actress in a Musical (Sutton Foster), Best Orchestrations (Doug Besterman and the late Ralph Burns), Best Choreography (Rob Ashford), and Best Costume Design (Martin Pakledinaz). Harriet Sansom Harris also won Best Featured Actress in a Musical.

Grammy status: The Original Broadway Cast Recording received a nomination for Best Musical Theater Album at the 2003 Grammy Awards.

Notable broadcast moment: Foster’s televised performance of “Gimme Gimme” in April 2002 helped stamp the number as her signature before awards season hit.

How to Sing Gimme Gimme?

Key & range: Common stage-score and licensed versions circulate in Ab major and A major, with working ranges around mezzo/belt C–Gb and C#–G. Choose the key that lets you belt cleanly without pressing the top.

Tempo & feel: Uptempo - a bright two-step with march push. Lock to snare and piano comps; let vowels surf the brass rather than fight it.

Breath map: Bank a full tank before “I don’t care if he’s a nobody.” Micro-breaths are fine between the “Gimme, gimme” repetitions, but protect the final button by staying stacked, not squeezed.

Diction & color: Consonants carry plot - pop the g’s and b’s in “gimme” and “brave,” then keep legato through the myth roll call so it feels like one dare, not a checklist.

Acting beat: It’s a decision song. Start analytical, pivot to hunger on “I crave it,” and land like you’ve already chosen the messy, living version of your life.