Boy Like That/ I Have a Love Lyrics - West Side Story

Song Overview

Song Credits

• Featured Performers: Chita Rivera · Carol Lawrence
• Producer: Goddard Lieberson
• Composers: Leonard Bernstein & Stephen Sondheim
• Orchestrators: Sid Ramin · Leonard Bernstein · Irwin Kostal
• Album: West Side Story (Original 1957 Broadway Cast Recording) – Track 15
• Release Date: September 29, 1957
• Genre: Show Tune · Musical Theatre · Latin-tinged Jazz
• Length: 4 min 34 sec (stage version)
• Key Instruments: Tremolo strings · woodwind countermelody · vibraphone · congas · pizzicato bass
• Label: Columbia Masterworks
• Language: English
• Mood/Style: Fiery confrontation melting into rhapsodic devotion
• Copyright © 1957 Sony Music Entertainment · All rights reserved

Song Meaning and Annotations

The curtain lifts on a tenement bedroom still echoing with grief. Anita storms in like a brass fanfare, every rolled r a spark. Maria answers with strings as soft as dusk. In four breathless minutes A Boy Like That / I Have a Love Lyrics pivot from raw fury to unwavering devotion, charting two moral hemispheres that refuse to meet in the middle. Bernstein weaves a dark, percussion-driven mambo under Anita’s admonitions, then slips into a soaring, almost hymn-like duet once Maria counters with her declaration of love. Sondheim’s word-play toes the line between barrio street-talk (“Stick to your own kind!”) and operatic repetition (“I have a love, and it’s all that I have”). The result feels less like dialogue and more like two storm fronts colliding above Manhattan rooftops.

The dramatic context matters. Moments earlier, Bernardo lay dead; tribal blood still stains the pavement. Anita channels every widow, every sister who has watched senseless violence steal futures. Maria, fresh-faced with first love, clings to Tony as if he were oxygen. Their voices braid, then clash, then finally fuse on one held note—proof that grief and passion can share the same lungs.

Anita’s Entrance

“A boy like that who’d kill your brother / Forget that boy and find another.”

The horns stab, reflecting Anita’s shock. She is a sentinel of communal rules: Puerto Rican girls date Puerto Rican boys. Bernstein’s syncopation echoes a fast heartbeat, while Sondheim’s internal rhymes (“brother/another”) swing like a verbal switchblade.

Maria’s Rebuttal

“I have a love, and it’s all that I have / Right or wrong, what else can I do?”

Here Bernstein modulates up a half-step, washing the anger in warm strings. Maria’s melody climbs as if searching for a fire escape out of despair. The lyric slips into first person singular—an echo of Juliet on the balcony choosing love over lineage.

Contrapuntal Coda

“When love comes so strong / There is no right or wrong.”

Two themes intertwine like DNA. Anita’s warning still thrashes beneath Maria’s plea, but the rhythmic tug-of-war ends in shared harmony; it’s the musical equivalent of agreeing to disagree—while still hugging through tears.

Similar Songs

1. “If I Loved You” – Carousel (1945)
   Both pieces trap lovers in circular logic: Julie and Billy orbit the phrase “If,” while Maria and Anita circle “love” and “hate.” Rodgers & Hammerstein’s waltz is gentle, yet it mirrors the same knot of doubt and devotion. Where Bernstein leans Latin rhythms, Rodgers opts for a lilting 6/8; both wrap impossible romance in deceptively sweet melodies.
2. “Take Me or Leave Me” – Rent (1996)
   Nearly four decades later, Maureen and Joanne volley ultimatums over a rock-gospel groove. Larson’s duet inherits the idea of love as standoff, each woman defending selfhood against compromise. Swap the leather jackets for swing skirts, and the emotional architecture remains: two belief systems colliding until harmony wins.
3. “Pretty Women” – Sweeney Todd (1979)
   Another Sondheim gem, this barbershop reverie finds sworn enemies singing in blissful unison—unaware of fatal stakes. Like A Boy Like That / I Have a Love, it weaponizes contrast: tender melody perched above violent plot. Both duets demonstrate Sondheim’s knack for making tension sound gorgeous.

Questions and Answers

Why do critics call this duet the show’s “emotional apex”?

It crystallizes every theme—tribal loyalty, forbidden romance, cycle of violence—into a single, combustible face-off. After this, tragedy feels inevitable.

Did Sondheim or Bernstein write first?

Unusually, Sondheim drafted Anita’s opening lyric first; Bernstein set it note-for-note. Maria’s counter-melody came later, folded around the existing words like a twin flame.

Is the phrase “Stick to your own kind” meant as social commentary?

Absolutely. Sondheim spotlights the harsh dogma of segregation era New York. Anita parrots the line society drilled into her, exposing prejudice without moralizing.

Why the sudden key change midway through?

The modulation mirrors Maria’s shift from passive listener to active defender. Musically, it lifts the scene from minor despair to a major—but fragile—hope.

Do later revivals alter the lyric?

Some modern productions soften Anita’s line “He’ll murder your love” to “He’ll shatter your love,” yet purists argue the blunt verb underscores her trauma. Most major revivals keep the original punch.

Awards and Chart Positions

The parent album topped the Billboard album chart for 54 consecutive weeks beginning in 1962, making A Boy Like That / I Have a Love Lyrics one of the most-played Broadway duets on radio at the time. The cast LP entered the Library of Congress National Recording Registry in 2007 for “cultural, historical, and aesthetic significance.” The duet is frequently cited by the American Theatre Wing as a benchmark for soprano–mezzo harmony.

Fan and Media Reactions

“Rivera’s belt could slice steel—Lawrence answers with velvet. Broadway magic in four minutes flat.” — @StageWhisperer, YouTube

“Heard this live in 1980; still gives me rooftop goosebumps.” — Daniel S.

“The counterpoint! The conga undercurrent! Bernstein was doing fusion before it was trendy.” — JazzCorner Blog

“As a Latinx listener, Anita’s rage feels painfully real—yet the music lets her breathe beyond anger.” — Luisa Martínez

“No duet nails the push-pull of love and loyalty like this one. My favorite karaoke dare.” — @TenorOnThinIce