"Ladies Who Lunch": A Phonological Breakdown

Company’s “Ladies Who Lunch” is an infamous eleven o’clock number that dives into Joanne’s cynicism. It forces Bobby to realize that she represents his future if he continues on his current path of disengagement from relationships. It’s a captivating song, expertly written by composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim. The song is full of emotional complexity, and it backs it up with phonological complexity. 

Let’s break it down:

“Here's to the ladies who lunch

Everybody laugh

Lounging in their caftans and planning a brunch

On their own behalf”

Okay, so what do we have here? 

• Lots of alliteration — where the initial consonants match:

  • ladies, lunch, laugh, lounging.

  • brunch and behalf.

    on and own

    • I wouldn’t usually care much about a preposition (on) contributing to alliteration, but it stands out to me here because on and own fall on the stressed syllables/beats of the line. 

• Lots of rhyming — where the stressed vowels and following consonants match:

  • lunch and brunch

  • laugh, caftans, and behalf

  • caftans and planning

    • an imperfect rhyme because of the -s, but it’s an internal rhyme, so I suspect that matters less. 

• Some pararhymes — where the stressed syllables but not the stressed vowel match (same initial and final consonants, different vowel):

  • lunch and lounge

    • This is an “imperfect” pararhyme, because the difference between ch [tʃ] and ge [dʒ] is a matter of voicing (that is, the vocal cords vibrate in [dʒ] but not in [tʃ], but the sounds are produced with exactly the same tongue position).

  • On and own 

    • an example of a “perfect” pararhyme; the initial consonant (null) is the same, and the final consonant ([n]) is the same, and the vowels are different (though quite similar — both are back vowels, and, in a New York accent, both are mid round vowels. They only differ in the laxness of the tongue. 

“Off to the gym, then to a fitting

Claiming they're fat

And looking grim 'cause they've been sitting

Choosing a hat”

• more rhyming:

  • gym and grim

  • fitting and sitting

  • fat and hat

• More pararhymes:

  • fitting and fat

    • same initial consonant, same final consonant, slightly different vowel (this time both are front, unrounded, lax vowels, but one is high and one is low). 

“Does anyone still wear a hat?

I'll drink to that”

• Rhyme:

  • hat and that

“Here's to the girls who stay smart

Aren't they a gas?

Rushing to their classes in optical art

Wishing it would pass”

• Alliteration:

  • stay and smart

  • Optical and art

  • Wishing and would

• Rhyme:

  • smart, aren’t and art

    • (aren’t is sung as 2 syllables, allowing this to rhyme).

  • Gas, classes, and pass. 

• Consonance (where the final consonants match):

  • rushing and wishing

• Homeoteleuton (where the non-stressed syllables match):

  • rushing and wishing

“Another long exhausting day

Another thousand dollars

A matinee, a Pinter play

Perhaps a piece of Mahler's”

• new rhythm and rhyme scheme

• Assonance (where the vowels match):

  • long, exhausting, dollars, Mahler’s. 

• Rhyme:

  • day, matinee, play

  • Dollars and Mahler’s. 

• Alliteration:

  • day and dollars

  • Pinter, play, perhaps, piece

  • Matinee and Mahler’s

• Anaphora (repetition of word/phrase as the beginning of successive lines):

  • another long exhausting day/another thousand dollars

“I'll drink to that

And one for Mahler”

• Repetition of the chorus:

  • I’ll drink to that. 

“Here's to the girls who play wife

Aren't they too much?

Keeping house but clutching a copy of Life

Just to keep in touch”

• return to the original rhythm and rhyme scheme

• Rhyme:

  • wife and Life

  • Much, clutching, touch.

    • This last set of rhyming also has an assonance match with just. 

• Alliteration:

  • keeping, clutching, and copy. 

• Depending on the enunciation of the singer, homophony/identity (where the whole word/phrase sounds the same):

  • keeping and keep in. 

• Double entendre:

  • clutching a copy of Life/just to keep in touch refers to holding dear a magazine, but can be interpreted as clinging to a hollow iteration of the world/culture. Joanne finds these women shallow or underdeveloped. 

“The ones who follow the rules

And meet themselves at the schools

Too busy to know that they're fools

Aren't they a gem?

I’ll drink to them. 

Let’s all drink to them.”

• new rhyme scheme and rhythm

• Rhyme:

  • schools, fools, rules

  • Gem and them. 

• Alliteration:

  • themselves and the

    • I don’t really like counting alliteration for function words like the, though. 

• Repetition of the chorus:

  • I’ll drink to them. 

• Not much else going on. The phonological complexity unravels as Joanne herself unravels. 

“And here's to the girls who just watch

Aren't they the best?

When they get depressed, it's a bottle of Scotch

Plus a little jest”

• original rhythm and rhyme scheme

• Rhyme:

  • watch, scotch

  • Best, depressed, jest. 

• Assonance:

  • bottle of scotch. 

• Alliteration?:

  • best and bottle

    • though they’re a bit far from each other. 

“Another chance to disapprove

Another brilliant zinger

Another reason not to move

Another vodka stinger”

• Same rhythm and rhyme scheme as “another long exhausting day…”

• Anaphora:

  • another…

• Rhyme:

  • move and disapprove

  • zinger and stinger

• This verse is followed by a scream, sometimes with Joanne throwing her drink. She’s completely breaking down, and so is the poetry. 

“I'll drink to that”

• Repetition of the chorus

“So here's to the girls on the go

Everybody tries

Look into their eyes and you'll see what they know

Everybody dies”

• original rhythm and rhyme scheme

• Rhyme:

  • go and know

  • Tries, eyes, dies. 

• Anaphora:

  • everybody tries / everybody dies

• Alliteration:

  • girls and go

“A toast to that invincible bunch

The dinosaurs surviving the crunch

Let's hear it for the ladies who lunch

Everybody rise

Rise

Rise, rise

Rise, rise

Rise, rise

Rise”

• Same rhyme scheme as “the ones who follow the rules” until the rises. 

• Rhyme:

  • bunch, crunch, lunch.

  • Rise harkens back to the previous verse with dies and tries. 

• Repetition:

  • rise…

• Homophony:

  • Joanne has been opening every other verse with here’s to the ladies/girls. Now she ends this one with let’s hear it for the ladies. 

“Ladies Who Lunch” is a complicated song, and Sondheim does a beautiful job of reflecting that sonically. As Joanne breaks down, so does the poeticism of her lyrics.