“Always Is Sometimes” from the musical

GETTING EVERYTHING

This is the opening song from a show about a troubled psychotherapist I wrote in the mid-1980s, which had a showcase production in the former Commons Theatre in Chicago. It’s stayed with me as an ode to our fragility and a reminder of how miraculous and mysterious it is when people get together and stay together. –J. Linn Allen

Susan met Ronnie

They ran off to Boulder

Ronnie is drinking

Susan looks older


Robert and Anne found truth

In Beethoven quartets

Now Robert plays Bach all night

Anne has her pets


Always is sometimes

Completely is kind of

The only love you find

Is take-what-you-find love

Grasping at straws is life’s

Most typical act

Soon all the straws you’ve grasped

Are breaking your back


Sharon ran out on Vic

To remarry her ex.

Vic’s become Vicky

He’s ex from his sex


Always is sometimes

Completely is kind of

The only love you find

Is take-what-you-find love

Grasping at straws is life’s

Most typical act

Soon all the straws you’ve grasped

Are breaking your back