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"For Good" from Wicked the Musical

For Good scene from WickedSometimes people call this song from the hit Broadway musical Wicked "Because I Knew You" or "Changed For Good." During the May 2006 broadcast of Katie Couric's departure from the Today Show "For Good" from Wicked was sung.

Lyrics - Wicked "For Good"

by Stephen Schwartz (copyrighted)

Sung on the Wicked cast album by Idina Menzel (Elphaba) and Kristin Chenoweth (Glinda)

ELPHABA

You're the only friend I've ever had.

GLINDA
And I've had so many friends. But only one-- that mattered.
(sings)


I'VE HEARD IT SAID
THAT PEOPLE COME INTO OUR LIVES FOR A REASON
BRINGING SOMETHING WE MUST LEARN
AND WE ARE LED
TO THOSE WHO HELP US MOST TO GROW
IF WE LET THEM
AND WE HELP THEM IN RETURN
WELL, I DON'T KNOW IF I BELIEVE THAT'S TRUE
BUT I KNOW I'M WHO I AM TODAY
BECAUSE I KNEW YOU...

LIKE A COMET PULLED FROM ORBIT
AS IT PASSES A SUN

LIKE A STREAM THAT MEETS A BOULDER
HALFWAY THROUGH THE WOOD
WHO CAN SAY IF I'VE BEEN CHANGED FOR THE BETTER?
BUT BECAUSE I KNEW YOU
I HAVE BEEN CHANGED FOR GOOD …

ELPHABA
IT WELL MAY BE
THAT WE WILL NEVER MEET AGAIN
IN THIS LIFETIME
SO LET ME SAY BEFORE WE PART
SO MUCH OF ME
IS MADE OF WHAT I LEARNED FROM YOU
YOU'LL BE WITH ME
LIKE A HANDPRINT ON MY HEART
AND NOW WHATEVER WAY OUR STORIES END
I KNOW YOU HAVE RE-WRITTEN MINE
BY BEING MY FRIEND...


LIKE A SHIP BLOWN FROM ITS MOORING
BY A WIND OFF THE SEA
LIKE A SEED DROPPED BY A SKYBIRD
IN A DISTANT WOOD
WHO CAN SAY IF I'VE BEEN CHANGED FOR THE BETTER?
BUT BECAUSE I KNEW YOU...

GLINDA
BECAUSE I KNEW YOU...

BOTH
BECAUSE I KNEW YOU
I HAVE BEEN CHANGED FOR GOOD...

ELPHABA
AND JUST TO CLEAR THE AIR
I ASK FORGIVENESS
FOR THE THINGS I'VE DONE YOU BLAME ME FOR

GLINDA
BUT THEN, I GUESS WE KNOW
THERE'S BLAME TO SHARE

BOTH
AND NONE OF IT SEEMS TO MATTER ANYMORE

___

[They sing simultaneously]

GLINDA

LIKE A COMET PULLED FROM
ORBIT/AS IT PASSES A SUN/
LIKE A STREAM THAT MEETS A
BOULDER/ HALF-WAY
THROUGH THE WOOD

ELPHABA

LIKE A SHIP BLOWN OFF ITS
MOORING/BY A WIND OFF THE
SEA/ LIKE A SEED DROPPED BY A
BIRD IN
THE WOOD

___

BOTH
WHO CAN SAY IF I'VE BEEN CHANGED FOR THE BETTER?
I DO BELIEVE I HAVE BEEN CHANGED FOR THE BETTER

GLINDA
AND BECAUSE I KNEW YOU...

ELPHABA
BECAUSE I KNEW YOU...

BOTH
BECAUSE I KNEW YOU...
I HAVE BEEN CHANGED FOR GOOD.

Lyrics from the script, used with permission - protected by copyright.

Wicked "For Good" sheet music

Sheet music instant downloads: "For Good" piano/vocal selections - melody in piano part

For choral versions see "For Good" choral, etc.

For more Wicked sheet music: Get WICKED Sheet Music

"For Good" from Wicked is also included in The Contemporary Singing Actor duets collection. Song list is below. Contemporary Singing Actor Duets Collection

  • All I Ask Of You
  • All The Love I Have
  • Almost A Love Song
  • Almost Paradise
  • As Long As You're Mine
  • Come To Jesus
  • Don't
  • Don't Know Where You Leave Off
  • Elaborate Lives
  • Every Goodbye Is Hello
  • Follow Your Heart
  • For Good
  • I Will Never Leave You
  • I'd Give It All For You
  • I'll Cover You
  • In His Eyes
  • The Last Night Of The World
  • Lucky
  • Marriage Tango
  • The Next Ten Minutes
  • The Night Was Alive
  • The Proposal
  • Seeing Is Believing
  • Sun And Moon
  • Therapy
  • This Can't Be Real
  • This Is Not Over Yet
  • Timeless To Me
  • We Can Do It
  • Where Did We Go Right?
  • Who Will Love Me As I Am?
  • Written In The Stars
  • You Rule My World
  • You Walk With Me

 

Behind-the-scenes story about Wicked "For Good"

Stephen Schwartz Wicked For Good composerStephen Schwartz considers "For Good" from Wicked one of the best songs he's written. Here's what Schwartz says about "For Good":

"The song 'For Good' was, of course, written for the show to try to express the leading characters' feelings as they are seeing each other for the last time. The title came out of a brainstorming conversation I had with Winnie Holzman (the book writer) -- basically at one point she said it should be about how the two of them had changed each other 'for good', at which point, hearing the amazing possibilities in that phrase, I knew I had found the title for the song.

"To get some of the content, I had a long conversation with my daughter, in which I asked her what she would say to her best friend (someone she has known pretty much all her life), if she knew she was never going to see her again. A lot of what Jessie said got transformed into the first verse of the song. Other than that, it was simply trying to put myself into the hearts and minds of the characters and see what they said."

Hear podcasts from Wicked's composer www.theschwartzscene.com/blog/

Watch Kristin and Idina rehearse "For Good" - Broadway: American Musical DVD features The Making of Wicked and rehearsal of "For Good"

Recordings of "For Good" from Wicked

Wicked Original Broadway Cast album: Wicked musical - Amazon.com $13.49 (List price $18.98). Hear Wicked song clips. Sung by Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel.

"For Good" on itunes Idina Menzel & Kristen Chenoweth - Wicked (Original Broadway Cast Recording) "For Good" on itunes

Wicked Karaoke CD [opens to our sister site musicalsingers.com] sing along with Wicked. Accompaniment tracks for Wicked and other Broadway shows. or for choral performance: "For Good" ShowTrax CD produced by Hal Leonard co.

Wicked Composer Stephen Schwartz sings "For Good"

Schwartz Sings For Good on this albumIf I Sing: The Songwriters Album This fascinating new album features famous songwriters singing their own. Stephen Schwartz sings "For Good," from Wicked, Lucy Simon sings "How Could I Ever Know?" from the Broadway musical Secret Garden, etc.

Inspired (Standards - Good For The Soul) Mary Haskell sings "For Good" from Wicked.

"For Good" NEW: WICKED'S COMPOSER-LYRICIST SINGS "FOR GOOD": In Good Company 17 tracks of duets by Lee Lessack and his friends, including he and Stephen Schwartz singing "For Good."
Carol's review: Track 11 "For Good" is the most nuanced, beautiful, and subtle performance of the song ever. And from two guys - who knew?! Along with beautiful violins and piano accompaniment, Stephen introduced subtle musical variations with this performance.

Testimonial comments about the influence of "For Good" from Wicked

From Barbie of Michigan:

I love Wicked so much, and I'm sure that you get that in all of your emails. I had the glorious opportunity to see it in Chicago at the Oriental Theatre. It was fantastic. I have such a love for these songs. "For Good" especially has touched me deeply, because my best friend and I sang that duet for our baccalaureate this past June when we graduated from High School. It really means a lot to me, because the lyrics are so close to my heart. You truly have a masterpiece here. This one is going to be a favorite of my family for as long as I can make it.

Paula B of Madison, WI:

I just recently have falling in love with the music in the show. I have been a fan of Mr Schwartz since Godspell. This is his best by far. My favorite's are No One Mourns the Wicked, What is This Feeling, Defying Gravity and For Good. The last 2 bring tears to my eye's, the interaction between Idina Menzel & Kristen Chenoweth is so powerful. I've been walking around for days, just in awe, of the scope and sheer beauty of the music and the story.

Susan F. of Dallas, TX:

I, as a single parent, raised my daughter alone from the age of 5. She is now in her 30s and because we are very different from each other, we continue to learn so much from each other. As we heard "For Good" in Wicked live at the Dallas Music Hall in Fair Park this past fall, on the opening note I grabbed her hand and as we glanced at each other with tears welling in our eyes, we knew this was to be "our song" forever. I have been changed for good.

Krystal of Mesa, AZ

I just have to say that Wicked's "For Good" is so powerful and touching every time I hear it or even think about it. Two of my best friends sang this song for our baccalaureate when we graduated from Mesa High School in 2004 and I have loved it ever since. It sums up everything that I feel for all of my family and friends. I do believe that people come into our lives for a reason, and every time we interact, our lives are changed forever.

Deborah M. Redlands, CA

I recently attended the L.A. performance of Wicked in April 2007 at the Pantages. When the song 'For Good' was performed, I was reminded particularly of my two dear parents who died within 5 months of each other last year. For many years I considered my mother to be my best friend, but as she wandered into the mist of Alzheimers and as my dad cared for her, our relationship changed. Even though my siblings and I came to have "parental" roles toward our parents, their influence was strong in my life and the beautiful lyrics of this song expressed that so well. I wish I could have expressed as poignantly what they meant to me before they passed away.

From Leslie of Thousand Oaks, CA and regarding her friend Cassie of Simi Valley:

I just saw Wicked with my best friend the other night [in Los Angeles]. We are both special education teachers and have been friends for about 10 years. We can not begin to tell you how much this musical meant to us. We laughed and we cried through out the entire play. As best friends it meant so much to us. We call each other all the time while we play the sound track behind us. We keep playing "For Good" over and over. When this song was being performed we held hands and we both felt the power of our forever friendship. The kind of friendship that because we have known each other we are changed for good.

Does "For Good" sum up the particular relationship of Elphaba and Glinda as well as transcend it?

From Gregory Maguire, Wicked novelist, about Wicked the musical song "For Good": "The first time I heard Kristin and Idina sing 'For Good' at a sing-through performance in New York City, I was amazed at how much feeling they could put into their voices in the first verse--but then we got to the bridge, and I heard where the singers had been heading "And just to clear the air / I ask forgiveness..." For a story and a score that provides such canny humor and slyness to be willing--and able--to state such bald human emotions without shame or prevarication--well, it is a deeply successful moment in the score, I think, and if the song had sidestepped the direct voice right there, the entire production would have been weakened."

If you have "For Good" stories, please email carol@musicalschwartz.com with FOR GOOD in the subject line. Thanks.

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