Song Details
- Album Release Date: 2012
- Genre: show-tunes
Song Meaning of “Sondheim : On The Steps Of The Palace” by Stephen Sondheim
“On the Steps of the Palace” speaks of love, struggle, and hope in the face of a seemingly unending series of hard escalations. The narrator is standing on the steps of a palace-like environment, looking at the world that has been created in its place. He or she wonders why things have changed so much since they first fell in love, particularly in terms of the tension between them and their relationships with others.
The narrator reflects on how the beauty of their union seems to have been replaced with a stark division between them. The scenery that surrounded them is now dominated by paranoia, fear, and mutually-reinforced anger rather than shared love and joy. He or she looks back with sadness, remembering when they could naturally find comfort and solace in one another’s arms, but is also determined and hopeful to find a new path out of the mire of despair.
The narrator stands on the steps of the palace, eyes open and heart yearning. They realize that even though times may seem hard, their strong bond will lead to a breakthrough, and that the dreams of old will rise again with the coming of a new day. Love may momentarily be overthrown and conquered by the darkness of the world, but love can and will always come out the victor in the end.