Dear Evan Hansen has been making theater fans cry since it began on the stages of Washington DC in 2015. Here is a list of the lyrics from the musical that never fail to bring on the tears.
I've learned to slam on the brakes / before I even turn the key / before I make the mistake / before I lead with the worst of me.
Song: Waving Through A Window
Performed by: Evan (Ben Platt)
Significance: This list could honestly have every single lyric from this song, but we had to narrow it down. This song is relatable to any of us whoever feel wary about putting ourselves out there in social situations.
No slipping up if you slip away / so I got nothing to share / No I got nothing to say.
Song: Waving Through A Window
Performed by: Evan (Ben Platt)
Significance: Similar to the last lyric, this one hits home because of the way it perfectly captures how it feels to decide to close yourself off from others, just to keep yourself from getting hurt.
Step out of the sun if you keep getting burned.
Song: Waving Through A Window
Performed by: Evan (Ben Platt)
Significance: The theme of sun shows up in Dear Evan Hansen in many of its songs, usually referring to warmth and joy in response to connecting with others. This lyric shows how it feels to have been hurt in one too many social situations to have the desire to keep trying.
On the outside always looking in / will I ever be more than I've always been?
Song: Waving Through A Window
Performed by: Evan (Ben Platt)
Significance: The beginning of the chorus, this lyric cuts deeply for those who have always felt like they walk through live invisibly.
When you’re falling in a forest / and there’s nobody around / do you ever really crash or even make a sound? / Did I even make a sound, it’s like I never made a sound / will I ever make a sound?
Song: Waving Through A Window
Performed by: Evan (Ben Platt)
Significance: Another recurring theme in the musical is falling from trees in a forest. When Evan breaks his arm after falling from a tree, it's revealed that nobody came looking for him. The line hurts even more when you find out that Evan purposely let go of the branch as an attempted suicide. Evan uses the time he spent waiting for someone to find him after his fall as a metaphor for his loneliness. Even more painful is where he wonders if he's ever made a sound: has his existence ever truly mattered?
I climb until the entire sun shines on my face / Then I suddenly feel the branch give way / I’m on the ground / My arm goes numb / I look around / And I see him coming to get me / he’s coming to get me / and everything’s okay.
Song: For Forever
Performed by: Evan (Ben Platt)
Significance: Here comes the sun again. This song is the retelling a fictional day Evan and Connor spent together. Evan is imagining spending a good day with a dear friend, something he's never experienced. He's in the sun, which as we covered stands for joy and the warmth of human connection. Then he recaps himself falling from the tree and breaking his arm. But in this fictional version, Evan has a friend who finds him. This never really happens and is a lie, making it all the more painful to think about.
Why should I play this game of pretend / remembering through a second-hand sorrow?
Song: Requiem
Performed by: Zoe (Laura Dreyfuss)
Significance: Zoe's confusion and grief over her brother is one of the richest storylines in the show. She was never close to her brother, in fact was scared of him, and could never bring herself to grieve the death of someone who used to make her life miserable. Imagine losing your abusive brother whom you didn't believe cared about you, then finding out from his secret best friend that your brother wanted to make things right with you. Now add in the fact that this is all a lie, and you've been told to grieve about something which wasn't true. Yep, that one stings.
Why should I have a heavy heart? Why should I say I'll keep you with me? Why should I go and fall apart for you?
Song: Requiem
Performed by: Zoe (Laura Dreyfuss) & Mrs. Murphy (Kristolyn Lloyd)
Significance: This line is so impactful because it showcases two different kinds of grief. The grief over an enemy you were supposed to love, and the grief of a mother mourning her misunderstood son. This lyric shows its possible for two people to have vastly different feelings concerning the same individual, and hearing Zoe refuse to mourn her brother and Mrs. Murphy continuing to mourn her son hurts in a special kind of way.
After all you put me through / don't say it wasn't true / that you were not the monster that I knew.
Song: Requiem
Performed by: Zoe (Laura Dreyfuss)
Significance: Again: Zoe was abused by her brother. The idea of learning good information about the brother who tormented and terrified you throughout childhood is almost impossible to fathom. 10/10 line, 10/10 sobbing.
We’re a million worlds apart / and I don’t know how I would even start / if I could tell her.
Song: If I Could Tell Her
Performed by: Evan (Ben Platt)
Significance: The triple meaning of these lyrics hurts hard. Evan confessing his feelings for Zoe while telling her the truth about how her brother feels while at the same time knowing the truth is actually a lie. There's a lot going on. But that doesn't make the emotions any less severe.
No one seems to care / or stops to notice that we’re there / so we get lost in the in-between.
Song: Disappear
Performed by: Connor (Mike Faist)
Significance: Another callback to walking through life and feeling like nobody sees or hears you, this time from Connor. Another "they understand me" line for those of us who sometimes feel overlooked.
No one deserves to be forgotten.
Song: Disappear
Performed by: Connor (Mike Faist) & Evan (Ben Platt)
Significance: This short line holds so much significance within Dear Evan Hansen. It's repeated numerous times throughout the song, and it may be the overarching message of the show.
If you never get around to doing some remarkable thing / that doesn’t mean that you’re not worth remembering.
Song: Disappear
Performed by: Connor (Mike Faist) & Evan (Ben Platt)
Significance: This line is so incredible because it speaks the truth about everyone has value just for being a living being. You don't have to earn your worth, you have it simply because you're you.
When you’re falling in a forest and when you hit the ground / all you need is for somebody to find you.
Song: Disappear
Performed by: Connor (Mike Faist)
Significance: Yet again, we're back to falling in a forest. The repetition of this theme of being found makes it more impactful every time it's brought up.
Have you ever felt like nobody was there / Have you ever felt forgotten / in the middle of nowhere / Have you ever felt like you could disappear / like you could fall and no one would hear?
Song: You Will Be Found
Performed by: Evan (Ben Platt)
Significance: Just like Waving Through A Window, every lyric from this song is pure gold. It's become an anthem for so many who struggle with the same things the characters in Dear Evan Hansen do.
Let that lonely feeling wash away / maybe there’s a reason to believe you’ll be okay / Because when you don’t feel strong enough to stand / you can reach, reach out your hand.
Song: You Will Be Found
Performed by: Evan (Ben Platt)
Significance: This lyric is so incredibly important. It encourages those who are struggling to reach out to someone and not keep their sadness to themselves. It reminds us that we can always reach out to those around us when we're having a little trouble getting through life on our own.
So let the sun come streaming in / because you’ll reach up and you’ll rise again / lift your head and look around / you will be found.
Song: You Will Be Found
Performed by: Original Broadway Cast
Significance: This time when we hear about the sun, it's almost like an invitation to let yourself feel the happiness. Or at least an invitation to feel hope that things are absolutely going to get better, and so are you.
It’s the hard way / but it’s the right way / the right way / to break in a glove.
Song: To Break In A Glove
Performed by: Mr. Murphy (Michael Park) & Evan (Ben Platt)
Significance: It's not about the glove. It's about a father who has lost his son and a son who has lost his father, healing through a conversation about a baseball glove. It's really not about the glove.
I don’t need you to sell me on reasons to want you / I don’t need you to search for the proof that I should / You don’t have to convince me / You don’t have to be scared you’re not enough.
Song: Only Us
Performed by: Zoe (Laura Dreyfuss)
Significance: For those who have struggled with feeling secure in their own value, hearing this can be very therapeutic. A reminder to stop and know: you are enough.
I never thought there’d be someone like you who would want me / so I give you ten thousand reasons to not let me go / but if you really see me / if you like me for me and nothing else / that’s all that I’ve wanted for longer than you could possibly know.
Song:
Performed by: Evan (Ben Platt)
Significance: On the other side, we have the feelings of the person struggling to remember their worth.
All the words that I can't take back / like a train coming off the track.
Song: Good For You
Performed by: Evan (Ben Platt)
Significance: Sun as everyone begins turning on Evan, the lyrics he sings show perfectly just how it feels when you can see everything in front of you falling apart, and reminds us again that Evan is just a nervous kid who got in over his head trying to find acceptance.
I'd rather pretend I'm something better than these broken parts / Pretend I'm something other than this mess that I am.
Song: Words Fail
Performed by: Evan (Ben Platt)
Significance: This one stings badly. Everyone knows how it feels to believe that deep down, there's something truly wrong with us and we're just putting on a show for those around us.
Because what if everyone saw? / What if everyone knew? / Would they like what they saw? / Or would they hate it too?
Song: Words Fail
Performed by: Evan (Ben Platt)
Significance: This. An explanation can't be given for how hard these words hit you when you relate to them.
I will never forget how you sat up and said / "Is there another truck coming to our driveway? / A truck that will take mommy away."
Song: So Big / So Small
Performed by: Heidi (Rachel Bay Jones)
Significance: This one stings. Imagining eight-year-old Evan wondering if his mother is going to have to leave, and imagining how completely and utterly lost his young mother Heidi must have felt in that moment.
Today is going to be a good day / and here's why / because today / today at least you're you and that's enough.​
Song: Finale
Performed by: Evan (Ben Platt)
Significance: And with this lyric, in the last two minutes the show is wrapped up with a quote so incredibly beautiful and comforting that it runs through my mind every day.
