On My Own - Les Miserables - Claude-Michel Schonberg

On My Own
(Claude-Michel Schonberg)

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On My Own
by Claude-Michel Schonberg

Poster On My Own

On My Own ” is a solo from the 1980 musical Les Misérables for the part of Éponine. Beginning in the key of D major, modulating to Bb major, then ending in F major, this is the most important song for the role of Éponine. In the song, she expresses her unrequited love for the character Marius, and how she dreams of being at his side but knows his love is for Cosette and not for her.
The solo did not exist in the original French show that opened in 1980. When the English version was written, the music for “On My Own” was adapted from the original French solo “L’Air de la Misère” which was sung by Fantine about her misery and suffering. In turn, Éponine’s original French solo, “L’un Vers L’autre”, was dropped in the English version. In the later 1991 Parisian version, the title was “Mon Histoire” (My story). However, “On My Own” has become one of the most famous songs in the musical, and Éponine one of its most popular characters.

Lyrics


On My Own

On my own
Pretending he’s beside me
All alone
I walk with him till morning

Without him
I feel his arms around me
And when I lose my way I close my eyes
And he has found me

In the rain the pavement shines like silver
All the lights are misty in the river
In the darkness, the trees are full of starlight
And all I see is him and me forever and forever

And I know it’s only in my mind
That I’m talking to myself and not to him
And although I know that he is blind
Still I say, there’s a way for us

I love him
But when the night is over
He is gone
The river’s just a river

Without him
The world around me changes
The trees are bare and everywhere
The streets are full of strangers

I love him
But every day I’m learning
All my life
I’ve only been pretending
Without me
His world will go on turning
A world that’s full of happiness
That I have never known

I love him
I love him
I love him
But only on my own

Songwriters: Herbert Kretzmer / Jean Marc Natel / Claude Michel Schonberg / Alain Albert Boublil / John Caird / Trevor Robert Nunn