Benj Pasek, Justin Paul, Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman (‘Only Murders in the Building’ songwriters) on the ‘fun, zany process’ of creating rhymes for ‘Which of the Pickwick Triplets Did It?’ [Exclusive Video Interview]
“It was a song that called out for as much writing and as many words as possible,” reveals Marc Shaiman of the epic tongue twister tune “Which of the Pickwick Triplets Did It?” This patter song at the heart of “Only Murders in the Building” Season 3 proved so complex that the initial songwriting team of Benj Pasek and Justin Paul felt compelled to recruit another writing duo, Shaiman and Scott Wittman, to help with the intricate rhymes. “It really was one of those more-is-more kind of songs,” admits Paul, “and so we all had a blast.” Watch the exclusive video interview above.
According to Pasek, the incredible “ambition” of this season spurred him and Paul to reach out to another writing team. “It felt like to us, what an amazing opportunity to get to work with people that we love and bring in a couple of other voices to help shape a score,” he explains. The goal was to create a sort of musical theater writer’s room and “bring some of the best of Broadway to this incredible show.” Shaiman and Wittman, who provided Pasek and Paul with their first ever TV songwriting job with “Smash,” were at the top of their list. “We called them up and they were like, we don’t know what that looks like, but sure, we’re interested,” remembers Paul. “And we were like, we don’t know what it looks like either, but we are a team and you’re a team and let’s see if the two teams can mash together and come up with something.”
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The tune they mashed together is the ultimate patter song. “Which of the Pickwick Triplets Did It?” is the eleven o’clock number within “Death Rattle Dazzle” that Charles-Haden Savage (Steve Martin) finds so difficult that he dissociates with reality every time he attempts to sing it. With lyrics such as, “I will name the neonatal from the cradle that proved fatal/I will find the perpetrator who did murder to their mater,” well, who could blame him?
Those intricate rhyme schemes might seem like a headache on paper, but it’s the type of musical puzzle that this quartet of writers lives for. “I can’t turn my shoe laces, I can’t make a plan. I can’t do anything,” exclaims Shaiman, “But to sit in a room and come up with lyrics and figure out inner rhymes and alliteration? That is just like mother’s milk. I mean, it’s just the greatest.” Their ideas were poured into a shared document where they could play around with language to find the Venn diagram where infant terminology overlapped with murder investigation lingo. They were soon finishing each other’s rhymes and phrases in what Paul describes as a “beautiful, fun, zany process.”
The number is teased throughout the season in several glorious failed attempts from Charles, before being presented in full during the “Sitzprobe” episode. Naturally Martin nailed the pacing. “The trick is, you could put a whole mash of words together, but if they’re not singable it just sounds like mush,” explains Wittman, “So it was very fun in that way. We knew it had to come out of Steve’s mouth at the end, and so that was sort of a great treat.” The songwriters all note that it was “incredible” to watch the actor pull off a flawless rendition of the wordy piece. “I think the quote that Steve gave was sort of like, ‘guys, I love the song. I’m thrilled to be done with it,’ says Paul with a laugh. “Makes sense. Understood!”
If Pasek and Paul win an Emmy for songwriting (or producing the series) in September, they will complete the EGOT. They would be the 20th and 21st people to achieve the difficult challenge of winning an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony (following the 19th person this past January: Sir Elton John).
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