“Half a Moment” Examines an Interrupted Love Affair

“Half a Moment” is one of the few serious songs in the musical comedy “Jeeves.” Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber composed the music and Alan Ayckbourn wrote the lyrics.

“Jeeves” tells the story of Bertie Wooster, an impetuous young man, and of his steadfast butler Jeeves. The musical is based on a series of novels by P.G. Wodehouse. “Jeeves” opened in London’s West End in 1975, but it was beset by problems, including a running time of nearly four hours. It closed after only 38 performances.

In 1996, Lloyd Webber and Ayckbourn decided to have another crack at “Jeeves.” They changed the name to “By Jeeves” and wrote an almost entirely new score, retaining only three songs from the previous version. “Half a Moment” was one of them. The revival received a more enthusiastic response and ran in London from 1996 to 1997 and on Broadway from October 2001 to December 2001.

“Half a Moment,” which tells the story of a broken love affair, originally garnered little attention in spite of its delicate music and astute lyrics. People only began to take notice of it when Sarah Brightman — Lloyd Webber’s second wife — recorded the song on her 1989 album, “The Songs That Got Away.”

“Half a Moment” describes a love affair that ends in the heat of passion. What’s more, it implies that the lovers know the affair is doomed, much like couples battling a terminal illness know that their time together will, of necessity, be short. The song begins,

“Half a moment

We are together

I shall want no one else

And nothing new.

Half a moment

I shall treasure

Keep it locked away

For some future rainy day.”

Credit: news.booking.com

These lyrics seem to suggest that even half a moment may be enough if it is spent mindfully with the right person. Still, it is difficult to lose someone during the first bloom of love, and the song also acknowledges the bitterness of loss and grief.

In the end, though, the message is a hopeful one, pointing out that a lost loved one remains present in our hearts and minds. As Alfred, Lord Tennyson famously said, “It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.”

“Time looks kindly

On fleeting lovers

They can turn briefest hour

Into a day

Turn a moment

To a lifetime

Making it to last

Blending future with the past.”

In the lyrics, “blending future with the past,” “Half a Moment” grasps the importance of moving forward with life without forgetting our past loves. This can be a difficult balance as it is easy to get stuck in one’s grief or to refuse to acknowledge the love at all.

Stuck improbably into this musical comedy, “Half a Moment” teaches an important lesson about fully enjoying lovers in the moment and not banishing their memories when they are gone. It is one of Lloyd Webber’s most profound and overlooked works.

If you would like to read the full lyrics, you can find them here.