Ranking My Top 10 William Finn Songs (From the Heart of a Devoted Fan)
by Chris Peterson, OnStage Blog Founder
There’s just something about William Finn’s music that hits me in a way most other stuff doesn’t. Maybe it’s how a single song can swing from hilarious to heartbreaking without missing a beat. Or maybe it’s because his characters don’t feel like “characters” at all—they feel like actual people I’ve met. Or am. Or dated.
He writes about love, death, queerness, family, illness, memory, and all the messy in-between parts of being human. There’s nothing polished or packaged—it’s raw and honest and weird and wonderful.
His melodies are all over the place in the best way—like your brain mid-spiral. And those lyrics? They’re specific and strange and so deeply felt. And then there’s his voice—if you’ve ever heard Finn sing his own songs, you know what I mean. It’s like being handed someone’s journal and told, “Here. I trust you.”
So here we go—my personal top 10 William Finn songs. I reserve the right to change this list tomorrow (or in an hour), but for now, these are the ones I keep coming back to.
Honorable Mentions (Because I’m Not Made of Stone):
“Love Me for What I Am” – an underrated gem from In Trousers.
“Set Those Sails” – a gorgeous, poetic closer from Elegies.
10. “Anytime (I Am There)” – Elegies: A Song Cycle
We’re starting with a song that ruins me. Every time. “Anytime (I Am There)” isn’t trying to be a showstopper—it just quietly sneaks up on you, settles into your chest, and stays there.
It’s about grief, yeah, but also about how the people we’ve lost never really leave us. They’re still around—in the air, in a glance, in a moment you didn’t expect. It’s tender. It’s simple. It doesn’t beg for your emotions—it earns them. When it’s sung with honesty (no extra drama, just heart), it’s pure magic.
9. “My Unfortunate Erection” – The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Okay, so yes—it’s hilarious. Let’s just get that out of the way. Finn’s funny, and this is him at his most unhinged. The title alone gets a laugh. But the thing is… it’s also kind of heartbreaking?
This poor kid gets eliminated from the Bee because puberty showed up at the worst possible moment, and now he’s trying to sing through the horror of it all. It’s awkward and mortifying and so deeply human. It’s adolescence in a nutshell: your body betraying you while everyone’s watching.
It’s one of those songs that shouldn’t work—but totally does. Somehow, Finn makes a musical number about a middle school boner feel oddly vulnerable. Of course he does.
8. “Holding to the Ground” – Falsettos
This one feels like standing in the middle of a storm and trying not to fall apart. Trina’s whole world is unraveling—there’s illness, fear, everything shifting beneath her—and somehow, she’s still trying to keep it together. That lyric, “holding to the ground as the ground keeps shifting,” kind of says it all. It might as well be the mission statement for Falsettos.
What I love about this song is how quiet it is. It doesn’t scream. It doesn’t demand your attention. It just tells the truth. And that truth—about holding on for your family, even when you don’t know how—is what makes it so gutting.
7. “Heart and Music” – A New Brain
If you ever need a reminder of why we make art, look no further. “Heart and Music” is the pulse of A New Brain, a show written after Finn survived a brain hemorrhage that nearly took his life. The musical is, in many ways, a meditation on mortality and creativity. But this song? This song is life-affirming joy.
“Heart and music / make a song / that’s strong.” It’s simple. It’s profound. It’s the kind of lyric that you carry with you. And when the full company comes in and it swells into a choral celebration? Goosebumps. Every time.
6. “I Have Found” – In Trousers
In Trousers doesn’t get talked about nearly as much as it should. Everyone jumps straight to March of the Falsettos, but there’s something really special about this early Marvin moment. “I Have Found” isn’t big or flashy—it’s soft, reflective, and just… honest.
It’s Marvin realizing, maybe for the first time, that no one else is going to define him. He has to figure out who he is, what he wants, and what it means to be true to himself. And that realization is kind of everything.
It’s not a showstopper. It’s not a mic drop. It’s just a guy starting to get it. And that’s what makes it so good.
5. “Sailing” – A New Brain
There’s something so pure and nostalgic about “Sailing.” It’s a memory wrapped in melody—a look back at a simpler time, before illness and chaos and hospital rooms.
This is Finn at his most lyrical. The gentle guitar accompaniment, the sense of longing, the slow realization that you can never quite go back to where you were—it’s all there. And it’s heartbreakingly beautiful.
“Sailing” reminds us of who we were before the world happened to us.
4. “Four Jews in a Room Bitching” – March of the Falsettos
If we were ranking purely based on joy, this might be number one. I mean… the title alone. It tells you exactly what you’re in for. And then the song delivers: it’s chaotic, neurotic, weirdly loving, and completely unhinged in the best way.
It kicks off Falsettos with this rapid-fire burst of character work—you instantly know who these people are, how they operate, and that it’s all going to be one big beautiful emotional mess. It’s funny, it’s tense, it’s deeply Jewish, and it dances right on that line between comedy and collapse.
And the harmonies? Ugh. So good. So weird. So perfect.
3. “The I Love You Song” - The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
There’s something about “The I Love You Song” that completely undoes me. It’s raw and heartbreaking and weirdly beautiful—all at once. You’ve got all this pain and longing and complicated family stuff packed into one soaring trio, and it just hurts in the best way. The way it moves between fantasy and reality, hope and trauma? It’s so human. Every time I hear it, I brace myself—and still cry anyway.
2. “What Would I Do?” – Falsettos
There’s a reason this is the final number of Falsettos. There’s a reason audiences sit in stunned silence after it ends. “What Would I Do?” is Marvin’s goodbye to Whizzer—and to the life they were just starting to build together.
It’s not overwrought. It’s honest. It’s full of grief, but it’s also full of love. The melody is delicate, the lyrics are spare, and every line feels like a punch to the gut. “What would I do / if I had not met you?” It’s the kind of question that doesn’t need an answer—only space to be asked.
This is one of the most beautiful expressions of love and loss in musical theatre. Period.
1. “You Gotta Die Sometime” – Falsettos
It might seem strange to choose this one as number one. After all, it’s blunt. It’s angry. It’s darkly funny. But to me, it’s quintessential William Finn.
It’s the rawest kind of vulnerability—the kind that doesn’t pretend to be brave, that doesn’t sugarcoat or wrap itself in poetic language. It just is. And that’s exactly what makes it perfect.