Finishing the Hat: Collected Lyrics (1954–1981) with Attendant Comments, Principles, Heresies, Grudges, Whines and Anecdotes was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 2010. The book collects every lyric Sondheim wrote for his first eleven shows — from Saturday Night (unproduced until 2004) through Merrily We Roll Along (1981) — with extensive annotations in which Sondheim explains his choices, admits his failures, and articulates his principles of lyric writing.
The annotations are the book’s glory. Sondheim is merciless toward his own early work (the West Side Story lyrics he finds “embarrassing in their lack of individuality”) and generous in explaining why specific lines work or fail. His principles are explicit: lyrics must sound like speech, not poetry; they must serve character and dramatic situation, not display the writer’s cleverness; internal rhymes must not sacrifice clarity to sound; and every lyric must be singable — must work with the music rather than against it.
The title comes from “Sunday” in Sunday in the Park with George: the artist’s obsession with “finishing the hat” — getting the work right — at the cost of human connection. It is Sondheim’s defining metaphor for his own career: the perfectionism that produced masterpieces while isolating him from ordinary life.
Collecting Finishing the Hat
First edition (Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2010): Hardcover with dust jacket, illustrated.
Market values:
- First edition, fine/fine: $30–$80
- Very good: $15–$30
- Signed copies: $100–$300