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“Life Is Happiness Indeed” (Candide 1974; 7:13) — Sondheim changed the headache-inducing lyrics of “Venice Song” and created a delicious trio.

“Soliloquy” (Carousel; 7:12) — When I was in high school, I made a list of the greatest songs in Broadway history. I put this first. Believe me, high school was a long time ago – and now, after literally hearing hundreds more scores and thousands more songs, I’d still put it first.

“Let There Be” (Children of Eden; 5:58) — Stephen Schwartz covers seven days of the world’s creation in fewer than six minutes.

“The Music and the Mirror” (A Chorus Line; 6:36) — For everyone who’s tried too hard during a job interview.

“Light on My Feet” (A Class Act; 5:08) — A memorial service for the late Ed (A Chorus Line) Kleban lightens up when he suddenly arrives and does some soft shoe.

“The Tea Party” (Dear World; 7:27) — No, it’s not THAT Tea Party but it IS a meeting of three crazy minds — and almost one dog.

“It’s Legitimate” (Do Re Mi; 5:02) — Phil Silvers, everyone’s favorite con-man, discovers that he can do just as well by going straight — straight to a good ol’ fashioned showstopper.

“Tevye’s Dream” (Fiddler on the Roof; 6:05) — It’s also known as — what’s his name? — “The Tailor Motel Kamzoil.”

“Who’s That Woman?” (Follies in Concert; 5:24) — That’s 112 more heavenly seconds than you get on the butchered original cast album.

“The Contract” (Gigi; 8:59) — Alan Jay Lerner’s final stunning lyric. Hear what must happen before “Gigi has fallen in love.”

“The Coconut Girl” (The Girl Who Came to Supper; 7:56) — A pre-Brady Bunch Florence Henderson is showgirl Mary Morgan, who does for a Prince Regent a one-person tab version of the terribly modern operetta in which she’s appearing.

“Don’t Follow in My Footsteps” (The Goodbye Girl; 5:11) — A mother’s stern advice has never been given in such bouncy fashion. But a happy melody was a Marvin Hamlisch trademark.

“History” (Goodtime Charley; 7:36) — Hal Hackady was able to condense 92% of The Hundred Years War in 1/6,570,000th of that time span.

“The Grand Parade” (Grand Hotel; 8:19) — Some Maury Yeston, some Robert Wright, some George Forrest — and some musical scene!

“Take Back Your Mink” (Guys and Dolls; 5:21) — One of the best trunk songs that just happened to fit the show. And what’s “Hollanderize,” you ask? Joseph Hollander had a company the dyed furs.

“Little Lamb” (Gypsy; 5:13) — “Wait,” you’re saying, “I know this song, and it isn’t remotely five minutes long.” No, not when Sandra Church sings it. But have you heard the bonus track that Merman recorded? Yes, Merman — although it’s not her song in the show. Maybe it was The Merm’s revenge for not getting to record Call Me Madam with the entire original cast.

“Let Me Entertain You” (Gypsy 1973 revival; 5:33) — It’s simply a song on the original cast album, but it becomes a genuine musical scene on the Angela Lansbury recording. We go from Wichita, where Louise starts out slow to strip, to city to city and culminate in New York, where Gypsy Rose Lee is now the star of the show.

“Brotherhood of Man” (How to Succeed 1995 revival; 5:51) — Frank Loesser, who’d written Broadway’s best 11 o’clock number with “Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat,” eclipsed it with this joyous romp.

“Nobody’s Perfect” (I Do! I Do!; 5:50) — After a few years, marriage gets a little difficult, doesn’t it? And yet Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones apparently come down in favor of the institution (interesting word, no?), for they allotted seven more seconds for Michael and Agnes’ optimistic opening sequence.

“Children Will Listen” (Into the Woods; 5:11) — Has such a cautionary tale ever had such a beautiful melody?

“Comedy Tonight” (Jerome Robbins’ Broadway; 6:29) — Also truncated on the cast album. Hearing it here is more fitting, because Robbins himself suggested the song be written — and because it includes every note and word Sondheim brought to it.

“On a Day Like This” (Juno; 6:39) — Can money buy happiness? Yes — but only to a point.

“Elena” (Kean; 6:00) — One of the most beautiful songs to feature a woman’s name. If this show had become well-known and this song better heard, thousands of 53-year-old women today would have the name Elena.

“The Small House of Uncle Thomas” (The King and I 1964 revival; 8:25) — Or if you really want the whole megillah, 13:43 on Jerome Robbins’ Broadway.

“Where You Are” (Kiss of the Spider Woman; 5:10) — A sizzler from one of the great interpreters of Kander and Ebb (and, for that matter, everybody else): Chita Rivera.

“The Best of Times” (La Cage aux Folles; 5:33) — It was, too, for Jerry Herman was still writing for Broadway.

“The Saga of Jenny” (Lady in the Dark; 5:34) — Risë Stevens delivers the song that allowed Gertrude Lawrence to trump Danny Kaye’s Tchaikovskian ace.

“The Country’s in the Very Best of Hands” (L’il Abner; 5:16 ) — Rarely do we find satiric political commentary in the middle of a hillbilly hoe-down.

“Deep Down Inside” (Little Me; 5:04) — Dickens needed an entire book to convert Scrooge; Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh did it much faster with Mr. Pinchley.

“A Weekend in the Country” (A Little Night Music; 6:41) — You know Sondheim needed more than a weekend in Turtle Bay to write this gem.

“Mame” (Mame; 6:17) — Here’s even better motivation than “Hello, Dolly!” for celebrating a great woman. Dolly gets it from nostalgia; Mame earns it from staying on a bruising bronco during an entire fox hunt.

“All Things Bright and Beautiful” (Marry Me a Little; 7:54) — Hear the way Follies was originally slated to begin.

“Bobby and Jackie and Jack” (Merrily We Roll Along; 5:11) — Sondheim was already fifty-one at the time, but he perfectly captured the wit, style and youth of the satiric songwriters who burst upon the scene in the early ’60s.

“Hymn to Hymie” (Milk and Honey; 5:04) — In Jerry Herman’s next show, Dolly simply implored in dialogue for her late husband to allow her a second marriage. Here Herman gave us the same situation but in song.

“Scenes from an Italian Restaurant” (Movin’ Out; 6:53) — All right, Billy Joel has never paid homage to perfect rhymes, but, my, can he write music!

“The Duck Joke” (My Favorite Year; 5:02) — Hear Tony-winner Andrea Martin try to teach a woman with no sense of humor how to be humorous. The only listeners among you who won’t like this song may well have no sense of humor, either.

“Three for the Road” (New Faces of ’52; 5:23) — Three songs that really stink — purposely — mock the type of losers only heard in such places as Philly, Boston or Baltimore.

“Where-Has-My-Hubby-Gone Blues” (No, No, Nanette; 5:41) — Tony-winner Helen Gallagher delivers a torch song with a torch so bright and scalding that it makes The Statue of Liberty look like a Matchgirl.

“Sextet” (On the Twentieth Century; 6:17) — Tony-winner John Cullum is a down-on-his-luck director- producer who’s trying to get a signed contract from the woman he discovered and put on the road to stardom. In the middle of it, Madeline Kahn gets a good solo.

“Slaughter on Tenth Avenue” (On Your Toes; 11:04) — You may have noticed by now that I haven’t been including overtures, for I’ve wanted to center on songs with lyrics. But in the case of this masterpiece, I’ll make a masterful exception.

“One Small Girl” (Once on This Island; 6:20) — TiMoune belongs to everyone!

“Falling Slowly” (Once; 5:02) — The Oscar-winner makes a fine finale.

“Chrysanthemum Tea” (Pacific Overtures; 7:18) — A mother can only be patient with her slug of a son for so long before she feels compelled to kill him.