Song Meaning
Roxie Hart's declaration is a dizzying embrace of the modern era, a breathless catalog of excess and opportunity. The repeated exclamations – "good, isn't it? Grand, isn't it? Great, isn't it? Swell, isn't it? Fun, isn't it?" – create a relentless, almost manic energy. This isn't just contentment; it's an overwhelming immersion in the sensory overload of "nowadays."
The core tension lies between this ecstatic present and the chillingly brief caveat: "But nothing stays." This single line injects a profound unease into the otherwise jubilant atmosphere. The narrator revels in the freedom to "live the life you like," even suggesting a scandalous duality of commitment and infidelity ("marry Harry, but mess around with Ike"), yet this fleeting pleasure is framed by the certainty of its impermanence.
The lyrics masterfully use repetition to build Roxie's ecstatic state, but the true power emerges in the contrast between the cascading positive adjectives and the stark, simple truth that "nothing stays." This juxtaposition highlights a desperate attempt to seize and savor the moment, even as its ephemeral nature is acknowledged. The spoken "That's great, we'll be in touch" at the end further underscores this fleetingness, a polite dismissal that echoes the transient nature of the "nowadays" Roxie so enthusiastically celebrates.
This writing is effective because it captures a specific, intoxicating feeling of living for the moment, amplified by the perceived freedoms of a new age. The rapid-fire enumeration of pleasures and the insistent questioning of their goodness create an infectious, albeit fragile, joy. The abrupt introduction of impermanence, however, grounds the fantasy, revealing a deeper, perhaps anxious, awareness of time's passage and the inevitable fading of even the most exhilarating experiences.
