Murray Head - "Pity the Child"

How great is this song? It works just as well outside of the context of Chess as it does within it. Rice's lyrics combined with the melody that constantly escalates, and Murray's great use of dynamics always makes me well up. the timing of when Murray decides to sing the melody in a higher octave is perfectly timed.

I took the road of least resistance
I had my game to play
I had the skill and more the hunger
Easy to get away

Pity the child with no such weapons
Do defense
No escape from the ties that bind
Always a step behind
I never called to tell her all I'd done
I was only her son

Pity the child but not forever
Not if he stays that way
He can get all he ever wanted
If he's prepared to pay

Pity instead the careless mother
What she missed
What she lost when she let me go
And I wonder, does she know

I wouldn't call, a crazy thing to do
Just in case she said, who?

His performance of the song is way way better than any of the other singers who played that role later on

Casnoff's version is great too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEhojI1ghmQ

lmao the lead character's name is Frederick Trumper

He didn’t originally have a name iirc. Though pretty sure with Freddy T****er they were going for something reminiscent of Bobby Fisher, as quite a few details were taken from Fisher history.

Think you're correct, he was just The American

Are there other examples of musicals that were re-scripted to that extent over time? I remember having the London soundtrack as a kid, with Murray Head and Elaine Page, and then seeing a live production a few years later and characters had names and there were new songs, and I thought that was weird.