A guide to all the songs in 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button'

Learn about the songs from Jethro Compton and Darren Clark's folk musical including "A Little Life", "Where E're She Looked at Me", and "The Moon and the Sea".

Julia Rank26 June, 2025, 09:00

Jethro Compton and Darren Clark’s folk musical musical The Curious Case of Benjamin Button has proven itself a real “little show that could”. The show received two runs at the Southwark Playhouse prior to its West End transfer in autumn 2024, where it won the Olivier Award for Best New Musical.

Based on F Scott Fitzgerald’s story of a man who ages in reverse, Compton and Clark have taken the concept and run with it, setting the story in a Cornish dreamscape where the whims of the natural world can make anything happen. Bring plenty of tissues – you’ll need them.

The show’s musical values are outstanding, earning Clark and musical director Mark Aspinall the Olivier for Outstanding Musical Direction. A real ensemble piece, the cast of actors, singers, dancers, and multi-instrumentalists work together as an organic whole and prove a real force of nature. Read our guide to the enchanting songs and be sure to book tickets ahead of the final performance on Saturday 11 October at 7pm precisely. Spoilers ahead!

Book The Curious Case of Benjamin Button tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk.

“Rag Ty Yw Tre”

“It’s often said that time and tide wait for no man and I suppose in this case, that’s still true. But in this case, a most curious case, time and tide behave a little differently.” It’s clear from the beginning that we can expect something very special from this enchanted folkloric world.

“The Western Wind”

It’s Tuesday 17 December 1918 and Roger Button is very excited as he heads into town while his wife Mary is in labour with their first child. The western wind blows in from the sea and the eccentric locals are getting on with their daily activities. It’s a day for the pub rather than a cup of tea – drinks are on Roger’s tab at the Pickled Crab. However, at 8:17pm, the baby arrives at the same time that something very strange occurs – water starts flowing in the opposite direction and time changes course. The “baby” arrives as an elderly man.

“The Kraken’s Lullaby”

Mary prays that Benjamin goes to sleep like the kraken, a mythical sea monster. However, Benjamin remains alive and, unable to process what has happened, Mary takes her own life.

“A Little Life”

Benjamin is confined to the attic and is informed that he hasn’t got long to live. However, he wonders what it would be like to “Live a little life / To feel a little bit of freedom / See a little bit of sea”… Ten years pass and Benjamin becomes younger and stronger. His fantasies become more ambitious: “I'd drink some sweet St Austell ale / And I'd weave a drunken trail / That ends the night in Bodmin jail / With some drunk Kernowek fools”. On 6 April 1929, Benjamin climbs out of his window and heads outside.

“The Pickled Crab”

The Pickled Crab pub is the heart of the village’s social life – it’s a bit overwhelming at first for the unsocialised Benjamin with all the music, dancing, and high spirits but it marks the start of his new life. It’s also where he meets vivacious barmaid Elowen Keene, “the only woman he would ever love”. He orders “just beer” (his first drink at the age of 59), which becomes her nickname for him.

“When E’re She Looked at Me”

This boisterous ensemble number is one of the show’s chief set pieces. Benjamin returns to the pub every Friday night for the next 204 weeks. He’s enchanted by with Elowen with “the gleam in her eye and the rose in her cheek / But she tied up my tongue so that I could not speak”. Elowen is similarly curious about this gentle, taciturn man.

“Matter of Time I”

Benjamin and Elowen might have remained on nodding terms indefinitely if it wasn’t for a complex chain of events on Friday 3 March 1933 instigated by a runaway sheep. In the evening, Benjamin ends up in a minor bar fight and requires medical attention from Elowen.

“The Moon and the Sea”

Elowen observes that Benjamin looks younger than he did when he first started coming to the pub and asks him for a “thought”. Their feelings develop as they sing about the relationship between the moon and the sea – they’re so far apart yet can come together when the moment is right.

“Will You Go”

Benjamin and Elowen are dissuaded from pursuing their relationship by his father and her mother (the midwife who delivered Benjamin). They decide to follow their hearts and elope. However, they’re unable to find each other and are persuaded that the other has got cold feet by their respective parents.

“Home”

Benjamin leaves to work on fishing boat The Salty Maid and he befriends the captain’s son “Little Jack”. It’s a very different existence for Benjamin: “If home is a place where man can be free / Then home is wherever we are”.

“To Be Cast to the Sea”

It’s now 1941 and Benjamin and Jack have enlisted in the army and are waiting to be sent to Normandy. Benjamin pens a letter to Elowen to be cast to the sea in a bottle. Chances are she’ll never receive it, but nothing is impossible.

“Shippin’ Out Tomorrow”

At a dance the night before sailing to France from Portsmouth, everyone is trying to seize a sense of joy while they have a chance. During the evening, Benjamin and Elowen miraculously meet again. They rekindle their romance and spend the night together.

“The Tide is Comin’ In”

Benjamin and Jack serve in the Battle of Normandy and, as a dividend of the night before, Elowen gives birth to a son, Locryn. It’s an idyllic time for the new family, though Benjamin is still unable to tell Elowen about his condition and has to dye his hair and add wrinkles. Their family is completed when their second child, a daughter called Lowen, is born.

“Matter of Time II”

On 31 January 1958, Benjamin collects Lowen at school and they take an alternative route home via the chemist so he can stock up on hair dye. Due to a series of unexpected events, Benjamin doesn’t notice Lowen slipping on the harbour wall; she falls and is tragically drowned.

“The Tide is Comin’ In” (Reprise)

Benjamin and Elowen mourn their daughter’s death. Elowen reveals that she knows Benjamin’s secret.

“Rollin’ Away”

Over the next five years, nine months, and 12 days, Benjamin travels the world to try to find a “cure” for his condition. He encounters numerous quack doctors who invariably leave him frustrated. He encounters Jack who is now a ship’s captain in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. But his friend Benjamin would be an old man by now and he’s sure that someone is playing a prank.

“A Glass Bottle”

Just as Benjamin is at his lowest ebb and attempts to drown himself, the glass bottle with his message to Elowen floats above his head.

“Home” (Reprise)

Benjamin resolves to return home to Elowen and Locryn and to live as honestly as possible: “If I carry on hiding for the rest of my life / What kind of life would that be?” His journey for answers is over.

“Time”

On 9 December 1963, Benjamin returns to Elowen, who tells him that she forgave him years ago. It takes Locryn longer to forgive. He moves into the children’s old room and he and Locryn both celebrate their 22nd birthdays. However, Elowen’s health is failing and they resolve to make the most of the time they have together.

“Anythin’s Possible”

Elowen dies on 20 July 1969, shortly after she and Benjamin watch Neil Armstrong walk on the moon on the television in her hospital room.

“The Last Part of the Journey”

Following Elowen’s death, a teenage Benjamin becomes a grandfather to Locryn’s daughter Lowen (after his late sister). He experiences unprecedented levels of energy. His 101-year-old father Roger finally sees his little boy at play and dies in his sleep the following day. Eventually, he reverts to early childhood and babyhood and dreams of everything that came before. On 17 December 1988, his remarkable life comes to an end.