Light at the End of the Tunnel is the gospel-style finale number from the musical Starlight Express

Starlight Express

Starlight Express is a rock musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber , Richard Stilgoe and Arlene Phillips , with later revisions by Don Black and David Yazbek . The story follows a child's dream in which his toy train set comes to life; famously the actors perform wearing roller skates...

. The Company (all railway locomotives and cars) perform the number as a glorification to Steam

Steam engine

A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...

. The solo lines are taken by Poppa

Poppa

Poppa is a character from the rock musical, Starlight Express. He's a steam engine like protagonist Rusty and is the oldest train of all. Control introduces him as "Ramblin' Poppa McCoy". He preaches of the Starlight Express, a god-like figure that will help those who call on him...

, an old Steam Locomotive, (and Belle the Sleeping Car

Belle the Sleeping Car

Belle, the Sleeping Car is a character from Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Starlight Express. She is an old sleeping car, who once raced with Poppa, and, like her former partner, has fallen on hard times in her age. She races with Rusty in heat 2, however they are beaten by Electra and Pearl...

 before she was cut).

Lyrics

The lyrics, by Richard Stilgoe

Richard Stilgoe

Richard Henry Simpson Stilgoe OBE is a British songwriter, lyricist and musician. He is noted for clever wordplay as much as for his music....

, involve many clever plays on words related to the subject of Railway Travel.

There's a Light at the End of the Tunnel

There's a Light at the End of the Tunnel

The inside might be as black as the night

But at the end of the tunnel, there's a light

The title is an old saying, one of many inspired by the railway. Other's include 'On the Right Track' and 'Full Steam Ahead'.

Reference to James Watt

The lyrics include a verse and a chorus which pay respect the father of steam, James Watt

James Watt

James Watt, FRS, FRSE was a Scottish inventor and mechanical engineer whose improvements to the Newcomen steam engine were fundamental to the changes brought by the Industrial Revolution in both his native Great Britain and the rest of the world.While working as an instrument maker at the...

.

'It's the power of James Watt, the steaming Scot

'The man who watched the pot and said, "Hey, I've got

'A brilliant plot, when that steam is hot

'It seems to make a lot of power"

and later;

'Thanks James Watt (Thank you Mr. Watt)

'For watching that pot

Ein Licht ganz am Ende des Tunnels

The German version. The title translates as 'A Light at the very end of the Tunnel'.

The Megamix

The Megamix was added into the London re-write in 1992, and was added to the German production in 2003. It is an assortment of verses from 'Light at the End of the Tunnel' with lines/verses from other popular songs added in between.

Deletion of Belle

As the original material was written for two characters as a company to sing, it had to be altered dramatically when one of those characters was deleted. When Belle was cut, several different productions delt with the loss differently. The London show had Poppa sing the lines she sang in addition to his, and the company took the lines she sang in conversation. In early Bochum, the coaches took all of Belle's lines, and the revised version likened to the London re-write.

Recordings

• Lon Satton
  Lon Satton
  Lon Satton Born: 1929, Philadelphia. U.S.A., is an actor and composer mostly known in Britain.- Stage works : He acted in Bertolt Brecht, Kurt Weill, and Ian McDiarmid's musical, "The Three Penny Opera," at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London, England with Vanessa Redgrave, Joe Melia, Ronald...
  
  , P.P. Arnold and Company
• Lon Satton and Company
• Richie Havens
  Richie Havens
  Richard P. "Richie" Havens is an African American folk singer and guitarist. He is best known for his intense, rhythmic guitar style , soulful covers of pop and folk songs, and his opening performance at the 1969 Woodstock Festival.-Career:Born in Brooklyn, Havens was the eldest of nine children...
  
   and Company
• Carl Wayne
  Carl Wayne
  Carl Wayne was a British singer and actor. He is best remembered as the lead vocalist of Birmingham rock group The Move during the 1960s.-Early days:...
  
  , Fiona Hendley
  Fiona Hendley
  Fiona Hendley is a British actress and latterly Christian speaker, married to the former Manfred Mann singer and actor Paul Jones.-Musical and Acting Career:...
  
  , Jess Conrad
  Jess Conrad
  Jess Conrad OBE is an actor and singer from England.-Career:Having started his career as a repertory actor and film extra, Jess Conrad was cast in a television play "Bye, Bye Barney" as a pop singer...
  
  , Paul Jones
  Paul Jones (singer)
  Paul Jones is an English singer, actor, harmonica player, and radio personality and television presenter.-Career:As P. P...
  
   and Stephanie Lawrence
  Stephanie Lawrence
  Stephanie Lawrence was a British musical theatre actress.-Background:Stephanie Lawrence was born in Hayling Island, Hampshire, the daughter of a singer and classically trained dancer.She was from an early age close friends with another Famous Islander Peter Chilvers who in 1958 invented the...
  
  
• Ray Shell
  Ray Shell
  Ray Shell is an African American, film, TV and stage actor, as well as an author, director and producer. He is famous for creating the roles of Nomax in Five Guys Named Moe and Rusty in Starlight Express...
  
  
• Crimson Ensemble
• Carl Wayne
  Carl Wayne
  Carl Wayne was a British singer and actor. He is best remembered as the lead vocalist of Birmingham rock group The Move during the 1960s.-Early days:...
  
  
• The Sound of Musical Orchestra

Ein Licht ganz am Ende des Tunnels

• Trevor Michael Georges and Company
• David Michael Johnson and Company