1. "Don't Cry Out Loud" was a pop song that was on the radio around the time of this show, so he's referring to that. 2. The two songs about New York and San Francisco won't work in the musical, because Dickens' book is about London and Paris. 3. Cliff Notes are short summaries (abridged versions) of novels with a study guide—they are used by students to help them understand a book better, although many students use them so they pass a test without having to read the actual book! 4. Joey is too stupid to know what "abridgment" means, or who Charles Dickens is.

1. "Don't Cry Out Loud" was a song that was popular in the 1970s when those characters would have been kids (about 20 years before the show). They all would have known it. The chorus goes: "Don't cry out loud just keep it inside. learn how to hide your feelings." (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCM7dViMX8Y) so Chandler was saying things that matched the lyrics from that song. (Also, that song would have been thought of as kind of silly and old-fashioned). 2. "A Tale of Two Cities" is a very famous book by Charles Dickens about the French Revolution. (it's slightly funny because that's a strange subject for a musical). Most people have heard of the book; many would have had to read it for school. So since Joey hasn't heard of it, it shows he's not very smart. The two cities in question are London & Paris (but again, it would have been silly to sing "London Calling" and "I Love Paris" because the play wouldn't just use two songs about the cities.) 3. "Cliff Notes" (it should actually be "Cliffs Notes" but everyone left off the first "s") is a company that printed short summaries of famous books (remember, this show was before most people had internet access). If you didn't want to read a 400 page book for a class, you could go to the store and buy a 20-ish page "cliff notes" that would tell you who the major characters were, what the plot was, what the themes were. There would probably be enough in the cliff notes to get a C+/B- on a test. (Here are the Cliffs Notes for A Tale of Two Cities: "https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/t/a-tale-of-two-cities/a-tale-of-two-cities-at-a-glance") 4. An abridgment is a short version of a book.

OK, my questions are below Q1.【Don't cry out loud】 is this ‘cry out loud’ the same as “read out loud”? or is there anything else amusing about it? coz the audience laughs when he says the line. Q2. 【New York, New York】, and 【 I left My Heart in San Francisco.】 what’s wrong with these two songs? since Ross says “I don't think you get to pick the cities. Mr. Dickens gets to pick 'em.” I figure Mr. Dickens used the other two cities in the novel, instead of New York and San Francisco. am I right? Q3. 【Cliff Notes.】is cliffnotes something that helps Joey better understand this literature? like a short book? Q4. 【abridgment. 】is also a short book right? ........ thanks very much for your help, and wish you a very happy day!