Using the simplest of vocabulary and the most unsuspecting of tones, "anyone lived in a pretty how town" by e.e. cummings manages to expose humanity’s beauty and fatal flaws. The poem tells the story of a man named anyone who lived in a nameless pretty how town. "anyone" is lively and imaginative.

There is a woman, ironically named "noone", who loves "anyone" as though he is her everything. When "anyone" dies, "noone" is there to kiss his face and she, too, dies soon afterward, and their townspeople bury them side-by-side. "anyone" and "noone" shared a love that is larger-than-life, but everyone else seems so busy and consumed by their own petty problems that they fail to be touched anymore. They move on and soon forget about "anyone" and "noone". While all this happens, time passes, seasons go by, and the sun, moon, stars, and rain come and go, forever unchanged.

For this song, I wanted an atmosphere of unearthliness to permeate throughout the entire piece. The melody is unornamented, which represents the plainness of the story told. Intervals of fourths and sevenths recur throughout the song, and are inspired by the seeming randomness of cummings’ syntax and wordplay. I correlate some of the poem’s literary themes to the song’s musical motifs. For example, the the same four-measure pattern occurs every time the words “spring summer autumn winter” or “sun moon stars rain” appear. The piano accompaniment part imitates the sound of bells at “with up so floating many bells down”. There is a vague quotation of Wagner’s Wedding March in the song, which occurs at “someones married their everyones”.