Movie Music Monday – Tommy Boy

Happy 81st Birthday to Lorne Michaels! He has won 24 Primetime Emmy Awards. He has 112 nominations, holding the record as the most nominated individual in the award show’s history. He is best known for Saturday Night Live, but he has also produced some very funny films, including Tommy Boy.

There are some really great songs in the movie, but I chose Superstar by the Carpenters because of the scene it is played. If you are not familiar with the movie, Chris Farley and David Spade are off on a road trip intending to sell enough brake pads to save the company they work for. Whether they are on the road or making a sales pitch, things don’t go well. In one scene, they are driving along when Superstar plays. we eventually see them cry their eyes out listening to this song, which is the pay off to a great set up.

The Superstar was written by Leon Russell and Bonnie Bramlett. It is about a woman who falls for a rock star, has a tryst with him, but then in a bout of delusion awaits his return, apparently falling for it when he said he loved her.

A young Bette Midler started performing the song later in the year, and Richard Carpenter heard the song for the first time when Midler performed it on The Tonight Show. Richard knew it could be a hit for the Carpenters, so he reworked the song in their style and recorded it, resulting in the most successful version.

“Superstar” was recorded by Karen on her first take, singing the lyrics that had been scribbled by Richard onto a napkin. It took a while for Karen to warm up to the song. “For some reason that tune didn’t hit me in the beginning,” she recalled in a 1981 interview. “It’s the only one. Richard looked at me like I had three heads. He said: ‘Are you out of your mind?’ When I heard his arrangement of it I fell over, and now it’s one of my favorites too.”

Here’s the scene from Tommy Boy

Happy Birthday, Lorne!!