Movie Music Monday – The Glenn Miller Story

I have featured this film before, but for a different reason. The last time was the anniversary of Glenn Miller’s Chattanooga Choo Choo becoming the first gold record. Today is for a much sadder anniversary.

It was on this day in 1944 that Glenn Miller’s plane disappeared somewhere over the English Channel. The incident remains an unsolved mystery. No wreckage was ever found. There are a few theories about what happened including bad weather causing the carburetor to freeze up, a fire on board, and even some sort of espionage.

In the film, Jimmy Stewart portrays Miller. It covers his early days in the music business in 1929 through his disappearance on this day in 1944.

Moonlight Serenade was released as an instrumental in May of 1939. It is often referred to as the song that first introduced the “Miller Sound.” What made his music unique is that many of his songs, including Moonlight Serenade, have a clarinet lead. Often times, the melody in most big bands would be done by the trumpet or trombone.

The song would become Miller’s signature song. Lyrics were added to the instrumental that were composed by Mitchell Parish.

In 2004, a jazz critic named Gary Giddins told the New Yorker, “Miller exuded little warmth on or off the bandstand, but once the band struck up its theme, audiences were done for: throats clutched, eyes softened. Can any other record match ‘Moonlight Serenade’ for its ability to induce a Pavlovian slobber in so many for so long?”

Movie Music Monday – Ocean’s Eleven

Happy 100th Birthday to the amazing Sammy Davis Jr.! There was really nothing that he could not do! He could play multiple instruments, he could dance, he could sing, he could act, he was an all around entertainer!

As a member of the Rat Pack, Sammy appeared on stage and in movies with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford. One of those movies was Ocean’s 11.

That’s right, the Rat Pack did the original version of Ocean’s 11. It was one of the first Rat Pack movies I ever watched. I loved it.

In the movie, a group of military buddies have a plan to rob the five major casinos in Las Vegas on New Year’s Eve. Their plan to do so is reminiscent of an episode of Mission: Impossible. It is one of the best of the Rat Pack films.

The song “Eee O Eleven” is performed three times in the film. It is the film’s theme song. The title is a reference to the craps phrase “Yo-11,” a bet on the dice coming up eleven, used to avoid confusion with a roll of “7”. The song was written by Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen and performed by Sammy.

You can hear it over the opening and end credits of the film, but Sammy also performs it in the movie itself.

Happy 100th Birthday, Sammy!!

Movie Music Monday – The Girl Can’t Help It.

It was on this day in 1956 that “The Girl Can’t Help It” starring Jayne Mansfield, Tom Ewell and Edmund O’Brien opened in theaters.

The movie was originally conceived as a way to build Mansfield’s celebrity, but it took on a life of its own and became a rallying point for young people, helping propel rock and roll into its unofficial “first Golden Age.” The unintended result has been called the “most potent” celebration of rock music ever captured on film. No doubt the cameos by Fats Domino, The Platters, Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran, Julie London and Ray Anthony helped with that.

The film was based on “Do Re Mi”, a short story by Garson Kanin. After seeing the adapted screenplay, Kanin did not approve of the new take on his story and requested his name be removed from the credits. Subsequently, director Frank Tashlin came up with the new title, The Girl Can’t Help It.

FUN FACT: The film the heavily inspired young, pre-Beatle John Lennon to be a rocker. The impact was so significant that, 12 years later, the Beatles took a break from recording “Birthday” to watch the film premiere on British television (Lennon had seen it in theaters).

The Girl Can’t Help It is the title song to the film, and was written by Bobby Troup. Little Richard recorded it and it was released in 1956. Fats Domino was originally supposed to record the song for the film, but the sessions fell through. The song has been covered by The Everly Brothers, The Animals, Led Zeppelin, and many others.

In the US, the song peaked at No. 49 on the Billboard Top 100 singles chart and No. 7 on the R&B Best Sellers Chart.

Songfacts.com sums up the song in this way:

“The Girl Can’t Help It” is about a young woman so attractive that she unwittingly captures the attention of every guy she passes. In addition to her siren-like sex appeal, there’s a distinctly incendiary element to her superpowers. She turns bread to toast with a wink of an eye and makes “beefsteak become well done” with a smile. She can’t be held responsible for the potentially dangerous effects of her fiery presence. The poor girl just can’t help it.

Accompanied by scenes from the film:

Movie Music Monday – Mrs. Doubtfire

It was on this day in 1993 that Mrs. Doubtfire premiered in theaters. Sally Field, Pierce Brosnan, and the late Robin Williams all starred in this funny, yet serious film. Robin Williams is SO good in this movie.

Desperate to see his children after a divorce, Robin’s character disguises himself as Mrs. Doubtfire, a nanny, to help with the kids. If you’ve never seen it, you really should. It is a fantastic film.

One of my favorite scenes in the film is when there is a montage of Mrs. Doubtfire doing various things while Dude Looks Like a Lady is playing underneath the scenes. Robin dancing with a vacuum or a broom is cinema magic.

The song was written by Desmond Child. Songfacts.com spoke with him about the song’s use in the film: “Desmond Child told us, “It’s funny, because they used that song in Mrs. Doubtfire, and then it was like every four or five-year-old child in America was able to sing that song. It was like; do you realize this is about a tranny?”“

Songfacts also shares:

While Aerosmith is a very heterosexual band, they were secure enough to sing about wanting sex with the “Dude” even after they discover he is a man. They weren’t concerned about their masculinity, but were worried about offending the LGBT community – they didn’t want to come off as jackass rock stars making fun of someone different.

Desmond Child was the one who pushed it through. He told us, “Joe (Perry) stepped in and said, ‘I don’t want to insult the gay community.’ I said, ‘Okay, I’m gay, and I’m not insulted. Let’s write this song.’ So I talked them into the whole scenario of a guy that walks into a strip joint and falls in love with the stripper on stage, goes backstage and finds out it’s a guy. But besides that, he’s gonna go with it. He says, ‘My funky lady, I like it, like it, like it like that.’ And so he doesn’t run out of there, he stays.

If you think about how far back that was, it was a very daring song to sing, and everyone went with it. It’s not like the polarized society we have now, because that was before gay people really started fighting for their rights and nobody cared about it and everyone thought that they could make fun of us. So they accepted the lyric, and not only that, went for it. (Laughs) I don’t know if anyone has looked deep enough into the song, but it’s a very accepting song, and it has a moral that says never judge a book by its cover, or who you’re going to love by your lover.”

If you’d rather just listen to the song – here is the official video from Aerosmith:

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!!

Movie Music Monday – Follow That Bird

A huge piece of my childhood premiered 56 years ago today.

Long before Elmo and all of the newer cast members, I sat in front of the TV watching Ernie and Bert, Kermit, Grover, the Count, and Big Bird.

In 1985, Big Bird and the rest of the cast starred in the theatrical movie “Follow That Bird.” Along with the cast, there were some big name cameos: Chevy Chase, Joe Flaherty, Dave Thomas, John Candy, Sandra Bernhard, Eddie Deezen, Sally Kellerman, and Waylon Jennings!

When my oldest son was about 4 or 5, he used to watch this movie all the time. One of his favorite parts was when Waylon Jennings shows up. Jennings is a farmer who gives Big Bird a lift in his truck. On the drive he sings Ain’t No Road Too Long. My boy used to sing along.

Thank you, Jim Henson for Muppets and Music!

Movie Music Monday – The Pink Panther

The great Peter Sellers was born on this day in 1925. He was a very funny man who is known for films like Dr. Strangelove, Being There, Murder By Death and The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu. He is best known, of course, for his role as the bumbling Chief Inspector Clouseau in the Pink Panther series.

The first movie of the series was called simply “The Pink Panther,” which was released in 1963. The soundtrack of the film featured Henry Mancini’s musical score, and the instantly recognizable theme song.

The soundtrack entered entered the Billboard Pop Album Chart on April 24, 1964 and reached number 8 on the chart. It remained on that chart for 41 weeks. The album and title song were nominated for the Grammy Awards for Best Album or Original Score and Best Pop Instrumental Performance.

The Theme from The Pink Panther was released as a single and it was a Top 10 hit on the Billboard Adult Contemporary Chart. It starts with a soft minor piano chord followed by a triangle and a jazzy percussion rhythm. It is the melody that almost everyone knows from the moment they hear it. The tenor saxophone is played by Plas Johnson Jr.

The theme was also used for the Pink Panther cartoon show.

The soundtrack was called one of the greatest film scores of all time by the American Film Institute. All it takes is one listen to understand why ….

Movie Music Monday – Goldfinger

Sir Sean Connery was born on this day in 1930. He has had so many wonderful roles in the movies. I loved him in The Untouchables, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and The Hunt for Red October (just to name a few).

Connery nailed it as Agent 007 – James Bond. He played Bond in 7 films: Dr. No, Never Say Never Again, From Russia With Love, Thunderball, Diamonds Are Forever, You Only Live Twice, and Goldfinger. He was the tallest actor to portray the character.

Shirley Bassey was asked to sing the theme to the movie. On Shirley Bassey’s website, she says about Goldfinger: “John Barry wrote the music. We were touring in England at the time and he was conducting for me. One day he said, ‘There is this new song for the James Bond film Goldfinger and we’d like you to do it. I know your rule that you will never listen to a song unless there are words. There are no words, I must warn you – there’s only the music, which I have done. And we’re waiting on the lyric.’ And because we had such a wonderful relationship on our tour I said to John, ‘Well, I’ll listen to it. I’ll break my rule.’ And thank God I did, because the moment he played the music to me, I got goose pimples, and I told him, ‘I don’t care what the words are. I’ll do it.’ And fortunately the words were great.”

Songfacts.com says: John Barry worked long into the night on the music. According to an article in the London Times, the next morning over breakfast, he played the opening three notes to his flatmate at the time, Michael Caine. The actor said bluntly, “It’s ‘Moon River.'” Barry swiftly added the three-note brass line to disguise the similarity.

Bond producer Harry Saltzman hated this and he took a lot of convincing to use this as the film tune. John Barry explained in his interview with NPR that Saltzman called it “the worst song he’d ever heard in his life,” but because there was no time to change it, he had to live with it.

I can’t imagine there being a better song for the film. It wound up being Bassey’s biggest hit!

Vic Flick, who was one of the top session musicians in England in the 1960s, played guitar on this track. He told the Daily Mail that Shirley Bassey originally struggled with this song: “Barry wanted this long note held,” he recalled. “He said to do it again, and she said she couldn’t. But then there was a rustling noise – and suddenly this bra comes over the top of the vocal booth. And then Shirley really let it go.”

Happy Heavenly birthday to Sir Sean Connery. Try not to be distracted by the voice of bra-less Shirley Bassey!

Movie Music Monday – Dirty Dancing

Today would have been Patrick Swayze’s 73rd birthday. So it’s only fair to focus on his movie hit – She’s Like the Wind from Dirty Dancing.

“She’s Like The Wind” is featured in the 1987 film Dirty Dancing in the scene where Patrick Swayze says goodbye to Jennifer Grey after their summer fling. He tells her, “I’ll never be sorry.” Her reply: “Neither will I.”

Swayze doesn’t sing it on camera, making it a rare case where the star of a film soundtracks his own scene.

Songfacts.com says that this wasn’t written for Dirty Dancing. Swayze wrote the song with his friend Stacy Widelitz for a movie he was shooting in 1984 called Grandview, U.S.A.

Swayze had the basic chords and the opening lyrics (“She’s like the wind, through my tree…”). They hashed out the song over the next few days, but it was rejected for the film. Two years later, Swayze was working on Dirty Dancing, and he played the demo of the song for the producers, who gave it the green light. They recorded a proper version with Michael Lloyd producing, and the song became a big part of the soundtrack, which sold over 30 million copies and spent 18 weeks at #1 in the US. It was the first song Patrick Swayze released.

The song was the third hit from the movie soundtrack. The film itself was released in August of 1987. The first single, “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” hit #1 US in November. The next single, “Hungry Eyes” reached #4 in February, and “She’s Like The Wind” landed at #3 later that month.

Songfacts.com says that Patrick Swayze was big into music, but there was far more demand for his acting than his singing. He did a duet with Larry Gatlin called “Brothers” for the soundtrack of his 1989 film Next Of Kin, and has two songs on the soundtrack to Road House, another film his starred in that year. His 2003 film One Last Dance also featured two Swayze songs on the soundtrack, but “She’s Like The Wind” was his only hit, making Swayze one of the more high-profile one-hit wonders.

Happy Heavenly Birthday, Patrick!

Movie Music Monday – American Graffiti

1973’s American Graffiti is a classic film known for showcasing many young actors and actresses who who go on to very big things. Featured in the cast were Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, McKenzie Phillips, Cindy Williams, Harrison Ford, and Suzanne Somers. The film is also known for its phenomenal soundtrack.

In the film, these tunes are often presented on the by the DJ, played by the legendary Wolfman Jack. On the soundtrack, there are actually some clips of Wolfman talking up some of the songs.

The soundtrack features 41 songs that were heard in the film. Sadly, they neglected to put Gee by The Crows on the album. It did show up, however, on a second soundtrack album. George Lucas said that each song was important to the scene of the movie it appears. His idea was that the characters are hearing the songs along with you and the music becomes part of the story.

Wiki states that “Lucas had to be realistic about the complexities of copyright clearances, though, and suggested a number of alternative tracks. Universal wanted Lucas and producer Gary Kurtz to hire an orchestra for sound-alikes. The studio eventually proposed a flat deal that offered every music publisher the same amount of money. This was acceptable to most of the companies representing Lucas’s first choices, but not to RCA—with the consequence that Elvis Presley is conspicuously absent from the soundtrack. Clearing the music licensing rights had cost approximately $90,000, and as a result, no money was left for a traditional film score.”

One of the songs that is featured on the soundtrack was first introduced to my by my dad. He and my Godfather loved some of the old blues songs and this was one of them – Fannie Mae by Buster Brown.

When my dad told me his name, all I could think about was Buster Brown shoes! He got his start in the 30’s and 40’s playing the harmonica in clubs and even made a few recordings. He moved from Georgia to New York in 1956. It was there that he was discovered by Fire Records.

Three years later (at 50 years old), he recorded Fannie Mae. He played the harmonica and “whooped” it up on the song. It became his first hit as it went to #38 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and #1 on the Billboard R&B chart.

Brown didn’t have a lot of success after this song. He did enjoy the renewed interest in his music in 1973 thanks to the American Graffiti soundtrack.

The song has been covered by The Rolling Stones, Jr. Walker & the All Stars, The Steve Miller Band, Canned Heat, Gary US Bonds, and Elvin Bishop. To me, no one can touch the original. I’ve been wanting to share this one for a while and Movie Music Monday gave me the perfect excuse. Give this gritty blues song a listen.