Welcome back to the Oscar Songs Project, where Roommate Joe and I revisit every Oscar-nominated song from 1980-1990.
Today’s entry, hosted right here on The Critical Condition, is for 1985 when Lionel Richie was America’s national balladeer.
(To see all the entries in the project, just go here.)
“Say You, Say Me” — White Nights [Music and lyrics: Lionel Richie] WINNER
Mark: So Taylor Hackford directed White Nights, Against All Odds, and An Officer and a Gentleman. Apparently, he was shadow king of 80s pop music. And good on him, because “Say You, Say Me” is just as good as “Up Where We Belong” and “Against All Odds.” Plus, it includes that really surprising bridge, where Richie strays from his lovely, mid-tempo soul for a few bars of hip-shaking hijinks. It shouldn’t work, but it does.
Joe: See, for me, “Say You, Say Me” is to Lionel Richie what “I Just Called to Say I Love You” is to Stevie. Only, all due respect to “All Night Long (All Night),” Lionel doesn’t have the career to tarnish that Stevie does. And while I can do my best not to blanch at the idea that this song can hold a candle to either “Up Where We Belong” or “Against All Odds,” I will at the very least say that nothing that Lionel Richie does in this song can keep me from confusing it with “Through the Eyes of Love (Love Theme from Ice Castles).” Fun fact, though: Taylor Hackford met his current wife Helen Mirren on the set of White Nights, and it’s hard to blame him when you look at just how beautiful she looked then (and, you know, now).
“The Power of Love” — Back to the Future [Music: Chris Hayes and Johnny Colla. Lyrics: Huey Lewis]
Mark: Thanks to their enthusiasm for saxophone solos and sherbet-colored sport coats, Huey Lewis and the News are forever trapped in the 80s, and even then, they were the kind of band that your mom liked more than your friends. But despite being painfully uncool, they could still knock off a soul-pop gem. I may never be brave enough to blast it out of my car as I drive down the interstate, but I will always get head-bobbing pleasure from the whiteboyfunk of “The Power of Love.”
Joe: “Painfully uncool,” yes. You could even say “dorky.” Or “square.” Or whatever else meant “lame” in 1985. But movie magic being what it is, the fusion of the uncool Huey Lewis and the News and the equally uncool Michael J. Fox (let’s face it) suddenly made everybody involved very cool for an entire generation.
“Surprise, Surprise” — A Chorus Line [Music: Marvin Hamlisch. Lyrics: Ed Kleban]
Mark: This song sums up everything that sucks about this movie. Whereas the stage musical of A Chorus Line explores the lives of Broadway dancers with raw, humanizing honesty, the film is painfully artificial, tarting up the source material with strained love stories and clunky choreography. Because, you know… you can’t trust audiences to just enjoy a story. You have to vomit glitter on it and hope they’re dazzled. Or you have to create a hackneyed disco song that sounds nothing like the rest of the score and pray that everyone boogies until they forget how crappy it is.
Joe: Holy ’80s training montage! This song is laughably out of place with A Chorus Line proper (though, as you note, Mark, not out of place in the movie). It’s so generic it’s generic. Song 2, Nomination 3.
“Miss Celie’s Blues (Sister)” — The Color Purple [Music: Quincy Jones and Rod Temperton. Lyrics: Quincy Jones and Lionel Richie]
Mark: Another nod for Lionel Richie, the Marilyn Bergman of 1985! Only, you know, with songs that are pleasing to the earholes. Although Margaret Avery plays Shug Avery, the sultry barroom singer who has an affair with the downtrodden Celie (Whoopi Goldberg), it’s actually Tata Vega who coos this slinky, sexy blues song. And damn if it doesn’t sound like a lost Sapphic classic from the heyday of Bessie Smith. This is one of those songs that might have faded into obscurity, but has thankfully been given a historical foothold by an Oscar nomination.
Joe: Ohhhh what a great scene in that movie. A greater musical expression of lip-synched homoerotic love would not be seen on screen until “The Crying Game.” I wonder if the song HAD been performed by Margaret Avery (rather, if the performer and singer had been the same person), the song might’ve had a better shot at winning The Color Purple what would’ve been its ONLY Oscar. Alas, it’s just a very strong nominee, capable of making Whoopi Goldberg blush behind her hands for years and years to come.
“Separate Lives” — White Nights [Music and lyrics: Stephen Bishop.]
Mark: Another number one hit from a Taylor Hackford movie, and the only hit for Marilyn Martin, who duets with Phil Collins, this song captures the sad reality of loving someone after you’ve broken up with them. It’s hugely emotional, but the production is just restrained enough to avoid cheesiness.
Joe: I think just-this-side-of-cheesy is about right. Of the two White Nights songs, I actually prefer this one. There are enough power-ballad elements (“Build that wa-aa-aaaaall!”) to keep me momentarily satisfied, and I’m kind of a sucker for the faux-dramatic thing Marilyn Martin does here where it sounds like her voice catches in her throat. That’s some Olivia Newton-John/Sheena Easton realness, and I like it.
Final Assessment
Mark: This is another strong year, full of songs I’d happily hear again. I could almost vote for “Miss Celie’s Blues,” but in the end, I agree with the Academy about “Say You, Say Me.”
Joe: Ironically enough, on this project that celebrates this category’s pop dominance in the ’80s, I’m going to make a very Aughts choice and go with “Miss Celie’s Blues,” the kind of within-the-story song that the Academy has been partial to lately. Of course, this compromise would not have been necessary had the Academy done the right thing and nominated Madonna’s “Crazy for You” from Vision Quest. An unforgivable oversight.
15 responses so far ↓
1 Guy Lodge // Jun 16, 2011 at 11:28 am
For me, “Miss Celie’s Blues” wins this one hands down, both in terms of songcraft and its role within the film. As you guys say, if it had been nominated today, it would have cruised to victory. (Incidentally, there’s an even-more-gorgeous cover version by Canadian jazz singer Molly Johnson. Check it out.)
I side with Joe on “Say You, Say Me” — Richie’s ballads have to be as epically kitsch as “Hello” to charm me, and this is just beige.
This series is becoming a daily highlight! Thanks, guys.
2 hansen9j // Jun 16, 2011 at 11:56 am
““Painfully uncool,†yes. You could even say “dorky.†Or “square.†Or whatever else meant “lame†in 1985. But movie magic being what it is, the fusion of the uncool Huey Lewis and the News and the equally uncool Michael J. Fox (let’s face it) suddenly made everybody involved very cool for an entire generation.”
Would you say that Huey Lewis made it “hip to be square”?
3 Roommate Joe // Jun 16, 2011 at 12:03 pm
BOO!
4 Mark Blankenship // Jun 16, 2011 at 12:08 pm
hansen97, I believe Joe meant to say “Boo-tiful!” Because that was the joke that obviously needed to be made there.
And Guy, I’m listening to Molly Johnson sing “Miss Celie’s Blues” right now. It’s fantastic. Thanks for the tip!
5 RJ // Jun 16, 2011 at 12:34 pm
I have no idea what White Nights is, but that’s what I love about this category. When you look back at past winners and nominees, there are so many, ‘What is this again?’ movies.
6 benvolio // Jun 16, 2011 at 1:47 pm
I have a soft spot (and three! of his albums -how’d that happen!?) for Stephen Bishop, so I have to go with Separate Lives. It’s the diffident, impotent longing that pulls me in.
RJ: White Nights is overlookable, but do yourself a favor and see it if only for the furious dance off between Hines and Baryshnikov. Those pirouettes! Eep!
7 Angie // Jun 16, 2011 at 2:51 pm
You guys, you know what I sincerely miss in overwrought pop ballads? Electric piano. Don’t get me wrong, the penny whistle’s earned it’s money with “My Heart Will Go On” and all of The Lord of the Rings movies, but the electric piano plays and I automatically start to feel sweet/sad nostalgia. Perfect.
Aaaaand that means the PC song is my pick, as it was yesterday, though I feel all kinds of conflicted, due to my great love for Sarah Bunting’s Girl’s Bike Club.
8 radishcake // Jun 16, 2011 at 3:53 pm
You have to vomit glitter on it and hope they’re dazzled.
This is my favorite line! Also so true!
I was so in love with Barishnikov I had a movie poster from White Knights. Ah the 80s.
I love this series. It’s been really fun to revisit these songs.
9 katy // Jun 17, 2011 at 9:42 am
Huey Lewis’s hipness or squareness aside, Power of Love should win this category. First, it’s an original pop song that is perfectly, PERFECTLY matched to the (much beloved) film in tone and pace and style. Second, it’s just a great pop song. I will fight anyone that says otherwise. You cannot listen to that song without bopping up and down.
I love Say You Say Me, too, but I could listen to Power of Love a thousand times and never really be tired of it. Truth be told, I think I did eventually wear out that cassette tape of the Back to the Future soundtrack back in ’87.
10 funtime42 // Jun 17, 2011 at 7:28 pm
Separate Lives would definitely get my vote among the nominated (Say You, Say Me is my least favorite Lional Ritchie song), but I must agree that Madonna nailed this one.
Slight Spoiler Alert
I watched White Nightsa couple months back with family – it had brilliant dance numbers surrounded by so-so drama, but that bit on the plane when he realizes where it is landing is memorable. Of course, it might be because I lived with the Cold War – my nephews didn’t understand the context of the panic…
11 Eric // Jun 20, 2011 at 7:04 am
I agree with Joe. I liked “Separate Lives” better than “Say You, Say Me.” And why wasn’t Madonna’s “Crazy for You” nominated? And what about Simple Minds “Don’t You Forget About Me”? And I would have chosen “Goonies ‘R Good Enough”, “Rhythm of the Night,” and “We Don’t Need Another Hero” before “Suprise, Suprise”
A few years ago, I was reading a book about some backstories of popular hits, and they included “St. Elmo’s Fire” (from the movie of the same name). They said that it was actually nominated for the Oscar (and “a frontrunner”) but was pulled out of the running (and replaced) because they found out that it wasn’t written for the movie…
I thought it was written for the film, so I would include it…
I wonder why the love theme from “St. Elmo’s Fire” (the version with vocals playing during the credits) wasn’t nominated…It’s a beautiful song, with some nice lyrics…a great duet, actually…
My top 5:
1) “St. Elmo’s Fire”
2) “Don’t You Forget About Me”
3) “Crazy for You”
4) “Love Theme from St. Elmo’s Fire (For Just a Moment)”
5) “Separate Lives”
12 Mark Blankenship // Jun 20, 2011 at 4:18 pm
Eric, you make a great point about “Don’t You (Forget About Me),” one of the best songs of the 80s, and hell, I’d nominate the Goonies song just to see Cyndi Lauper with an Oscar nomination on her resume.
13 Nick Davis // Jun 21, 2011 at 6:00 pm
I don’t understand the Simple Minds omission at all and prefer to believe it was discounted by a ridiculous technicality instead of an even-worse oversight. I’m not the biggest fan of “Crazy for You” and I want to know if “Into the Groove” could have qualified for Desperately Seeking Susan, because there‘s a cause to rally around. But I’d still have given it to Simple Minds. Or, among the existing nominees, “Celie.”
14 Nick Davis // Jun 21, 2011 at 6:02 pm
Note: Inside Oscar lists “Don’t You…,” “Crazy for You,” and “Into the Groove” as eligible but unnominated, alongside DeBarge’s “Rhythm of the Night” and Tina Turner rocking the hell out of “We Don’t Need Another Hero (Thunderdome).” But it also lists “Man in Motion” from St. Elmo’s Fire, so if that actually was disqualified, maybe [[shudder to think!]] Inside Oscar isn’t fully reliable?
15 Mark Blankenship // Jun 21, 2011 at 7:26 pm
Nick, don’t shake my faith in Inside Oscar! I need something to hold onto! But seriously: Why is the issue surrounding “Man In Motion” so complicated? Does anyone know John Parr?
Also… As your list demonstrates so well, the 80s were an embarrassment of pop-movie riches. If just ONE of the omitted songs from 1985 had instead been released in 2009, they’d have won. I hope.
On a related note: Have you seen my ranked list of all Madonna’s singles? I think you might enjoy it. Just click on the big picture of Madonna on the top left of the screen. I’d love to hear your thoughts on that list!
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