Wednesday, 5 April 2017

Songs About Actors

Guys, I'm still ill: my back absolutely hurts from these coughing fits, and I don't even have anyone for a decent back-rub, since my man's still in Paris. Sucks to be ill and alone, doesn't it?

So, I didn't have the stamina to present a proper post, but I did have the inspiration to present a playful post. You know that our main interests are music and films, so, I thought, why not put them together? Here are some of the most popular songs that refer to actors (on the title or inside the song).


Let's begin we the obvious ones, shall we? Kim Carnes' Bette Davis Eyes was one of the biggest hits of the 80s; it spent 9 weeks at the top of the charts in the US, and it also peaked at the top in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, South Africa, Norway, Switzerland, and Australia. It peaked at #2 in Canada and Austria, at #4 in Sweden, at # 5 in Ireland, and Belgium, and at #10 in the UK. The quirky lyrics, Kim Carnes special voice, and that slap-like percussion, all worked towards the song's success.


The other juggernaut doesn't include the star's name in the title, but rather in the lyrics. It's Candle In The Wind, one of Elton John's and Bernie Taupin's best songs. It's about Marilyn Monroe.

The song has a unique chart history; the original 1973 version was released as a single in the UK and peaked at #11. In the US it was the B-side to the #1 hit Bennie And The Jets. In 1986, a live version of the song was recorded in Sydney, Australia, and was released in 1987 on the album Live in Australia with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and as a single. In 1988, it reached #5 in the UK and #6 on the US Hot 100.

Then in 1997, after Princess Diana's tragic death, Elton, a personal friend, re-recorded the song with different lyrics, as a tribute to her, with the profits going to charity. The single peaked at #1 all over the world, and in 2007 the Guinness World Records stated that Candle in the Wind 1997 is the biggest-selling single "since records began", but that Bing Crosby's White Christmas has sold the most copies. The record of this version was produced by George Martin.

The best version is the first though, and this is the one we'll be listening to:


As an extra here's the live version from 1986:


Humphrey Bogart is very popular among song-writers: there are three songs about him that I want to present to you: one of my favorite songs of the 70s, Al Stewart Year Of The Cat, begins with:

On a morning from a Bogart movie
In a country where they turn back time
You go strolling through the crowd like Peter Lorre
Contemplating a crime

The song was a Top 10 hit in 1977 in the US, Canada, the Netherlands, Italy, and Belgium.


In 1982, Bertie Higgins had a US Top 10 hit with Key Largo. The song's lyrics plead with a lover to reconsider ending a romance the singer compares to that depicted by the stars of the 1948 film Key Largo, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. The glamorous couple is recalled in the lyric We had it all / Just like Bogie and Bacall / Starring in our own late late show / Sailin' away to Key Largo.


2HB is a song written by Bryan Ferry and first recorded by Roxy Music for their 1972 debut album, Roxy Music. The title is a dedication to the film star Humphrey Bogart (2HB = To Humphrey Bogart). In particular, the song references the Bogart classic Casablanca.


Elton John has written a song about yet another movie star: Roy Rogers, dedicated to the famous singing cowboy, is yet another outstanding track from Elton's masterpiece, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. Not surprisingly, there is another movie-related song in this album, I've Seen That Movie Too.


Clint Eastwood gained prominence as the silent cowboy "The Man With No Name" in Sergio Leone's amazing trilogy in the 60s. He starred in more successful Westerns, then cemented his reputation with the "Dirty Harry" movies, before giving us a number of great movies as a director. The Hollywood icon was given a tribute by the Gorillaz, a British virtual band created in 1998 by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett. Clint Eastwood was their first single, released in 2001, a Top 10 hit all over Europe.


20 years earlier, another cowboy star was celebrated in a UK Top 10 hit. John Wayne Is Big Leggy (1982) was Haysi Fantayzee's debut single and most successful hit. The song was a combination of political satire and sexual humour wrapped in nursery rhyme style lyrics. The protagonist, John Wayne, is having sexual intercourse with a Native American female. When Wayne's bandolier restricts their intimacy, she suggests he removes it. He refuses and suggests he sodomises her instead:

So she says to him - Take off that thing, It's getting right between us.
Now listen honey I can't do that, not even for you my sweetness.
Now Big John, if that's a fact, then how'd you propose we do our act?
If that's the way it's gonna be, get the hell out of my tepee.
Now speckled hen just stop your squawkin', Big Bad Rooster's doin' the talking.
I know a trick we ought to try, turn right over - you'll know why.

Jeremy Healy of Haysi Fantayzee said:

"It was an allegory for treatment of which the white settlers used, but on the Native American Indians. However, I wrote it like John Wayne having anal sex with a squaw. I thought this was hilarious!"


Another controversial song was Bowie's Cracked Actor (1973). One of the Aladin Sane's hard rockers, the song is about an aging Hollywood star in an encounter with a (male) prostitute, the chorus including various allusions to sex and drugs. The rumour mill indicated that the song was about Rock Hudson, but we'll never really know, will we?


A romantic lead in the 40s and 50s, Gregory Peck got a fitting tribute with Brownsville Girl, a song written by Bob Dylan and playwright-actor Sam Shepard. Brownsville Girl is an 11 minute epic that appears on the Knocked Out Loaded album (1986). This is an alternate version, because, you know, Dylan and youtube are like oil and water...


The 80s gave us a number of songs about actors: Great Ska band the Madness gave us this song in 1984, a #11 UK hit. It was called Michael Caine:


Also in 1984, girl group Bananarama had a Top 3 UK hit with the fabulous Robert De Niro's Waiting:


One of the earliest such hits came from a pre-Wizard Of Oz Judy Garland, 14 at the time. It was called Dear Mr. Gable (1938):


Doris Day is name-checked in Wham's universal #1, Wake Me Up Before you Go-Go:


Ms. Day is also name-checked in the Beatles' Dig It (the best that I could find is this alternate version):


One of the stars in the 60s, Lee Remick, got her own tribute by an important Australian band called The Go-Betweens. It was their debut single, in 1978.


Grace Kelly was treated to a #1 UK hit by MIKA, in 2007:


Duck Sauce was a duo consisting of American DJ Armand Van Helden and Canadian DJ A-Trak. Their most popular track was Barbra Streisand, a Top 3 hit in most of Europe in 2010:


The international sex symbol in the 60s was French actress Brigitte Bardot. Brazilian Jorge Veiga wrote this samba in 1960 to honor her. It became an international hit:


As a bonus, here's a version by Italy's greatest Pop Icon: Mina (in 1984):


In 1994 Malcolm McLaren created the album Paris: a view of this immortal city through some of its most enduring icons. He dedicates Paris, Paris to one of the most glamorous such icons, Catherine Deneuve, who also joins in.


A Greek Icon, Melina Mercouri, actually sings about herself in Melina Melinaki (1972):


Another Greek Icon, Aliki Vougiouklaki, sings Aliki's Song, a song written especially for her:


Marlon Brando was the biggest male film actor of the 20th century. He was also a sex symbol. There's no way there wouldn't be a couple of songs in which he is mentioned. David Bowie mentioned Brando in his huge 1983 hit China Girl:


Neil Young mentioned Brando in one of his best songs, 1979's Pocahontas. Here he is, unplugged in 1993:


We can't mention Brando without mentioning the two other Hollywood rebels from the 50s. Mongomery Clift's tribute is R.E.M.'s Monty Got a Raw Deal from 1992:


... While James Dean got his own in Rock On, a 1973 Top 5 hit by David Essex:


We have already mentioned tributes to Barbra Streisand and Doris Day, who were/are famous both as singers and as actors. We will close with two more who fit this description: Frankie, a #1 UK hit by Sister Sledge in 1985 was about, who else, Frank Sinatra.


Elvis Presley may not immediately come to mind when we talk about movie stars. He did, however, star in more than 30 movies between 1956 and 1969, and most were commercial hits. Not surprisingly, there are a number of songs to chose from. We won't play the two direct tributes that were recorded after his death, I Remember Elvis Presley (The King Is Dead), a hit in the UK, or The King is Gone, a hit in the US, because, frankly, they're both forgettable. Walking in Memphis (1991) by Marc Cohn, however, is a classic:


Here's A Century of Elvis (1997) by the very good Scottish Indie band, Belle and Sebastian:


Here's Blue Moon Revisited (A Song For Elvis) by the Cowboy Junkies (1988):


... And here's Calling Elvis by the Dire Straits (1991):


Finally, most of the above - and more, are mentioned in this #1 hit, an express history lesson of the second half of the 20th century. Here's Billy Joel's We Didn't Start the Fire:


29 comments:

  1. The Brigitte Bardot one was the best discovery here for me. :)

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    1. Thanks a lot Martin! The Mina version was a discovery for me too.

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    2. Also, as Martin reminded me in a FB conversation, there's also Serge Gainsbourg's Initials BB. Thanks Martin!

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPOYtC1n5bE

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  2. And don't forget this one. It's one of my favorite tunes by The Eagles:

    DqBdaZt3jas

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    1. You're right, of course, RM. The Eagles had a great song about James Dean.

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  3. Look at me, I'm Sandra Dee! What a great list, John. I will need to study it in more detail, but you only missed one "title" song that I was expecting to see: Milton Nascimento's "River Phoenix" (see link below). But in the "casual reference" category, I can think of dozens! So while we're on the subject of Bette Davis' eyes, let's move a little lower on the anatomy and heed these words from a certain Nobel Prize winning poet: "Cinderella / She seems so easy / It takes one to know one / She smiles / And puts her hands / In her back pockets / Bette Davis style" (Desolation Row"). Here's the Nascimento:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUGyvzUNyKE

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    1. Look at me, I'm Sandra Dee! is a great one, Alan, because it also mentions Troy Donahue (two in one). Desolation Row is also a great one, but you know how frustrating it is finding good versions of Dylan's songs on youtube. I must admit that I wasn't aware of River Phoenix by Milton Nascimento. I'm listening to it now and it's a great song. Thanks a lot!

      Also, I thought of another one: Science Fiction/Double Feature from RHPS. There are mentions of Dana Andrews, Janette Scott, Leo G. Carroll, and Michael Rennie.

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  4. "Andy, are you goofing on Elvis?" (One of the best lyrics ever written). Does "Becoming More Like Alfie" count? Then there's "When the Lights Go Out All Over Europe": "Doris Day could never make me cheer up / The way those French girls could." And "trying hard to look like Gary Cooper (super duper!)" I also like Recordman's "James Dean" - hadn't heard that in a while. Here's the Divine Comedy's geat tribute to French film on "Lights:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1BOOAAGw74

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    1. All extra worthwhile additions Alan, thanks! I'm especially happy that you like Divine Comedy too.

      Oh, and I just remembered another one: These Foolish Things and "The smile of Garbo" (in a more recent version it it substituted by "The smile of (Lana) Turner").

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  5. I've just thought of another: Peter Sarstedt's UK #1 hit Where Do You Go To My Lovely? (She talks like Marlene Dietrich...)

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  6. A fine group of Homos we are! No mention oof Vogue in 10 comments.

    Greta Garbo and Monroe!

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    1. Sometimes we forget the most obvious :)

      Also in 10CC's Somewhere In Hollywood, there is a mention of Jean Harlow.

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  7. As my friend Panos just reminded me, there's also the Bauhaus' song Bella Lugosi's dead.

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  8. Garbo also figures prominently in "Celluloid Heroes," as do Valentino, Lugosi, and Bette Davis: "Everybody's in Show biz / It doesn't matter who you are." Then there's Sheryl Crow's "Steve McQueen" and Shania Twain's "That Don't Impress Me Much" ("Okay, so you're Brad Pitt"). A personal favorite is Alcazar's "Crying at the Disco": "The golden years / The silver tears / You wore a tie like Richard Gere's." Here's one for your disco blog, John!
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CiOWcUVGJM
    I also mention Jennifer Lopez and Richard Gere in my song "Love is Here (and I'm Gone"). I'm just saying.

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    1. Great additions, Alan! Yours included :)

      It surprised me that I didn't find a song to name Paul Newman or Robert Redford. They were so hugely popular in their time...

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  9. I went looking for a song I once heard about Louise Brooks, and I found this article on the Huffington Post about Nathalie Merchant's "Lulu," which is a tribute to Brooks. The article also references a raft of other tribute songs and albums, including Rufus Wainwright's "All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu."

    Here's a link to the article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/thomas-gladysz/natalie-merchants-lulu-la_b_5349681.html
    Here's a link to Merchant's "Lulu": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYRyD-_iyQw
    And here's the song I was looking for: it's "Berlin" by Gosta Berling:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZquLHLK3iCA
    Both videos are stunning.

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    1. These are great songs Alan, but I believe that they refer to Lulu, the literary character that was immortalized by Louise Brooks in Pandora's Box, rather than to Louise herself. That's the reason that I didn't include them. For the same reasons I didn't include Don McLean's Magdalen Lane, which has a lot of mentions of Dorothy from the Wizard Of Oz. Although some of the mentions clearly refer to Judy Garland, as long as she's not directly mentioned in the song, I couldn't include it.

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    2. That may be true of the Berling, and it's certainly true of the Wainwright, but Merchant's "Lulu" tells a different story:
      "They said that Hollywood was
      never gonna be the same without you,
      still, you’re gone.
      How could we forget that face
      and all that silver, flickering grace
      that died with the silent age?
      When everybody knew your name;
      they all knew your name."
      The lyrics are from the Official Nathalie Merchant website. Here's the link:
      http://www.nataliemerchant.com/r/natalie-merchant/lyrics/lulu
      Lulu appears to have become a sort of shorthand for the actress who immortalized her.

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    3. I remember watching the film in the 80s and being surprised at how modern this silent movie felt like. Louise Brooks was outstanding. I think she stopped acting early on in her life. An interesting story nonetheless. Thanks for bringing it to our attention, Alan!

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  10. I did a little research and came up with the following songs that reference Paul Newman or Robert Redford:

    Paul Newman's Eyes - Dogs Die In Hot Cars
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    Goodbye Joe - The Monochrome Set
    The Hanukah Song - Adam Sandler
    I'm Saying I'm Sorry - Neil Diamond
    You Can Finally Meet My Mom - Train
    Misery Whip - Everclear

    All of the above reference Paul Newman. The songs below mention Redford:

    Coca Cola Cowboy - Mel Tillis
    Don't The Girl's All Get Prettier At Closing Time - Mickey Gilley
    I Don't Need Nothing You Ain't Got - Reba McEntire
    The Millionaire - Dr. Hook
    Hey Leonardo - Blessed Union Of Souls
    Cinema - Ice MC

    Odd that the Country & Western genre represents most of the Redford songs. Is it the Butch Cassidy effect?

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    1. With all the worthwhile additions you and Alan have come up, I feel that we've only scratched the surface of the subject! (By the way, Dogs Die In Hot Cars, what a great name for a band.) Since you seem to have your sources does either of you know of any songs about the two greatest movie actresses of all time, Meryl Streep and Katharine Hepburn?

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  11. Your wish is our command: "What Would Katharine Hepburn Say?" (which also mentions Spencer Tracy):
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWTynH7F7VU

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    1. Alan, you are an absolute darling! (In my best Katharine Hepburn/Philadelphia Story voice.)

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  12. Hi Yiannis - it's been a while!! First, I hope you are feeling better.
    Second, congratulations on this fantastic blog reaching one year - it has been a great success. Although I haven't commented in a while (very distracting year for me and my group of friends), I have been following along on a regular basis. My intention was to go back and comment on various entries since this is an active body of work.
    With regard to the current entry -- very entertaining! I would just like to add several more additions. The first is ABC - When Smokey Sings. Obviously about Smokey Robinson, but a few other singers are namechecked like Luther Vandross ("croons"), Sly Stone ("original originator"), James Brown ("screams") and Marvin Gaye ("innovator") -- "but nothing can compare When Smokey Sings."

    The other two are not as obvious from the titles. Diana Ross - Missing You was about Marvin Gaye and Elton John - Philadelphia Freedom was inspired by Billie Jean King. The title is a reference to her World Tennis Team at the time - The Philadelphia Freedoms.

    What a fun entry Yiannis -- and this was while you were feeling ill!!

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    1. Hello Martini, it's so nice to hear from you again! I have always hoped that early friends who at one point went silent, were somehow still following this blog and would be heard of again. It's a festive occasion, greeting an old friend. Thanks for all the nice and interesting things that you have to say and hopefully we'll be hearing from you more often. Have a great day!

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  13. I'm such a ninkompoop!! I was revisiting some examples and comments when I realized I misread the title of this entry 'Songs About Actors.' In my head I was thinking 'Songs About Famous People.' Oh well ��.

    Now on to something more serious. I know you were asking for suggestions regarding an upcoming focus on disco. I have a couple of suggestions that in my opinion are very important. The first is Sharon Redd. Although she wasn't gay (at least not to my knowledge), she has strong gay bonafides. First, she was one of Bette Midler's Harlettes. Second, one of her songs, 'In The Name Of Love' was huge in gay clubs. Incidentally, my #2 song for the 80s. Third, she toured in gay clubs. I was lucky to see her in a gay club called Bennetts in Scotland - my first gay venue. She had other big club records but unfortunately she left us too early as she died from AIDS-related complications in 1992.

    The second is Paul Parker. A stable mate of Sylvester at Megatone records out of San Francisco. He had a big club hit with Right On Target. But, my favourite record of his is his version of Time After Time. I heard it for the first time when he performed it live in Cherry Grove, Fire Island, at the famous Ice Palace in 1991. I instantly fell in love with it!

    Yiannis, you should research Megatone Records in general for your disco focus as it was the pre-eminant label in the late 70s/ early 80s focusing on gay and gay-friendly artists. Hope this helps and please ask me if you have any questions. I have a pretty good knowledge of disco and dance music of the late 70s/early 80s. ��

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    1. M421, the title confusion was no biggie, my friend. I was so happy to hear from you after all this time, that remarking about that would have been rather gauche on my part,

      On the other hand, your suggestions of Disco songs are invaluable. You not only mention the songs, but you also mention their gay connection, which is exactly what I want. I have copy/pasted as we speak all the info that you give me in my Disco file, along with suggestions by the Record Man and Alan. If you come up with any more, especially with an obvious gay connection like the above, please do write about it, in the comment section of any post that you feel like.

      I've never been to Fire Island, which is a shame. It would've been a great place to visit, especially in the 70s.

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  14. Fun post! I didn't see this one, but you may have mentioned it. Elton and George singing about all the famous women they want bang in Wrap Her Up. including Marilyn, Brigitte, and Marlene.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFBTpRmhIFo

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    1. Very happy to hear from you again, Snicks! You are quite right, of course, I missed including Wrap Her Up. Thanks for suggesting it!

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