Powder Song
Follow-up by Lukas Kendall
Wow, you guys are good! Last
Friday we printed the following question from a reader:
From: "Peter Daley" <petedaley@hotmail.com>
Goldsmith's Powder Theme Sung?
I was in a restaurant last week, and I heard a song that sounded
very familiar, it wasn't until the next day that remembered what it was.
I'm 99% sure that it was the Theme from Powder sung with lyrics by a woman.
Anybody know anything about this, it sounded really good?
Well over a dozen people replied! Thanks! Here's the info in a nutshell:
From: "Jon A. Bell" <joanjon@sirius.com>
The vocal version of the "Powder" theme is track 2 on
Sarah Brightman's album "Time to Say Goodbye" (Emd/Angel - #56511
- ASIN: B000002SMW.)
The song is called "No One Like You," composed by Jerry
Goldsmith (natch!), performed by London Symphony Orchestra with Sarah Brightman,
conducted by Paul Bateman.
From: Matthew.Perkins@ft.com (Matthew Perkins)
To answer Peter Daley's question on that oddly familiar tune he
heard sung in a restaurant: Peter is absolutely right, it was Jerry Goldsmith's
beautiful main theme from "Powder" which has been recorded with
lyrics by Sarah Brightman (the ex-Mrs Andrew Lloyd-Webber, who appeared
in the original staging of Webber "Phantom of the Opera" musical).
In fact, I was one of the lucky people who attended Goldsmith's two recent
concerts here in London with the London Symphony Orchestra during which
he conducted some of his music from "Powder", and he mentioned
Miss Brightman having recorded a vocal version of the theme - apparently
she heard the music from the movie and loved the theme so much that she
asked for lyrics to be written so she could sing it (she obviously has
impeccable taste!).
From: Stéphane Michaud <s.michaud@videotron.ca>
What your friend Peter Daley heard was indeed Jerry Goldsmith's
main theme from POWDER, sung in exquisite fashion with the lush sound of
the London Symphony Orchestra, on the very mainstream album TIME TO SAY
GOODBYE (Angel/EMI 5651129), by renowned pop soprano - and former Andrew
Lloyd Webber belle - Sarah Brightman. David Zippel, who worked on Disney's
HERCULES and the Goldsmith-scored MULAN, provided the lyrics, obviously
with the movie in mind... Actually, this spectacular vocal performance
of POWDER ("No One Like You", 4:46), apparently one of the best
kept secrets on the soundtrack scene, came as a complete surprise when
this CD came out 3 years ago: the credits for the song do not even appear
on the back cover, and the booklet features only the composers' names,
not even the movie! If you didn't buy the album, you could never know (and
it's puzzling to see that no one has publicized it much on the film music
Web so far!). Mind you, sung Goldsmith themes are such a rare commodity
these days! It would be interesting to learn if this was intended originally
to be in the actual soundtrack, and then rejected for whatever reason,
or just plain fancy on the singer's part.
As a matter of fact, la Diva Brightman definitely has a sweet tooth
for film scores, as on the same album, you will find her gorgeous renditions
of Patrick Doyle's HAMLET ("In Pace", the aria originally voiced
on the soundtrack by Placido Domingo), the Queen song "Who Wants To
Live Forever?" from HIGHLANDER, BILITIS by French composer Francis
Lai, as well as bits of classical music used in the movies DIVA ("La
Wally") and A ROOM WITH A VIEW ("O Mio Babbino Caro"). Her
latest offering, EDEN (Angel/EMI 5676924), also contains such gems as TITANIC's
"My Heart Will Go On" and Morricone's "Gabriel's Oboe"
from THE MISSION.... with Italian lyrics ("Il Mio Cuore Va",
"Nella Fantasia")! Miss Brightman's high-pitched, nasal delivery
might well be an acquired taste, but both CDs, mostly conducted and orchestrated
by our good friend Paul Bateman of SILVA SCREEN compilations fame, have
indeed a strange cinematic feel and, for people like us, are definitely
worth checking out.
From: "Kyle Beatty" <kyle_beatty@hotmail.com>
And here are some letters about related vocal versions of film themes:
From: Eric Aron <earon@javanet.com>
Subject: National Geographic Theme
I only remember the begining from high school...something like,
"Look at that fossil...it could be really old." I know it' lame,
but hey.
From: Bill Woods <BWoods@PeopleSupport.com>
I was told that there is a "Vocal" version of Jerry Goldsmith's
theme to "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" performed by Shaun Cassidy.
It's supposedly called "A Star Beyond Time."
I would love it if someone would confirm that tidbit!
I'm told that it does exist. Wow!
From: "Mark Hasan" <markh29@interlog.com>
I'm never good at remembering lyrics or plum dialogue from films,
but a few absurd theme songs certainly stand out. Available only on vinyl
from Colpix Records is the bizarre song to "The Victors", derived
from the main march in Sol Kaplan's otherwise vibrant score. Including
primo lines like "Victors! Hail the Victors! They're the flower of
the Nation's Manhood!", the song was recorded in 'Super Cine Sound',
and I've attached an mp3 version for your listening pain.
Another silly ditty is from "Sea Wife", a little-seen
Fox programmer, made during the days the studio maintained a British production
arm. Starring a very young Joan Collins as a possibly wayward nun, and
designed as another launching vehicle for the studio's latest starlet,
a chorus of chirpy voices play over the grand Fox and CinemaScope logos.
Once the Main Title appears, an overly excited young man (a neglected priest?)
sings the opening lines, "Seee Wife! Somewhere I'll find yooooo...",
and you, the poor viewer, immediate look for a water-proof waste receptacle.
Sadly, I've never found proof the song ever made it to record stores. Many
labels in the fifties released 78's of concocted theme songs from 'Major
Motion Pictures!'. I missed out on grabbing a beaten up copy of Pat Boone,
singing God-knows-what lyrics to Alfred Newman's "Anastasia"
theme song (on Decca Records), but I did grab a vocalization of Geroges
Auric's "Bonjour Tristesse" 'dance' theme. Though the original
RCA lp featured underscore, jazz, Latin & a Juliette Greco vocal of
the main theme, it did not feature this dumbed-down, WASP version; perhaps
the French knew better. Oh, the agony. Plenty of whistling, and insipid
"La-La's", performed at pitches even Newman knew damn well would
drive the normal man/woman/house pet into the garden shed.
Thanks everybody for writing. Now let's hear those distant memories
about weird vocal versions of film themes -- I love 'em!
MailBag@filmscoremonthly.com
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