This may be old news, but I was doing some research on Frank Sinatra songs for a friend's daughter's wedding and found that he sang a vocal version of the theme from "The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing" called "Dream Away."
Upon further research I found the lyrics by Paul Williams.
The song can be found on Sinatra's "Ol' Blue Eyes Is Back" recording from 1973.
Here's the lyric info:
(J.Williams, P.Williams)
[Recorded August 20, 1973, Hollywood]
Dream away, child; let your dreams run wild Or a lifetime of worries might claim you. Dream away, child; let your dreams run wild Or the years and the tears shed might claim you.
For the last time we have tasted love's sweet tears by the fire's glow. If our hearts are strong there'll be no long good-byes when it's time to go. But the strongest torch is sometimes broken As the deepest vows aren't always spoken, And the greatest wounds, we hide inside ourselves Where they never show.
Dream away, child, let your dreams run wild. Or a lifetime of worries might claim you. Dream away, child; let your dreams run wild Or the years and the tears shed might claim you.
When the Winter weds the Northern Wind The child they bear is snow. And the branches bow like worried bridesmaids But the trees will grow. Sun and Earth in time will come together, God will give us back our summer weather, But the mem'ries of that first sweet Taste of love pass away so slow.
Dream away, child; let your dreams run wild Or a lifetime of worries might claim you. Dream away, child; let your dreams run wild Or the years and the tears shed might claim you.
When there's no room left to live inside ourselves Do we dream away.
James, This song was also recorded by Paul Williams himself on an LP titled "Here Comes Inspiration" (A&M Records AMLH 63606) and conducted by John Williams himself. - JMM
Yeah, Sinatra's version ain't that bad, and is in fact better than the Paul Williams one, IMO. But the lyrics are a bit cheesy.
Any Williams fan should pick up the FSM release that couples his score with the rejected one by Michel Legrand. Both are very interesting, albeit different. There aren't any songs like "Dream Away" in Legrand's score, but there are some weird vocalizations (by Legrand himself) throughout.
I just listened to this CD again last week, and to the Legrand score for the first time. I liked JW's a lot, but I was quite surprised at how good Legrand's was! Weird, offbeat, but still, I liked it a lot.
Wow! I had heard this song slammed so often I never bothered to track it down (even at the end of the William's interview it is declared not the best from any of the 3). I've listened to it a few times now and got to declare myself the only all out fan of this - really simple and intimate and beautiful (especially away from the context of CAT DANCING). It may be totally Sinatra that sells it for me since his delivery conjures up a different movie in my mind than the one it was written for. It is never a surprise, as it is with all my favorite composers, that once you separate the images from the music, the music from Williams (and frankly the lyrics from Paul) has a much richer resonance than I first encountered. Now a fan.
