SONGS OF THE HEART: The Movie Hotel: Complete Soundtrack

I decided to go ahead and present here the complete soundtrack of the movie, Hotel.  So many of the songs on here are representatives of songs of the heart anyway, so there would be no reason to leave them out.

All songs are composed by Johnny Keating. 

Arthur Hailey was an author that I liked a lot in my youth, because his books took readers into the doings of various industries and also memorable movies had been made of some of the books, often with very good music.  Probably the most well-know book and subsequent movie was Airport, but there were also Wheels, The Money Changers, Hotel, The Evening News, Detective, The Final Diagnosis, In High Places (government preparing for World War III), and Overload (about a terrorist takedown of a California power grid).  The movies that I saw were Airport, Hotel, and The Money Changers, with Hotel having the most impact on me.  Hotel was released in 1967.

Hotel was later made into a series for television, starring James Brolin, Connie Sellecca, Anne Baxter, and countless popular stars of that era.  The television series ran from 1983 to 1988, with 115 episodes.  I had bought a box set of the entire series and during the lockdown last year, every single evening I would watch an episode of the series until I had seen all 115 of them.  I really loved it!  The people of the St. Gregory Hotel were my steady companions for nearly four months! There was lots of nostalgia in all that.  In Hailey's novel and in the subsequent movie, the luxurious hotel was situated in New Orleans, but for the televisions series, the hotel was situated in San Francisco, and the hotel that was filmed to be St. Gregory was the Fairmont Hotel.

I grew up and lived in the San Francisco Bay Area from the ages of 9 to 37, but now it has been quite a while since I have been there.  Watching Hotel night after I night, I remembered all the wonderful friends and loved ones and all the fun I had there and how beautiful it all was.  Now I feel that San Francisco is a mess.

Watching the television Hotel made me think back to the movie that I had seen in 1967.  I remembered that the St. Gregory hotel in New Orleans was outstandingly luxurious, where no guest request was too hard or bizarre to fulfill, where the rooms were elegant suites, and the food and drink top-notch...and if it is top notch food in New Orleans, you KNOW what in this hotel's dining room is going to be great!

After having seen 115 episodes of the television Hotel, I decided I wanted to buy a DVD of the original Hotel movie that I liked so much and see how it made me feel now.  I especially remembered a charcter in the movie, a thief, played by Karl Malden, and I remember really liking the theme music for him.  In real life, I hate thieves, I think they should be given the death penalty, in that I have been a serious victim of their burglaries three different times, but in movies I like the thieves.  Three of my favorite movies featured thieves that I LIKE, The Thomas Crown Affair (Steve McQueen and Faye Dunnaway version), The Thief Who Came To Dinner (Ryan O'Neal and Jaqueline Bisset), and The Italian Job (Mark Walberg, Charlize Theron).

But overall what I remembered was that there was something really good and much loved, that then had to come to an end and there was a sense of loss yet arrying somewhere in your heart the fond memories of that which had been so good.

This opening theme song already presents that kind of feeling--something good, but that maybe is on its way to a loss.  In other words, the nostalgia is baked in the cake.  But meanwhile, you will hear some elegance, sophistication, and happiness.

Song Title:  From Hotel:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQdwLWffifo

But no reason to worry about the future now...there is some fun to had so let's go! 

Song title:  Airport:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzaEeksE8Dg&list=OLAK5uy_l_h8yYVgM73kddZtUZpxSXtRxMppfyASg&index=3

 

A beautiful woman arrives in the hotel, but somehow seems to not be satisfied in her being, there's a mixture of utter beauty and discontent, is there some potential there?

Song Title:  Love Theme:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tGatD9PCOg&list=OLAK5uy_l_h8yYVgM73kddZtUZpxSXtRxMppfyASg&index=4

Key Case, as in a case filled with hotel room keys for a thief to use to obtain priceless jewelry from people like a Duchess!  I definitely did remember this character, played by Karl Malden.  Somehow I continued to carry his theme song in my head for 54 years without have heard it more than once in the movie!  How cool it is to now have it as a recording.

 

Song Title:  Key Case:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUSDrDKEoSs

 

Carrying that theme of time moving toward the ending of something, even the entertainment in the lounge seems to issue some warnings.  But only the hotel owner and his top manager knows that the hospitality industry is changing and large chain hotels are taking over, swallowing up more older fashined hotels that despite their quality cannot compete against the cut rate houses.

Song Title:  This Year;

Singer:  Carmen MacRae:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsD8MmHxzbc&list=OLAK5uy_l_h8yYVgM73kddZtUZpxSXtRxMppfyASg&index=6

But hey, this is New Orleans, one can have fun even in the midst of potental or actual hard ships.

 

Song Title:  Bourbon Street:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LesPzQBg-6Q&list=OLAK5uy_l_h8yYVgM73kddZtUZpxSXtRxMppfyASg&index=7

 

Sort of a marry-go-round feeling as the powers of a major hotel chain plan what changes they would would to the St. Gregory that would pull in for them more profits, but at a sacrafice to much of the soul of the glorious hotel.

Song Title:  Hotel Lobby:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvEqIda2SfU

The Duke and The Duchess, welcome guests to the hotel, seem to have some kind of a struggle going on, and yet their love for each other remains intact.

 

Song Title:  Duke and Duchess  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fQIbFwMd0k&list=OLAK5uy_l_h8yYVgM73kddZtUZpxSXtRxMppfyASg&index=9

 

I love how so many of the songs carry the main theme but are different enought in presenting different moods or circumstances.

Song Title:  Hotel;

Singer:  Carmen MacRae

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

 

Here's another happening in this movie that I have never forgotten, the semi-way crash of one of the  elevators and the painfully suspenseful rush to attempt to get the passengers out--yikes! 

Song Title:  Elevator:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuZuy8f8hTc

 

In the midst of tragedy and loss, a new door opens and a previous pottential for love opens and blossoms.

Song Title:  Jeanne and Pete:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Byu6T9Cafqs&list=OLAK5uy_l_h8yYVgM73kddZtUZpxSXtRxMppfyASg&index=12

 

Frankly, I never really liked New Orleans Jazz, but what this movie and its music helped me realize was that it is a heritage borne from the creation of a people who suffered extremely greaty, slaves sent down the river, New Oreans was the furthest "down the river" there was, so they had to devise a way to cope.  So the sound of New Orleans Jazz would be a sound that reflects the misery, but also uplifts with a  celebration in the  triumphant survival.  Despite woe, find the time to dance and forget the troubles for a time.  Then the coping play roles away and the final music is emotionally laid bare, almost exactly the song of the beginning, but this time its loss is clear.  Whatever greatness this hotel and its people were and had, that would be a loss and one needed to grieve, which opens up the awareness of the love that was there and that soothes the soul.

I found myself wanting to listen to the first song and the last song again every day for several weeks.  My heart craved it, and it made me feel enhanced by love.  

Song Title:  End Title:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xfmC_KdEvc&list=OLAK5uy_l_h8yYVgM73kddZtUZpxSXtRxMppfyASg&index=13