SONGS OF THE HEART: Call Me By Your Name

It started with a marvelous novel by Andre' Aciman, about the powerful romance between two brilliant artistic talents during a delicious and never to be forgotten summer in Italy.  One of the pair was the 24 year old American graduate student, Oliver, who had received the envious opportunity of coming to stay as a guest and summer assistant to a renouned antiquities scholar who lived in a gorgeous villa above the ocean in the Italian Riviera, and the just over the Italian age of consent son of the scholar, Ilio, who was a very talented musician.

For Ilio, the summer routine of graduate students chosen to come from foreign places to become part of the family for six weeks while increasing their scholarly bona fides was a bit of a bore.  Mostly it meant that Ilio had to give up his normal bedroom in a wing of the villa so that the summer student could have it, and he had to move to a much smaller room down the hall.  However, he had a lot of friends and a girlfriend from France and the ocean was great and he always had the piano and his guitar.  So, life was good and about to become even better...much better.

The beginning days with Oliver there seemed like with all the other summer scholars, except that Oliver was a bit too self-confident (he had right away opened a bank acount in town and quite quickly became welcomed by the older gambling men and he even found a woman or two who had been immediately  drawn to him.  Ilio felt that Oliver was rather arrogant and too "American" in his self-assuredness.  Being self-assured, Ilio certainly was not.

But oh boy despite that rocky beginning in Ilio's mind, things did begin to change and while Ilio was in emotional and sexual turmoil to the the extent that only a young man can have, Ilio's ever-inceasing attraction to Oliver was unmistakable and urgent.  

It was so easy for the reader to fall right in step with Ilio's quest for Oliver, and it was so powerful and wonderful when Oliver finally revealed his mutual feelings toward Ilio.  It was all so beautiful and so powerful that I read this book three times, and even then couldn't quite put it down.  I had to read certain sections over and over again (the Rome section), and even now, several years after my reading that book, I  would stop and read the final five pages over again.  It never stopped grabbing me and my heart.

And this just wasn't me.  It became a very much loved movie, (which I saw two nights in a row, and then bought the movie to have at home)  starring Timothee Chalamet as Ilio, and Armie Hammer as Oliver.  Michael Stuhlbarg played the father, whose loving talk with Ilio nobody will ever forget.

For this SONGS OF THE HEART series I wanted to give the powerful background to the music I selected from the soundtrack.  To help generate that mood, which I think is so precious, I have here the movie's trailer:

Movie Trailer:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9AYPxH5NTM

 

Putting these selections together, I was surprised to see how many people have posted their own compilation videos from this movie.  He is one made by indigo ibex:

Elio and Oliver:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JXCJIbSC_w

 

This song is so bright and beautitul, young and full of promise.  Having a piano at this point is so appropirate, since Ilio, who is so shy to express his feelings for Oliver  in words, he can express via the piano, instead:

Song Title:  Halleluja Junction--1^stMovement

Composed and Performed By: John Adams

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEuVb-rNr0M

 

Ravel is one of my favorite composers and this was such a wonderful selection for this movie.  Luca Guadagnino, the film's director, said that whenever Elio would make progress in revealing his love for Oliver, echoes of this music would be played.  What I hear in this music is deep feelings, like the depth of the ocean, sunsets, falling stars, and the glistening of hope: 

Song Title:  Une barque sur l’oean (A boat on the oeon), from Mirrors

Composer:  Maurice Ravel

Performed By:  Andre Laplante  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkAnau-XU80

 

Thanks to the three creations used in this movie, Sufjan Stevens became a god to Call Me By Your Name fans.  I myself listened to his music every day driving my car to work for a month or more.  In this song, the love is in full swing and what I feel is a weight on the heart--not a burden, but a recognition of carrying that genuine love:  

Song Title:  Futile Devices (Doveman Remix)

Written and Performed By: Sufjan Stevens

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49jqVRaxfuA

 

When two hearts merge, no matter what, they are forever:

Song Title:  Mystery of Love

Written and Performed By: Sufjan Stevens

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0CP9zpbmAQ

Step lightly, delicately suffering the absence, hold gently your heart in your hand...this is real, you genuinely loved...that is a power!

 

Song Title:  Le Jardin Feerique (The Fairy Garden) from Ma mere l’Oye (Mother Goose)

Composed by Maurice Ravel

Performed By:  Valeria Svernvanszky & Ronald Cavaye

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Od8aFNaxJE8&list=PLM1rZjbS5GVrSxZSfqTabeInUWw0ePtry&index=16

 

"I have loved you for the last time"....and for all the times from now on....

Song Title:  Visions of Gideon

Written and Performed By: Sufjan Stevens

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O65N5WuQfSU

Silent movie theater, no word, just tears.

SONGS OF THE HEART: Sights

 Song Title:  Sights

Artist:  London Grammar

Link to song (version with lyrics):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxIymtM-xVU

Yes, I take requests!  A close friend of mine sent me this song, asking me to post it here, saying that it is such a beautiful song and extremely expressive of "what everybody is going through right now".  She wanted to share it with my readers.  I had not heard of this song or this musical group until listening to it today.  I could powerfully feel that what my friend had said was certainly true!  But it will be up to each individual to feel what aspect or aspects of their life this song resonates with.  This could be personal to you in perhaps a unique way, and that has nothing whatsoever to do with what somebody else feels from the song.  I, myself, felt it was applicable to a very current context, so I was surprised to realize that this song came out in 2015! What this song was resonating in me didn't exist until 2020, and now 2021!  I realize that a really good song of the heart is timeless and reverberates in both directions, toward the future and also back into the past.  See where in your timeline these feelings apply.

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

SONGS OF THE HEARTS: The Cure

The movie, The Cure, starring Joseph Mozzelo playing Dexter, a young boy who received AIDS from a blood transfusion, and Brad Renfro, playing Dexter's friend, Erik, was truly a work of the heart.   Dexter, newly moved into a town in Minnesota, plays alone in his backyard, because parents in the neighborhood are afraid that their children could catch AIDS from the boy.  But Erik's back yard is on the other side of Dexter's fence, so Erik is intrigued and talks with Dexter on his side of the fence.  Finally, he decides to just climb over the fence and the two become fast friends.

Here is the movie's trailer:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wV5UZ565o7s

They boys had a blast getting into all sorts of mischief, but always hanging over them is that Dexter has a  fatal disease.  They decide that they had a mission--to find a cure for Dexter's AIDS.  They try various potentially healthy foods, but found them unpalatable, so try things they liked, different kinds of candy, but that just make them sick.  Then they found a news article about a doctor in New Orleans who claimed to be able to cure AIDS.  That gave them a lot of hope.  Erik's mother decided to send her son away to camp for the rest of the summer, so the boys hatch a plan--they both would away by taking a raft down the Mississippi River to find the curing doctor in New Orleans.

So this becomes a more serious adventure and the friendship deepens considerably.  One of the most powerful scenes in the movie was one night they were camping on the ground near the river when Dexter has a nightmare.  Erik wakes him up out of the frightening dream, and Dexter explains that in his nightmare he was lost a million miles out in space all alone, but Erik tenderly sooths him by giving Dexter his track shoe to hold as he slept, saying that if he got scared again in the night, he could grab onto Erick's smelly old track shoe and realize that he wasn't alone, that Erick would be by his side.

The adventure becomes more precarous and then Dexter gets very sick, so in desperation, Erik telephones Dexter's mother and she says to immediately take a Grayhound Bus back home.  From then on in the movie, it is a tear-jerker, but one of those that cause you to remember that the greater the love, the more powerful the grief, which means that the greater the grief, the greater the love, a love that is  your emotional reward.

Dexter is put into the hospital and again the boys have their high jinks, such as Dexter would pretend to have died and Erik would go crying to an orderly or nurse or doctor, saying that the boy had just died, and when they came in to check the boy's vitals, he would suddenly jump and scare the wits out of them.  They thought that was hilarious!

But then, another of the most powerful moments in the film, Erik is awaked by the rain and gets up out of bed and looks out his bedroom window over at Dexter's house and sees over the fence and their toys are scatterd all around in the yard, memories of the times they had had together.  It's at that moment that Erik realizes that Derick really could die, for real.

A day or two later, they pull their death trick again, Erik got his fake crying going and then went out into the hall to find a doctor.  A doctor came in, put his stethoscope on Dexter's chest, and then again in a different place, signed, and pulled the sheet over Dexter's face.

************

In the funeral home, Erik came in to pay his respects, had a long private time with Dexter's body, and then spoke very kindly to Dexter's mother.  The actress who played her in all of her sceens was outstanding.  Dexter's mother hugged Erik and thanked him for having been such a good friend to Dexter, and she said she hoped Erik would come visit her from time to time.  He said that he would.  He then walked down the stairs from the funeral home and the mother saw him walking with a limp.  She went into the room where her son was lying in the open casket, and she saw that Erik had taken off his track shoe and put it into Dexters crossed arms.

Songs:  Ending Songs of The Cure:  The Funeral Home, and Down The River Ending Credits (Erik is shown at the nearby river where the boys had requently fished; he had floated his other shoe on the water that would flow its way down the Mississippi River to New Orleans)

Composer:  Dave Grucin 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GuU7twFs38

Here's a real life sad note:  Brad Renfro died of a heroin overdose in 2008 when he was 25 years old, 15 years after he played the part of Erik in the beautiful movie, The Cure.  Dear Brad Renfro, may you ever rest in piece.

SONGS OF THE HEART: Scent of a Woman

I was scanning the shelves of my video tapes when I saw one that I had really liked, the movie Scent of a Woman, starring Al Pacino and Chris O'Donnell.  I decided to watch it again, and realized that it is one of my very favorite movies.  I watched it with rapt attention with my heart filling up from the emotions coming from the screen.  And near the end of the movie, I realized that I truly loved the music, which powerfully resonated with me.  Unlike yesterday's offering, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, I could not just watch the ending over and over again to satisfy my yearnings, I'd have to continue watching the whole movie over and over again and that certainly wasn't practical.  I wondered if there was a soundtrack of it, and sure enough, yes there is, so I ordered it and now can listen to the music whenever I wanted to feel those emotions again.

3.  Song Title:  Scent of a Woman:  Main Title

Composer:  Thomas Newman

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

I hear in this song yearning and appreciation, the hopes of the young, and their ability to accept worthy mentors.  Charlie Simms, played by Chris O'Donnell (an actor that I like a lot), is a high school scholarship student from Oregon (considered to be hickish by his fellow students) attending an exclusive boy's private boarding school in New Hampshire, who hopes of getting into Harvard when he graduates.

One day, some boys do an RF on the disliked Headmaster's new Jaguar and a faculty member knew that there were two boys who saw who did it, a boy whose father was a huge donor to the school, and Charlie, who was there on scholarship.  Neither boy would rat out the perpetrators, so the Headmaster leaned solely on the more vunlerable Charlie, whose career the Headmaster held in his hands.  The Thanksgiving break was coming up, so the Headmaster said that once everybody was back, he would hold a campus-wide hearing in the auditorium during which Charlie would be tried by the school councel and if he continued to fail to cooperate, he would likely be expelled.

Most of the students were going skiing during the Thanksgiving break, but Charley was looking for a job during the breask so that he could earn money to fly back home to Oregon for Christmas.  He answered an ad that had been posted on the school's bulletin board, a position during the break for a home sitter/caretaker for a blind man.

Charlie went to the house and it was the man's sister who had placed the ad, she and her husband and two children wanted to go out of town during the break, but somebody had to take care of Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade (played by Al Pachino).  She took Charlie over to a separate dwelling on the property to meet the Colonel. He was a loud, angry, irascible man and it looked like the posting would be the job from hell. He tested Charlie like, "How is your skin, son, I like my men presentable".  Charlie reasonably felt that Cononel didn't like him, and felt that he should back out, but the sister begged him, to take the job, nobody else had applied, so Charlie relented and agreed to take the job.

It ends up that the Colonel had plans of his own regarding the Thanksgiving break.  As soon as the family had packed their car and were gone, the Colonel got Charley to him pack, they were going to fly to New York!

Here they will go on an adventure that will be life changing for both of them.  I hear that sence of power and grown in the music.  I have no idea what the title means, but I am guessing that "Ginch" is a fall guy and that the doers of the deed against the Headmaster's car are willing for Charley, whom they assume lives on the wrong side of the tracks and therefor are not "one of them" would be a good one to carry the Headmaster's wrath instead of them.  The fact that Charley is operating from a stance of morals does not enter their minds.

4.  Song Title:  Scent of a Woman:  Track House Ginch

Composer:  Thomas Newman

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7nHfmFdYNA

On the airplane and in New York, the Colonel wants to enjoy all the best things in life and on this jaunt, and is happy to treat Charley to an elegant hotel, the best food and drink (Charly can hardly grasp how expensive his hamburger is), tailored clothing, riding in a limousine.  And women...especially women.  the Colonel may have lost his eyesight, but he makes up for it by his nose and ears.  He can guess almost every detail of a woman just from hearing her voice and smelling her perfume or bath soap.  While he could be harsh and demanding of Charley, he becomes a pussy cat (in heat) when it comes to women.  All this is extremely appealing.

There is a very charming scene in a restaurant where there is an orchestra playing Tangos.  The Colonel determines that there is an attractive woman who is waiting for a male companion to arrive, but meanwhile, the Colonel would like him and Charley to keep her company, and she is intrigued.  Hearing the tango music, he asks the woman if she likes dancing the tango.  She says that she doesn't know how, so he offers his services...he can teach her.

The Colonel asks Charley to tell him the coordinates of the dance floor, which Charley outline for him, and then the Colonel takes the woman out on the dance floor and dance a tango to everbody's applause.

5.  Song Title:  Scent of a Woman:  Por Una Cabeza (For One Head)

Composer:  The Tango Project 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbK8Xpz0Xe4

 

During the Tango scene, Charley is coming to admire the Colonel and could see that he was really quite able despite his blindness.  However, the next day, things take a dark turn when the Colonel takes Charley to Thanksgiving dinner at the house of his brother and numerous other family members, who clearly wished that the Colonel had not come; the blood among them was very bad.  During the strained dinner, one of the relatives asked Charley if he wanted to know HOW the Colonel had been blnded.  They wanted to let Charley know that the Colonel was drunk and showing off, jugling explosives or someting and had foolishly caused his blindless himself.  This was meant to show to Charley that if he had any shred of admiration for the Colonel, he shouldn't have, since it was the Colonel himself to have caused his own career destroying malady, which they seem to see as fitting justice for his other bad characeristics.

But I say that if a person's foolishness or mistake is what caused their own handicap, doesn't that make the emtions for them even worse?  They have nobody to blame but themselves, but all that does is to increase your own burden of grief.

Finally they got out of there and the Colonel had one more pleasure on his agenda, this time the most important one at all.  He had asked his limosine driver (who would know) to set him up with the finest woman in New York offering favors.

The Colonel put on his best clothes and the limosine driver took the them to woman's street, parked, and the Colonel went into the apartment.  Both the driver and Charley sat there quietly and relaxed, waiting while the Colonel was having sex with the finest woman in New York.  The atmosphere seemed sacred.

6.  Song Title:  Scent of a Woman:  Tour of Pleasures

Composer:  Thomas Newman     

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AI38laIfnQE

 

When it was over, the Colonel came down like he was floating on a cloud.  He settled back in the seat and said, "What a beautiful woman."  Then the driver started the car and they drove down the streets of New York back to the hotel.  But the Colonel sensed something sad about Charlie and Charlie explained that as the trip to New York was close being over, he would have to face that assembly back at school.  He and the Colonel had discussed it earlier, but now that it loomed closely, it became a more urgent.  The Colonel said, "Oh Charley, why are you all alone on this?  What is your Dad doing to help you?  Charley explained that his Dad had abandoned the family when he was little, but now he had a step father and they didn't see eye to eye.  Basically, he was alone with this issue.

The next day, the mutual mood turned even darker.  The Colonel did not want to get out of bed and it became clear that now that he had experienced all his favorite pleasures he now had planned to kill himself.  This led to a read intense drama in which the young man took on the role of being the mentor for the older man.  The Colonel said that he had ruined his life and he no longer had any reason to live.  Charley said that he wasn't a failure, he was just in pain.  That he had much to live for.  They faught powerfully over the gun, which Charley finally got ahold of.

How do you make a person want to live?  The following song brings back the various themes, the Charlie theme of learning and appreciation and the hopes of youth, the great adventure of the Colonel theme enjoying and showing Charlie some of the good features of life, and the scent of a woman theme that is spread throught all of it.  Then near the end of the song, it comes like a sunrise, opening up the answer.  How do you make a peson want to live?  Love.  You love them.  And life will follow.

7.  Song Title:  Scent of a Woman:  45 to 25

Composer:  Thomas Newman

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbE8Wyi1ipE

 

There is more than I wrote about, this was meant to be about the power of the music, not to reveal every aspect of the movie (you might want to watch it!).  But the pair missed the airplane flight back to New Hampshire from New York (because the Colonel had expected he would be dead), so the Colonel decided to take them both back home in the limousine all the way from New York to New Hampshire, because Charley had to be on campus in time for the hearing in the auditorium.  The Colonel established with the limosine driver that next time the two of them went to New York, they would go there via that driver and his limousine.  The driver said, "It would be an honor, and I will give you a rate!"  I love the idea of the two of them going back to New York together, taking the big car the whole way.

They got there just in time for Charley to take a shower and then go to the auditorium.  What all goes on after that will be worth watching the movie for, but if Charlie saved the life of the Colonel, the Colonel also payed back Charley in a glorious climax to the film.   After the triumps for both, there was more "scent of a woman" to entice the Colonel and it is clear that a solid mutual friendship had been generated between the mutual "mentors".

It was very sad for me when the movie came to an end.  I wanted to keep seeing the two them.  I am glad I have the music.

In the End Title, I love the touch of the military drums.  The Colonel can be genuinely proud.

8.  Song Title: Scent of a Woman:  End Title

Composer:  Thomas Newman

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uSEqE7-4YM

SONGS OF THE HEART: Ending of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

2.  Song Name:  Ending of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg ("I Will Wait For You")

Music Composer:  Michel Legrand

Link to the video on YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ObVG9o2xWI

The much-loved French film, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, is a feast for the senses.  The entire dialogue is sung (in French, with English subtitles), which some viewers might assume would be off-putting or awkward, but don't let this unique format stop you from watching this movie, that has been described as one of the most beloved romantic movies of all time.  I felt that it was easy to quickly get used to this format and accept it as beautiful and fascinating.

Also, there was a gorgeous wash of colors throughout the film, in the clothes and the interiors of the rooms, and a coordination of them both.  One might want to watch the movie more than once, just to take in all the various aspects of the production.

The main theme of the movie and the music is the concept of "I Will Wait For You", in which a young and ravashing Catherine Denueve (Genevieve) and handsome and steadfast Nino Castrenuovo (Guy) vow eternal love for each other, but circumstances in life intruded to wreck that vow.  Among those circumstances, Genevieve's mother, who had financial issues, did not approve of Guy and hoped that her daughter would marry a man with money, plus she felt that the pair was too young to be in a love affair.  Guy was drafted into the Army and had to go fight a war in Morocco.  Guy and Genevieve had sex prior to Guy's departure, and Genevieve became pregnant.  The timing of the issues and their individual situations led to Genevieve's decision to chosing to marry a rich man who wanted her and was willing to accept and adopt her baby that had come from another man.  When after the war Guy came back home to Cherbourg, there was no sign of the Genevieve.  Genevieve's mother had sold her ailing umbrella shop and Guy found out from others that Genevieve had gotten married and moved away.

Guy was devastated and felt betrayed, and fell into a deep funk.  And if that wasn't enough, his aunt who was his caretaker and had a serious illness, died right after he got back from the war.  She had been able to stay alive throughout his absence until she could see him again.  Working there the whole time as a nurse had been a kind and beautiful girl (Madeleine).  With there no longer being the aunt to take are of, Madeleine said to Guy that now she should leave.  But Guy said that he did not want her go, and Madeleine revealed that she had always love him.  His heart opened and he realized what a wonderful person she was, and he fell in love with her.

Having this relationship with Madeleine now, Guy got himslf emotionally cleaned up and took the money he had when received when he was discharged from the army and put a down payment on a gas station, something he had always wanted to have, and build a business for himself.  He married Madeleine and she bore him a son.

A couple of years later, Genevieve on a driving with her daughter decided to take a detour through Cherbourg, where she hadn't been since her marriage.  She decided to get some gasoline, and stopped at the gas station that happened to be Guy's.  He goes out into the snow to service the car and the two see each other face to face for the first time since Guy had gone to Morocco. 

The music of this final scene is what I have chosen for this post here.  Tear-jerker?  Tell me about it!  It's an absolute soup of betrayal, sadness, regret, broken promises, lot dreams, what might have been...all this and much more.  And yet both of them had done well, were in loving marriages, each have a child, and were financially secure.  They both have good lives with good spouses.  I don't think that Guy was wishing he had Genevieve, and I don't think Genevieve was wishing she had Guy.  They both ended up with the lives they wanted, just not with each other.  But there is something painful about having loved somebody so much long ago but that you no longer have in your life, and cannot have in your life (for one thing, there is no place for your previous loved ones in the lives of your present ones).  So yes, despite having an abundance now, the loss of the previous is nevertheless an immense wound that can never completely go away.  As I have said countless times before, the larger the love, the larger the grief.  However, this also means that deep inside that grief is the power of that love.  So, when you feel sad, you also feel love.

This movie held such a grip on me that for several weeks after I saw it, every couple of days I would watch again the final two sections of the movie.  And even now, I still do so every once in a while.  Addicted to that experience of the grief that carries the love.  

  

    

   

SONGS OF THE HEART: Soldier In The Rain--March 1 2021

A couple of days ago, I got a letter in the mail from a very good friend of mine who lives in Sweden.  You all remember Sweden, don't you?  The country that did not lockdown their citizens, and apparently did very well health-wise compared against, say, California, which still isn't yet fully "open", but is quite close.  He tells me that the truth is that they did have lockdowns, but they weren't mandatory.  He explained that they trust their government (I am so glad that they can!) and the goverment trusts them.  So they left it up to the citizens to handle the situation however they felt best.  In a way that was  how it was here in the United States at the very beginning...American citizens who had travelled to China and had come back to the United States, if they had any symptoms, went to a hospital for two weeks.  I am not completely sure, but I think throughout the United State's history, when immigrants arrived after the long ocean voyage, they had a two-week lockdown in some approved facility, such as Ellis Island if they had arrived in New York.  That was to protect Americans from various potential diseases brought in from elsewhere.  Two weeks.  I always think of two weeks as the standard.  How did it ever become more than two weeks for citizens already living here?  How about more than a YEAR for people living where I do, in California?

Well, my friend said in his letter than now the county pandemic doctor in Vesterbotten, the the county where he lives in northern Sweden, proclaimed a mandatory lockdown on all the people living in his county.  Really?  Now?  After all that "trust" or last year?   He and his wife had hoped to go up to their new cabin in Lapland that they recently bought.  This is beyond the Arctic Circle.  They wanted to take in some good cross-country skiing, but now they can't leave their own county.  Lapland is even farther north than where they live.  Lapland is not, say, Stockholm, packed with people.  Does the doctor in Vesterbotten worry that they will spread to or from the raindeer?  Hey, Santa Clause delivered all those presents last Christmas!  The raindeer are healty; I know, because I got my presents, too.  I didn't see any alarming spike last December!

So now my friend and his wife are stuck at home; no much looking-forward to cross-country fun in the snow for them!  I thought that was really a bummer for them, but then I got busy with some things I needed to do at home, and turned on some music that could be heard all around the house, with wireless Rocketfish cordless transmission sending the music to the living room, the kitchen, the bedroom, and my office.  So wherever I am in the house, special music can catch me and sometimes stop me in my tracks.

I had chosen Dave Grucin's album of Henry Mancini music, called "Two For The Road".  You might have remembered from my music of last year that Henry Mancini is my all time number one favorite music maker.  Well, Dave Grucin is one of my favorite arrangers (and boy do I keep aware of arrangers!), so this album is a wonderful combination of the work of musical geniuses.

In the paragraph above, I said that the music can sometimes stop me in my tracks...and that can be even if I have been stopped in my tracks by that song before!  I think some songs will forever stop me in my tracks every time I hear them.  

Then the song "Soldier In The Rain" came on, with its two double notes at the very beginning, dun dun, dun dun (for some reason those grab me every time, meaning that the music says "hey, listen, something very deep and special is about to be played").  I was stopped, and quickly found a place where I could sit down and listen to the song deeply.  "Soldier In The Rain", and especially this version, requires that you sit down and listen, partially in homage to its consideration of soldiers, but because a song that beautiful and heartfelt requires rapt attention.  I will even let a tear or two call, why not, the song is just so precious, and Diana Krall's singing is just so special.  Her voice goes straight into my heart.

Listening to this, I remembered that in my friend's letter, he happened to reference a song in my last year's LockDown Musical Interludes.   I was reminded that he had really liked that series of songs.  For the past several months, I had been especially emotionally involved with several songs that I seemed to want to listen to almost every day.  There was something just so touching and meaningful to me that I couldn't stop wanting to hear them.   I decided that the time had come again to put forth another collection of special songs, this time a slightly different theme.  At first I thought of them as being sad songs, which happen to have a special meaning to me, but "sad" is off-putting and the point of those songs is not sadness, but love...very deep love.  And not a love for, say, one person, even though there could be that, too, but what I feel in most of them is a love for virtually everybody.  After a year of lockdowns and mask wearing and being separated from so many people that we all had cared out, maybe even lost people permanently, aren't we really sad, actually, and there is no shame in it.  But that sadness is because of your love. 

I am a very extroverted person, and I feel for more than a year now that I have been imprisoned in solitary confinement in a supermax prison.  Yeah, I can talk with people on the phone, correspond on the Internet, go shopping at the grocery store and maybe exchance a few quips with somebody whose upper half of their face peers at me with beady eyes, the lower half is invisible.  I may be smiling at people, but how do they know it?

I care about people and I like caring about them. I bet you are the same.  I think you feel like I do, that you can BUST out into the world and let FLOW that love that has been generating among your inner thoughts.  These songs are like a magic carpet that you can ride into your deams, and as you ride you are each moment manifesting the elements of what you are dreaming of.  The time will come when it really will exist, made by the strength of your heart.

1.  Song name:  Soldier In The Rain

Music Composer:  Henry Mancini

Lyricists:  Alan and Marylin Bergman

Singer:  Diana Krall

Link to the song on YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utDJYlnYBQ4

Liking Henry Mancini as I do, I have been obtaining every movie that contained Henry's music.  The movie of Soldier In The Rain was different than I had expectedit would be...its about two men in the army, one older man who seemed to know all the angles, played by Jackie Gleason, and a younger soldier who was enthusiastic but naive, played by Steve McQueen in a very different role for him.  The older soldier was a mentor for the younger one.  They had a very supportive friendship, which is sometimes hard for men to establish.  It seems that more often there is competition, instead.

I was surprised that the song was not a "theme song" that ran throughout the movie; in fact, I would have to watch the movie again to see is there even was any other music at all.  Throughout the whole movie, I kept waiting for that song to finally appear and when it did, I didn't think it was highlighting a particular event that seemed crucial or hugely meaningful.  But once the film was over, my realization was that the whole movie was about two men who loved each other, and by that I don't mean sexually, but a genuine love between people the way things SHOULD be.  How amazing to see that and how important it is and how many men have nothing like that at all.  They may have a powerful marriage, but endure a loneliness and pine for a connection with others of their own gender.  So really the song could have been placed anywhere in the movie, its meaning was everywhere and you feel that as the movie comes to an end.  Your may feel that there is a place in your heart that aches, that is like a bowl within you made to contain an expanse of love.