The song, That Thing You Do, is performed--at least in part--ten times : in the garage (just the ending, original slow version), at the talent show, at the restaurant (partial), recording in the church (partial), on the radio, in Pittsburgh (partial), Columbus fair segueing into radio studio (partial), Wisconsin fair (partial), KMPC radio studio (partial), and the Hollywood Television Showcase. If you don't like the song, it's probably too many times, but since eight of the ten are just snippets, it works for me.
In the story, Jimmy originally writes the song as a ballad--a forlorn guy lamenting the love that he never had with a girl who is not even aware of his feelings. Done slowly, the words and mood of the song match. When sped up by Guy (who was clearly bored with the original version), the song becomes a dance-along party number. It's funny to see the girls in the audience at the television taping smiling as they dance and sing along to the song. This is not happy music!
This is one of the things that the movie-makers get right about 60s pop hits. The music to the Beatles' I'm a Loser is much to cheery for the lyrics. Strawberry Fields Forever was changed from a wistful song about childhood into a psychedelic ditty. The success of That Thing You Do (both in the movie and in 1996) is that--in the words of Mr. White--it's snappy. If you are not familiar with this song, here is a snippet:
The movie contains three other songs that the Wonders perform. A running gag consists of Jimmy's constant worries about the song that was the flip side of That Thing You Do--All My Only Dreams. This is another ballad (Jimmy's preferred style) along the lines of All I Have to Do Is Dream. He is worried that it didn't get the attention it needed during recording, while everyone else thinks it was fine, the implication being that no one else liked it that much. A partial performance is shown in the restaurant they perform in for a while. It is a fairly predictable song, but nice. Here is a snippet:
Also heard in the restaurant is a short bit of Little Wild One. This is oddest track. Not written by the team that created the other songs for The Wonders, it was written by the members of a band called Gigolo Aunts. It seems to have been written for the movie as the band's discography does not list them as ever having recorded it. The leader of Gigolo Aunts also wrote the music for Josie and the Pussycats and has written for other movies and TV shows.
Musically, it is a nice bouncy tune. Lyrically, it seems to me to be a bit of a spoof of 60's songs. It extols the virtues of a girl who is, shall we say, easy. Other girls tease, she pleases. In the chorus, the protagonist declares his feelings for his girl, but when he wants to get wild, he knows who to go see. Pop songs of that era never praised the girl who "puts out", though they might forgive her if she comes back. An odd choice for the movie. Here is a snippet:
The final song that we see the Wonders perform--and in its entirety--is Dance With Me Tonight. In the movie, Lenny is the lead singer and The Bass Player is quite animated in his on-stage performance. It captures the typical party song of the day. Here is a snippet:
There are two other songs that appear in the closing credits and soundtrack worth noting. First is a song credited to The Wonders called I Need You (That Thing You Do). With that parenthetical title, it makes me wonder if they had the movie title first and that this was an early attempt at a song to match. Though I love this song (it's probably my favorite of them all), it would not have been a good choice to be the title track. The electric twelve-string always works for me. Another snippet:
Last is She Knows it, credited to The Heardsmen. According to the story arc told in the final credits, this is a band that Jimmy formed after The Wonders that made three gold albums for Play-Tone Records. This was the original pun-name that Jimmy came up with for The Wonders before Faye came up with The One-ders. This song captures some the non-sequitors that existed in 60s pop music where in one breath the guy has the girl but in the next he still has to win her. There is a nice phasing effect in the bridge (probably too early for 1964, but cool nonetheless). Here is a snippet:
All of these songs are eminently listenable. Rather than buy the entire album (which contains stuff I'm not interested in), I just bought the six songs from Wal-Mart.com (I assume iTunes and others have it as well). If you like these snippets and this style of music, you might get these tunes for yourself.
No comments:
Post a Comment