Song #509: "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" by Christopher Cross

Date: Oct 17, 1981
Weeks: 3

 

Oh, this is where the pop culture phrase "caught between the Moon and New York City" comes from? I didn't know. Seems like the song should have been titled that. The title "Arthur's Theme" tells me this is from the 1981 movie Arthur, and "Best That You Can Do" tells me nothing. What a terribly generic subtitle that is. So this song winds up as "that song from that movie". But the phrase "Caught Between the Moon and New York City" is so ridiculous, even if you've never heard it before you would guess it was a song. It would stand out.

I can't say that I've heard this song before. Maybe I have, but it never penetrated into the part of my brain that remembers things. It's really soft and unobtrusive, and the instrumentation is thin. I've noticed that for a time in the late 70s and very early 80s, there were several songs in this thin style, using plenty of instruments but not making a lot of sound with them. Billy Joel used this style to great effect on parts of songs like Movin' Out and "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me". But when the whole song stays thin, it doesn't really capture your attention.

I didn't expect to like this song. It's soft, it's slow, its sound is thin, it's from a movie I've never seen, and I haven't heard anyone exclaim the greatness of Christopher Cross as a singer. Also, it won the Oscar for Best Song over "The First Time It Happens" from The Great Muppet Caper, and Dudley Moore should never beat Miss Piggy at anything.

Despite all that, I kind of like it.

I don't know why. Maybe it's the nice sentiment expressed by the lyrics. Maybe it's just a pleasant sound with a classic pop song structure. Maybe I'm a sucker for a song that knows how to use a sax well, I don't know. Ultimately, it's just plain nice.

I do wonder if the performance could be better, though. Christopher Cross's voice strains sometimes, and while that early 80s thin sound isn't bad, I'm not sure it's the right fit for this song.

Now, usually I'll be the first to go looking for the punk rock remake (there's a punk rock remake of everything, especially in the YouTube era. See?) . But in this case, I wonder if it would be better to strip it down. Make it thinner. Here's the song played on just a piano, and I think it's actually more poignant and classy stripped down like that.

As for vocals, I think they should have picked a singer with a more impressive range. I could make a list of singers past and present who might have fit the bill, but I'd have a hard time proving any of them could do the song justice unless they had recorded a performance. So here's a performance of the song by Shirley Bassey, who may not be the best, but is an improvement over Christopher Cross.

My Verdict: Like it. Except for the instruments. And the vocals. Otherwise, it's pretty good.

Song #587: "Say You, Say Me" by Lionel Richie

Date: Dec 21, 1985
Weeks: 4

I guess my random generator decided to start me off in the deep end of 80s soft synth-cheese. This song makes no apologies for the synthesized sounds. "Boing boing boing", it says, "I sound nothing like an acoustic guitar and it's the 80s so you love it!"

I can't say I've followed Lionel Richie much. He sings okay, but his generally soft style is hard to maintain interest in. And I don't know what he's singing about here. "Say you, say me. Say it together. Naturally." Does Lionel Richie want "you" and "me" to be "together"? Naturally? I guess the gist is that everybody's lonely and looking for a friend, but like a lot of pop songs, you really have to dig through some silly lyrics to glean the meaning.

Then there's a climax of overly poundy 80s drums which leads to... nothing. The bland chorus starts over. Those drums promised a crescendo and failed to deliver. And we nap through verse 2 which just says the same thing. Everybody's lonely and it sucks.

Then the bridge happens, and it suddenly gets awesome. The synth falls away and a rock guitar and drums pick up. The tempo picks up and Lionel gets excited. "The whole world's got you dancin'." I'm not sure about the whole world, but these 20 seconds have me dancing. "Believe in who you are, you are a shining star!" Forget the thing about being lonely, we're all awesome as we are! Woo!

Then the bridge ends, and we're back in slow synth lonesome land. What the heck was that? It's like the song got bored of itself and decided to switch to a different song both by and about people that are way more fun. Fortunately, it ends soon after that, but not before the boring part can sap away all the goodwill the good part generated.

I wish they'd thrown out the rest of the song and just expanded that bridge to 4 minutes. I only vaguely remember hearing this song in the past, and I don't remember that bridge at all. I must have tuned out during the boring parts and completely overlooked the part that actually rocked.

Watching the video, this song must be from a movie based on the all the clips used, but I don't remember this movie, and the only person I recognize is Gregory Hines. I'm going to feel bad about forgetting this piece of 80s pop culture after I look it up...

White Nights, starring Gregory Hines and Mikhail Baryshnikov. I didn't know Baryshnikov made a movie. I don't remember this movie at all. What else...

Oh geez.

This song won the Oscar for Best Song.

Are you crazy, 1985? Most years, I would have let that slide. But 1985 brought us Back to the Future, which contained "The Power of Love" by Huey Lewis (#576 on the Number Ones list). That song was everywhere and it was awesome. At least "The Power of Love" was nominated. But people actually sat down to compare these two songs and somehow concluded that "Say You, Say Me" was better.

Then again, that 20 seconds of bridge was pretty awesome.

My Verdict: Don't like it. 20 good seconds doesn't make up for the rest.