Movie Song of the Week: “Bye Bye Life”

I have no idea whether or not the Angel of Death would look anything like Jessica Lange. In fact, the one woman in my life who looks anything like Jessica Lange actually saved me from a premature death back in 2004. But it says something about Bob Fosse's vision that Lange's performance as the Angel of Death in 1979's All That Jazz received an endorsement from priest/author Andrew M. Greeley of all people. And I kinda like it too -- though I would probably envisage my angel as looking more like Salma Hayek or Dolores del Río.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this week's number. Even if you disagree with Ms. Lange's performance, the song is still good.

Movie Song of the Week: “Everything Old Is New Again”

As you might have guessed from this week's very light blogging, this hasn't been one of my better weeks. So I can't help but post one of my favorite cheery numbers from 1979's All That Jazz in the hope that the goddess Ann Reinking and her follower Elzsebet Foldi might distract me from an otherwise inevitable pity party.

I hope you all enjoy it.

Movie Song of the Week: “Rich Man's Fugue”

From 1969's Sweet Charity, it's a song proving that even in the 1960s, people were parodying the dance styles of Baby Boomers. I would like to believe that Suzanne Charney -- the brunette girl with the ponytail -- went on to become a big star but unfortunately, she did not. But Ben Vereen became a big star, and you can catch a glimpse of him in the last third of the number. And of course, this movie's director -- dancer/choreographer Bob Fosse -- managed to become famous too.

I hope you all enjoy it.

Movie Song of the Week: “Big Spender”

And here's Shirley MacLaine's Charity Hope Valentine with the 1969 version of “Ten Cents a Dance.” Okay, I'll admit I like this song too and I can never have too many kind words for the choreography of Bob Fosse. Plus, this is one of my favorite songs from 1969's Sweet Charity, which was Bob Fosse's directorial debut. (There is one number I like better but I'll post it at a future time.)

I'm not too crazy about certain portions of this movie but I do own a copy on DVD so I obviously have some fondness for it. However, I'm still embarrassed by how old I was before I figured out what this song really meant. I mean, I got the obvious wordplay of lyrics like “hey big spender, spend a little time with me” right away when I was a kid but the more adult implications of the song just flew right by me. Which makes me wonder what today's children will make of today's music.

Anyway, I hope you all like the song.