The Stars of Stage and Screen: Song #41/250…The Entire Original Motion Picture Soundtrack to the Film The Big Chill

This post marks the fortieth anniversary of the release of the Lawrence Kasdan directed movie called The Big Chill. Prior to making this movie, Kasdan had developed a reputation in Hollywood for directing blockbuster action movies such as Star Wars. But when it came time for his next project, Kasdan wanted to try something different. Instead of bombs and battle scenes, Kasdan opted for a much quieter film that examined the nature of the lives of Baby Boomers. Kasdan believed that many audience members, being Boomers themselves, would relate to characters who looked like them, had many of the same life experiences as them and had reached a stage in their lives when taking stock of how life had gone was a common enough thing to be doing. The Big Chill starred an ensemble cast of popular actors of the day and cast them in roles that audiences could identify with. For example, Kevin Kline and Glenn Close are presented as a seemingly stable married couple. Tom Berenger is a handsome actor who was questioning his creativity and the value of his craft. Mary Kay Place plays a career woman who is feeling the call of motherhood. JoBeth Williams is a married woman who feels as though she had settled for a version of the fairy tale that she thought was real life but isn’t really happy with how it has all turned out. William Hurt is someone who hasn’t really settled into anything at all and is drifting. He masks his unhappiness with drugs and alcohol. Jeff Goldblum is a journalist who bemoans the lack of real journalism out there and the nature of most people’s attention spans. What brings these university friends back together for the weekend that the movie takes place is the death (by suicide) of their friend named Alex. As the characters tell it, Alex was one of the gang back in their university days. His death causes each of them to speculate about how he had been living during the past decade and what it was exactly that caused him to view suicide as a suitable response to the state of his life. Consequently, the act of analyzing Alex and his life leads each of them to do the same with their own lives over the course of 48 very dramatic hours spent in each other’s company. Some movie critics found the navel-gazing drama of this group of thirty-somethings to be excruciating, and as a result the movie received very few four-star reviews. However, the film struck a chord with viewers. The Big Chill was nominated for many Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. The success of a film about thirty-somethings discussing the minutiae of their lives spawned several mega-successful television shows such as Friends and Seinfeld, not to mention many dramas like the aptly titled Thirty Something. 

Like the lives displayed on screen, audiences also were able to relate to the cultural tastes of those characters. There is no greater proof of this connection than in the amazing soundtrack that was put together for the film. The Big Chill soundtrack is a veritable jukebox of the greatest music from the Boomer era and thus, some of the biggest hits of all time.  Many songs were borrowed from the vaults of Motown, but several others were culled from the top of the charts from all over the world. In fact, seven of the 18 songs that appear in this movie were the subject of previous posts of mine in the series I called The Top 500 Songs in Modern Music History. I am going to list those seven songs below, complete with links to the original post for you to enjoy again, if you feel so inclined. Here we go!

“My Girl” by The Temptations

“I Heard It Through The Grapevine” by Marvin Gaye

“Whiter Shade of Pale” by Procol Harum

“You Can’t Always Get What You Want” by The Rolling Stones.

“(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” by Aretha Franklin

“What’s Goin’ On?” by Marvin Gaye

“The Weight” by The Band

For the remaining songs on the soundtrack, I will list the song and provide a brief description of it, along with a link to the video for it so that you can enjoy these great tunes all over again if you like. Here comes the best of the rest!

1- “I Second That Emotion” by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles

One of the many songs written by Smokey Robinson during his tenure at Motown Records. It became a  #1 hit sandwiched in between songs like “Shop Around”, “Tracks of My Tears” and “Tears of a Clown”. This song is about a man who has a girlfriend who doesn’t want to commit to him. The origin of the song was that one day Robinson and a friend were shopping for a gift for his wife. Robinson stated that the gift had to be special. The friend replied that he understood the importance of the need for the gift to be perfect by saying that he could “second that emotion”. Like many great songs that were discovered by accident, as soon as the friend said those words aloud, both he and Robinson knew that there was something special about the phrase. The two men found the appropriate gift and then went straight back to work to write the lyrics to the song that became “I Second That Emotion”.  ***You can listen to that song here. The lyrics version is here.

2- “Tell Him” by The Exciters

“Tell Him” was originally written for male singers and was called “Tell Her”. However, as you know, most singers in the 1960s did not write their own songs. In those days, songwriting teams created tunes which were then assigned to specific singers or groups. In the case of “Tell Her”, the great songwriting team of Leiber and Stoller got to hear an all-girl singing group audition. The lead singer was a lady named Brenda Reid. After hearing Reid and her friends sing, Leiber and Stoller were impressed enough to recommend them to their bosses, who, in turn, tasked Leiber and Stoller with creating a hit song for them to sing. That song turned out to be a reworked version of “Tell Her”, which became known as “Tell Him”. In time, “Tell Him” rose to #1 on the charts. The other women in the group dropped out, one by one, and surprisingly enough, they were replaced by a man named Herb Rooney. Together, Reid and Rooney became duet partners as the all-girl group, The Exciters ceased to be.  ***The link to the video for “Tell Him” by The Exciters can be found here. The lyrics version is here.

3- “Joy To The World” by Three Dog Night  

The band, Three Dog Night, got their name from an Australian aboriginal saying. The saying came from the practice of aboriginal peoples sleeping with their animals for warmth during the cold Aussie nights. In the morning, one person would ask the other how they slept. The first person would reply that it was a three dog night, which meant that it took three dogs to keep that person warm as they slept. In any case, the American band named Three Dog Night took this song written by country star Hoyt Axton as a filler track on one of their albums. Remember, a filler track was one that in those days was used to fill up the physical space on an album. Most times, the band or singer had no intention of ever releasing the song as a single. It was just there to take up space and fill out the album content. Prior to its release, many who heard “Joy To The World” regarded it as a children’s song. No one took it seriously, especially Three Dog Night. But then a funny thing happened. In Seattle, there was a company that owned two radio stations that were housed in the same building; one was an AM station and the other, an FM station. In the 1960s, FM stations were not a big thing. As a result, programmers could afford to play songs that were more obscure, as opposed to sticking with a Top 40 AM playlist format. So it was that a DJ on the FM station in Seattle played “Joy To The World” just for fun. Enough people called the station to learn more about the song that the station owners began to play it on the more popular AM station. The song went to #1 in Seattle and soon spread around the world, giving Three Dog Night their biggest hit and one of the music industry’s most unexpected #1s. ***The link to the video for “Joy To The World” by Three Dog Night can be found here. The lyrics version is here. 

4- “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg” by The Temptations

The story of “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg” is a story that highlights the politics of how music was made at Motown during the 1960s. As mentioned earlier, the hit making process was very regimented and not organic in the least. Very rarely, if ever, did a songwriter work with a producer or an artist to which he wasn’t directly assigned. “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” is an exception to the rule. The song was written by a man named Norman Whitfield with help from Edward Holland Jr. Holland was part of the songwriting team of Holland-Dozier-Holland and rarely freelanced within the confines of Motown. However, this was a case of Whitfield having the song almost completely finished on his own, with Holland polishing it up as a favour for a friend. Then, the politics of Motown came into play. Whitfield wrote the song with singer David Ruffin in mind. Ruffin was a member of The Temptations at the time. The Temptations were a band that had been assigned to Smokey Robinson as songwriter. So anyway, Whitfield and Holland completed “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg”, at which point they felt it had “hit” written all over it. However, no song is ever formally produced without the approval of the head of Motown, Berry Gordy.  Each week, songwriters would come together at a meeting to pitch their latest songs. When Whitfield proposed “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” as a Temptations song, Smokey Robinson pulled rank and re-staked his proprietary claim as the sole songwriter for the band. Politics being what they were, Gordy sided with the influential Robinson and denied Whitfield his opportunity. Whitfield, in turn, became apoplectic! In order to calm the waters, Gordy made Whitfield a deal. He promised him that if Robinson’s latest Temptations song didn’t meet chart expectations, then he would give Whitfield’s song a try. Robinson’s next song, “Get Ready”, barely made the Top 20. As promised, Gordy replaced Robinson with Whitfield and “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg” was released to great acclaim. The fallout from this political maneuver was wide ranging. It was around this time that David Ruffin began to feel as though he should be getting the “Diana Ross treatment” and be made the star of the band. This eventually led to Ruffin being fired after he became too difficult and unreliable to work with. The golden years of The Temptations drew to a close. Smokey Robinson’s position as top songwriter at Motown came into question. Musicians such as Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder started demanding the right to write their own tunes. By 1973, Smokey Robsinson had actually retired from Motown, his decline precipitated by “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg”.  On the other hand, Norman Whitfield rose through the ranks as Smokey Robinson fell. Songs such as “Papa Was A Rolling Stone”, “I Heard It Through the Grapevine”, “Ball of Confusion” and even the 1970s Soul classic “Car Wash” all came from the pen of Norman Whitfield. Whitfield was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2004. ***The link to the video for the song “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg” by The Temptations can be found here. The lyrics version is here.

5- “Gimme Some Lovin’” by The Spencer Davis Group

This song was written by a then 18-year-old boy named Steve Winwood. At the time, Winwood was the star of his band, but because he was underage, his guitarist, Spencer Davis, acted as the face of the group. Winwood says that “Gimme Some Lovin’” was written in less than 24 hours and came naturally to him. The song went all the way to #1 and was just the beginning of a career for Winwood that included stops in a band called Traffic, as well as a strong solo career that yielded Grammy Award winning songs such as “Higher Love”. ***The link to the video for “Gimme Some Lovin’” by The Spencer Davis Group can be found here. The lyrics version is here.

6- Bad Moon Rising by John Fogerty

This song became a big hit for Fogerty’s band Creedence Clearwater Revival. The song was written as a response by Fogerty to the ominous feelings he had regarding the state of politics in the world. Fogerty dressed the message of the song in a rockin’ way so as to make his message more palatable for modern listeners. It went on to reach chart position #2 and remains as one of C.C.R.’s most popular tunes ever!  ***The link to the video for “Bad Moon Rising” can be found here. The lyrics version is here.

7- “Too Many Fish In The Sea” by The Marvelettes

This song is noteworthy because it was the first hit song written at Motown for songwriter Norman Whitfield. Because of this song’s success, Whitfield became a more respected songwriter, which led to future work with The Supremes, as well as The Temptations *(See “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg” above). The Marvelettes, on the other hand, were already stars at Motown when Whitfield came along. The were the first Motown act to have a #1 hit when they released “Please Mr. Postman” back in 1961. Their success paved the way for other all-girl groups like The Supremes. “Too Many Fish In The Sea” was their final big chart hit. Not long after this song charted, illness and in-fighting caused The Marvelettes to break up. ***The link to the video for “Too many Fish in the Sea” by The Marvelettes can be found here. Unfortunately, there is no lyrics version.

8- “It’s The Same Old Song” by The Four Tops  

The Four Tops enjoyed some of the biggest hits ever to come out of Motown with songs such as “Baby I Need Your Loving”, “Reach Out, I’ll Be There”, “Can’t Help Myself (Sugar PIe, Honey Bunch)” and “It’s The Same Old Song”. All of their hits were written by the Holland-Dozier-Holland songwriting team. In fact, The Four Tops’ chart success owed much to the songwriting formula used at Motown that was hinted at in song titles such as “I Can’t Help Myself”….Holland-Dozier-Holland acknowledging that they were recycling song styles…and “It’s The Same Old Song”…which couldn’t be more blatantly obvious in its intentions. Nevertheless, audiences ate this formula up with all of these songs reaching #1 on the charts. There is a “Motown Sound” for a reason, folks. ***The link to the video for “It’s The Same Old Song” by The Four Tops can be found here. The lyrics version is here.

9- “Dancing In The Street” by Martha and the Vandellas.

This song was originally written by Marvin Gaye, among others. Initially, it was composed as a ballad by later was transformed into a party song. The origin of the term dancing in the streets came from inner city people dancing in their street as open fire hydrants sprayed water during the summer time. The people of Detroit were the inspiration for this song which is why the line, “Can’t forget the Motor City” was added. But because of racial tensions in cities like Detroit, “Dancing in the Street” became a civil rights anthem to some and a source of consternation to authorities who viewed the song as a call to riot. Martha Reaves has always maintained that her version of the song is a party anthem. As many of you might know, rock group Van Halen had one of their very first hits by covering this song in their own personal style. ***The link to the video for the song “Dancing in the Street” can be found here. The lyric version can be found here.

10- “When a Man Loves a Woman” by Percy Sledge.

“When a Man Loves a Woman” by Percy Sledge is not a Motown song although many have always believed that it was. The true story was that this song was written at the famous Muscle Shoals studio in Alabama and was recorded there by Percy Sledge and his band The Esquires. The song reached #1 and became the biggest selling song that Percy Sledge ever had, as well as one of the most popular songs in any genre of all time. ***The link to the video for the song “When a Man Loves a Woman” by Percy Sledge and the Esquires can be found here. The lyric version is here.

11- “Good Lovin’” The Rascals

This is our final song for this post. The Rascals began their career as The Young Rascals. They were an American band from New Jersey who made a name for themselves as one of the first “white” bands to embrace Soul music. The Rascals helped launch a sub-genre of music called Blue-eyed Soul, which later featured bands such as The Righteous Brothers and Hall and Oates. The Young Rascals/Rascals had many memorable hits, such as “I’ve Been Lonely Too Long”, “Groovin’”, “You Better Run” (later covered successfully by Pat Benatar), “How Can I Be Sure?” and “People Got To Be Free”. In his book, Unrequited Infatuations: A Memoir, guitarist and E Street member, Steve Van Zandt devoted an entire chapter to the influence that The Rascals had on musicians from the Jersey Shore such as Bruce Springsteen, Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes and himself. Van Zandt and his wife even helped organize a Broadway-style series of shows that involved having the members of The Rascals reunite for a dinner theatre-style concert and storytelling session. In any case, The Rascals are one of the original white rock acts who were able to integrate Soul and R&B into the new sound that became modern Rock n’ Roll. ***The link to the video for the song “Good Lovin’” by The Rascals can be found here. The lyrics version is here.

I will end this post with a short comment that brings us back again to the movie The Big Chill. If ever there was a film that used music to reinforce the connection between Art and the role it plays in our lives, it was The Big Chill. The songs that the movie characters dance to and make love to were the songs that they would have listened to while in their younger, more idealistic days. For audience members, these same songs were the songs that formed the soundtrack of their younger lives, too. If writing these hundreds of music posts has taught me anything, it is that people like what they know and know what they like.The songs on The Big Chill soundtrack brought audience members memories of times that, for many, were happier and more carefree. Like the characters in The Big Chill, this music reminded audiences of a time when they may have also believed that they were ready to change the world and make things better. As one progresses through the stages of life, it is tempting to reflect on the idealism of our youth and reassess whether or not any of it made a difference in the end. The Big Chill came closer than most movies to blurring the line between reality and fiction. But, as many of you understand, real life usually does not come with Hollywood’s tendency toward tidy conclusions. Real life is simply what it is. The best we can do is to treasure the happiness and love that manages to come our way and make the biggest difference we can in the lives of others. For what it is worth, as I look back upon my life, I am happy and satisfied for the most part. I hope that you have enjoyed this tune-filled post and that the soundtrack of your own life yields happy memories for you, as well. Take care. Bye for now.

The link to the video for the trailer for the film The Big Chill can be found here.

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