Day 31: Movie Show

 

Day 31: Movie Show

Part of my song-a-day writing challenge for January 2024

Lyrics:

Let me take you to a movie show
To a theater that's a century old
Sitting underneath a ceiling so tall
In darkness, enthralled
By the faces on the wall

And all you need to enter the club
Is an usher to tear your stub
When the story's all told
Just tell 'em you saw it
At a movie show

Let me take you to the cinema
Where celebrities still leave you in awe
Where the pictures take you near and far
To exotic locales
Or deep inside your heart

And all you need to enter the club
Is an usher to tear your stub
When the story's all told
Just tell 'em you saw it
At a movie show

The smell of popcorn in the air
The crinkle of candy wrappers torn
And then you just can't help but stare
At the posters down the hall
And the trailers show you more
Of what Hollywood has in store for you
Then they dim the lights
And soon the curtain's drawn

Let me take you to a movie show
I ain't talking 'bout no HBO
I ain't talking 'bout Netflix or Hulu
I just don't know who
Those tiny screens are for

And all you need to enter the club
Is an usher to tear your stub
When the story's all told
Just tell 'em you saw it
At a movie show

***

Details: I did it! 31 songs in 31 days. Some got finished after midnight, but before going to bed, so they count in my book.

This song is about my next goal, which is to go see a sh!t ton of movies. I need to get caught up on my Oscar nominees, and I've seen next to none of them!

I also used to work at a Movie theater. And in the 90s, I really wanted to be a screenwriter. I love music, but movies were my first passion. I still occasionally work on film projects.

Anyway, once I decided on the topic, two songs came to mind: "Movie Magg" by Carl Perkins and "Saturday Night at the Movies" by the Drifters. I love both those songs, but the Drifters' rhythms were more appealing. In fact, I actually found myself drawn to the rhythm of their song "Save the Last Dance for Me"-- which is only one of the greatest songs ever written; so if I was going to be inspired by something, it might as well be that. Anyway, that's what the rhythm to my song started from.

As I was writing, I realized that the melody I was coming up with was pretty similar to "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" by Frankie Valli. So I had to tweak the melody a little bit to differentiate.

Recording this was a chore! That bridge was really difficult to sing. It's not even because it's at the top of my range, but something about the change was making it very hard to nail the note. I actually tried doing as much as two full steps lower, but I was even more pitchy when singing it. I mostly get it in this take. But you know what? This is about writing songs, not necessarily about me being able to sing them. Somebody else might want to sing it...

Hey, it's been a fabulous month! I've had a total blast, and I'm glad to have done it again after two years off. I plan to write a more in depth wrap up post tomorrow. But for those of you who are actually listening to these tunes, then reading these blog entries, thank you! I'm honored to have had a chance to entertain you and show off a bit in the process. Cheers!