One late night, more than 10 years ago, I managed to catch this totally psychadellic show on tv. Eyes blurry, I saw a myriad of sights and sounds. I was completely transfixed.
It was the Phantom of the Paradise.
In a nutshell, the show is about a man, Winslow, a music composer whose music was chosen as an opening song for the a club called Paradise. He met a girl, Pheonix whom he found to be suitable for singing the part. However, the club owner, Swan had other ideas and hires interesting persona, like a singer that looked like he’d belong in the rocky horror show.
Apart from the over the top characters, and storyline, what really made the show memorable to me was the music. One of the song that got stuck in my head for the longest time was Old Souls, written by Paul WIlliams.
Our love, is an old love baby
is older than all of our years
I had seen in strange young eyes
familiar tears
It was one of the most memorable song for me, because of the tone and the lyrics – pure poetry.
That was why I was most excited to stumble onto it on youtube. Me and cart spent the afternoon watching the show and I enjoyed the music and the sights all over again.
Now that I’m a little older, my perception of the show is different compared to before. The movie, being made in 1974, was extremely 70’s like with its strong pop culture clothes and drug influence. And I never realised how hedonistic it was in lieu of the hippy era.
Nevertheless, the show was still as fabulous. This movie is a definite classic.
One thing that bugged me though, was why does the devil have such a feminine hand? Did they use a woman to replace him for that scene? If so, what good reason would they do that?
Or am I overanalysing this too much?
Paul Williams — what a freakazoid that guy was. heh heh
1974 was a good year. One of my favorite tunes is from that year
cheers,
Shane
Shane,
Freakazoid? I’m not really familliar with him. The only thing I know about Paul williams was phantom of the opera
Oooh the music from the link you sent me is sexay!
*groovalicious*
I’m from Winnipeg Canada (Phantom Central) where, for whatever reason, the movie clicked big time. I’m currently working on a book about Winnnipeg’s facsination with the flic as well as just about everything that lead up to Phantompalooza 1 and 2.
For me, William Finley/’Winslow Leach’ will always be top of the line.
‘Winslow’ put it all on the line for his work and William Finley made you believe it was his! He NEARLY ended up putting it all on the line during the record plant scene when (during rehearsal) the brace that was supposed to keep the two ends of the machine apart broke, nearly making fact and fiction come together in a NOT too pleasant way. Thankfully, Mr. Finley was spared when two audio techs literally dropped what they were doing and saved his life. THANKS, guys!
In an ironic twist; two years after phantom… Paul williams would end up getting Swindled, FOR REAL, by Barbra Streisand, who continues, to this very day, to take credit for the lyrics to Evergreen. However, unlike Winslow or William, Mr. Williams has said not a peep in protest to the verbal plaigarism.
What’s the old saying…”Silence implies consent”.
Final score:
Fictional songwriter (Winslow) 1
‘Real’ songwriter (Williams) 0