At 8:07 AM -0500 2/18/07, Darcy James Argue wrote:
The songs in Grease are all anachronistic -- some more obviously
than others (i.e., the disco beat in the title song), but even in
those songs that are meant to evoke 1950's rock and roll, none of
them would fool anyone who's even passingly familiar with the pop
music of the era into thinking that they'd actually been written in
the 1950's.
I don't know why this bothers Mark, since -- like "Happy Days" --
the disconnect caused by the 1950's vs. 1970's clash is the whole
point of the show.
Maybe, maybe not, but I'm getting a little better at this search
thing and have discovered the following.
Version 1.0 opened in Chicago in 1971. A very revised version opened
off Broadway in February 1972, and moved onto B'way in June 1972,
remaining in production for 3,388 performances before closing in
April, 1980. It is being revived as we speak, and apparently it's
being cast on TV to drum up interest. The songs from the 1978 movie
will be included in the 2007 revival. And apparently "You're The One
That I Want" wasn't in the original score.
So what? Well, just this. ALL the songs were written in the 1970s.
It's manufactured nostalgia, something Broadway is very good at. Not
a '50s song in the bunch. And for very good reason: copyright.
Profit trumps accuracy every time. Richard Rodgers could have used
authentic Gregorian Chant to open "The Sound of Music," but that
wouldn't have been HIS music and he wouldn't have had control over it.
So the complaint seems to be not that the songs are '70s songs,
because they can't help being. It's that they supposedly don't SOUND
like '50s songs, and there I'll certainly agree, although anybody who
didn't live through the era has a very skewed idea of the importance
of '50s rock 'n' roll and how abysmally far under the radar it was at
the time. I mean, "Sing Along with Mitch" was a big deal, hit
singers were Perry Como and Guy Mitchell (wow! French horns!!!), and
the hits I remember were largely novelty songs: "Come on-a My
House," "16 Tons," or "My Truly Fair." Lord, now that I think back,
it almost makes Rock sound good!!!!
You want '50s, take another listen to "Back To The Future"!! That
dance band is playing (and singing) the songs it actually would have
been playing! (And paying very nice royalties for their use, I'm
sure.) (Of course my very favorite piece in all 3 movies is the 1885
version of the Charlie Daniels Band and their anachronistic but
delightful square dance tune.)
John
--
John & Susie Howell
Virginia Tech Department of Music
Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A 24061-0240
Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034
(mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED])
http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html
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