Throwing back to the week of June 4, 1983, we find Irene Cara on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with her soundtrack smash ‘Flashdance… What a Feeling.’
Watching clips from Adrian Lyne’s Flashdance, I’m reminded of the crush I had on lead actress Jennifer Beals at the time. I assume I caught up with the film on video, because I don’t think I saw the R-rated film in theaters as an 11-year-old.
The music for this track was written by Giorgio Moroder, while Cara and Keith Forsey wrote the lyrics after seeing scenes from the film. This was one of two Flashdance tunes nominated for Best Song (the other was Michael Sembello’s ‘Maniac’) and it ended up winning the award. Moroder has been nominated for Best Song three times and won all three Oscars.
‘Flashdance… What a Feeling’ also won Cara a Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and was her first and only #1 hit. The single spent six weeks in the top spot.
Though the song was a career highlight for Cara, it led to a decade of strife. Cara realized she wasn’t receiving royalties for the track and sued the record label. The lawsuit lasted years and, according to Cara, resulted in her being blacklisted in the industry. Cara never put a single on the charts again after 1984. She died last year of heart disease at just 63.
First, when there’s nothing, but a slow glowing dream
That your fear seems to hide deep inside your mind
All alone, I have cried, silent tears full of pride
In a world made of steel, made of stone
[Verse 1]
Well, I hear the music, close my eyes, feel the rhythm
Wrap around, take a hold of my heart
[Chorus]
What a feelin’, being’s believin’
I can have it all, now I’m dancing for my life
Take your passion, and make it happen
Pictures come alive, you can dance right through your life
[Verse 2]
Now I hear the music, close my eyes, I am rhythm
In a flash, it takes hold of my heart
[Chorus]
What a feelin’, being’s believin’
I can have it all, now I’m dancing for my life
Take your passion, and make it happen
Pictures come alive, now I’m dancing through my life
[Interlude]
What a feelin’
[Instrumental Break]
[Chorus / Outro]
What a feelin’, being’s believin’ (I am music now, I am rhythm now)
Pictures come alive, you can dance right through your life
What a feelin’, what a feelin’
(I can really have it all, pictures come alive when I call)
I can have it all, have it all
(I can really have it all, pictures come alive when I call)
(Call, call, call, what a feelin’)
I can have it all
Being’s believin’ (Being’s believin’, take your passion)
Make it happen, what a feelin’ (Make it happen, what a feelin’)
Meet Me In Montauk 
I love this movie and the music from it. I watched it several times and in my aerobic class we exercised to songs like “Maniac” all the time. There was also the fashion statement of leggings and an off one shoulder top that came from it. Don’t think Jennifer Beale ever had another hit this big in her career. Sad about Cara 😢
I only saw the movie once in the theater, and couldn’t tell you much about it. This song, however, along with “Maniac,” and their accompanying music videos, I’ve heard/seen countless times.
What you say is true. I finished writing a book on Irene’s life called Cinderella Superstar: Remember Irene and in it I discovered a lot about Irene- a woman that was smart, dedicated to her craft and fiercely independent. Qualities that are an obvious threat to record company moguls that wanted to not only control what songs she sang but how much to pay her for her hard labor. After fighting off and winning her lawsuit she was completely broke and did not receive a cent from the lawsuit after an 8 year battle. Al Coury Inc. declared bankruptcy and funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars out of Network Records’ bank accounts. Since companies have limited liability he/they got away with it. Irene continued to write love songs while Al Coury went to work for David Geffen and began promoting violence in music. The 1990’s brought in Grunge and the rest is history. The mass shootings we see happening everyday are the result of a society addicted to violence. Love seems to be nothing but a ‘dream.’ Maybe we’ll wake up someday, if we could just ‘remember, remember, remember…’