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Song of the Day #6,135: ‘The Elephant Man Theme’ – John Morris

David Lynch followed the surrealist oddness of Eraserhead with something unexpected: a stately biopic. That film was 1980’s The Elephant Man, based on the life of Englishman Joseph Merrick, a severely deformed man who was displayed in a sideshow act in 19th century London before coming under the care of a kindly but ambitious surgeon.

Merrick becomes a high society sensation, even socializing with members of the royal family, but continues to face ridicule and abuse.

Lynch directed the film (and reworked the script) after earning the praise of Mel Brooks, who owned the rights. Brooks, a big fan of Eraserhead, withheld his name from the production credits so the film wouldn’t be confused for a comedy.

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Song of the Day #6,134: ‘In Heaven (Lady in the Radiator Song)’ – Lauren Near

I try to write my blog entries a week or two in advance, so this is hardly the space for breaking news. But even by my standards, I’m a little embarrassed by how late the upcoming posts are arriving.

Visionary director David Lynch died on January 16 at the age of 78. A couple of weeks later, I started watching (or re-watching) his ten feature films in order with the aim of writing about them here as a tribute to the legendary filmmaker.

It took me about a month to get them all in, and by then I was knee deep in my 2024 movie coverage. I jumped into the 1976 Decades posts after that, so I’m only now getting to Lynch. My apologies to the late master.

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Song of the Day #6,133: ‘The Game of Love’ – Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders

The week of April 20, 1965, saw Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders atop the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘The Game of Love,’ a song that had reached #2 in their native UK six months earlier.

Frontman Fontana left the band in the middle of a concert later that year, leaving the Mindbenders to continue as a trio. They bounced back nicely, making it to #2 with ‘A Groovy Kind of Love’ the following year.

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Song of the Day #6,132: ‘Cherry Pink (and Apple Blossom White)’ – Perez Prado

Throwing back to the week of April 19, 1955, we find Bill Hayes’ ‘The Ballad of Davy Crockett‘ holding on to Billboard’s #1 spot for the last of its five weeks atop the chart.

Hot on its tails at #2 was an instrumental track that would kick off a 10-week stint at #1 the following week: Pérez Prado’s recording of ‘Cherry Pink (and Apple Blossom White).’

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Song of the Day #6,131: ‘I Want You’ – Marvin Gaye

Concluding my look at the albums of 1976…

The final 1976 album I listened to was Marvin Gaye’s I Want You, the singer-songwriter’s 13th studio album. This record followed 1971’s What’s Going On and 1973’s Let’s Get It On, two of Gaye’s most successful albums, and was viewed at the time as a letdown.

I Want You, co-written and co-produced by Gaye with Leon Ware, shifted his sound a little more toward disco. It also doubled down on the sexual themes of Let’s Get It On — this is an excessively horny album.

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