“I hope you know that you deserve it all. The best, the most honest, the most beautiful and purest love in the world. Not only to be loved by others, but to be loved by yourself. To look in the mirror and think "yes, I'm exactly who I want to be". To speak up and be proud of yourself. To be brave and open. You deserve the nicest and most caring people to walk into your life. You deserve it all, you know. The whole world. And you should never forget.” edits @randomscribbler
2 years ago today, 4*town from disney & pixar's turning red released 'nobody like u'.
the song was a success, charting in various countries, including the uk, ireland, australia, the united states, new zealand, canada, and also made history as the first song from a pixar movie EVER to chart on the billboard hot 100.
the smash hit was also nominated for various awards, including the grammys and the oscars, and in june 2023, the song sold over 1 million units in the US, making it PLATINUM. 💿
Into the top twenty of Let's Do It, my part of a crowdsourced collection of singles from 1954-76. From here, I've thought carefully about the order.
Many films of the era have been completely forgotten, or are remembered only for their music. The 1954 prison flick Unchained lives on only through its theme tune, and the words set to it. Hy Zaret's lyric is written from the point of view of a prisoner, who hasn't seen his paramour in so very long.
Todd Duncan sang the song in the film: he was lying on a bed, plaintively calling as someone else strums their guitar. Nominated for the Best Movie Song at the oscars, and propelled to worldwide attention.
Back in the 1950s, the important thing was the song, not the particular performance. "The 'Unchained' melody" attracted lots of renditions, Harry Belafonte and Jimmy Young had excellent vocal versions, Liberace played all the right notes and lots of others on his piano, Les Baxter had his admirers, Reg Snipton's version is best forgotten.
A standard by 1965, the Righteous Brothers recorded their version in a bit of a hurry - it was going to be the B-side to "Hung on you". Bill Medley played a Wurlitzer piano while Bobby Hatfield sung and emoted. He took the song to new places, the soaring vocal in the final verse is all his work. Hatfield said he could do another take better; Medley replied, "No, you can't."
"The 'Unchained' melody" has become a standard: over 1500 recordings, from performers as talented as Perry Como, as young as Gareth Gates, as old as Elvis Presley, and as fivestar as Robson and Jerome. Modern-day impressario Simon Cowell loves the song, it is just the sort of emotion he can comprehend. But we cannot hold that against Medley and Hatfield's version.
(This song-and-performer combo is also eligible for #UncoolTwo50; the Righteous Brothers re-recorded the song in 1990 after it was used on the soundtrack to the movie Ghost. I won't be nominating it in the 1977-99 poll.)