Wednesday, December 19, 2007
HARLOW'S "RECKLESS"
The other day I saw Jean Harlow's "Reckless" on Turner. It's not a great film, and I'm not a fan of Harlow, but she, or rather the girl who sang in her place, did a great job on the prelude to the title song. It's a nifty piece of work that deserves to be recognized. Here's the lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein:
Harlow: "What'll you ever BE?"
"What'll you ever DO?"
"How will you ever KNOW if you don't take a chance!?"
Girl Chorus: "You have got-to-get-ONE...SWEET...TASTE..."
Harlow: "I'm gonna LIVE long,
LEARN a lot,
I'll light my candle,
and I'll BURN a lot!"
Girl Chorus: "You'll have your BEST shocks,
HARD knocks..."
Harlow: "I'm on my OWN if I bruise!"
Girl Chorus: "And they'll be SMART TEARS,
JUST TEARS!"
Harlow: "And I can take it on the CHIN if I lose,
because I'm RECKLESS!!!"
Girl Chorus: "Because she's reckless..."
Harlow: "RECKLESS!"
Girl Chorus: "Because she's reckless..."
Harlow: "I'm gonna GO PLACES and LOOK LIFE IN THE FACE!!!!"
Astonishing genius! I love the rhetorical structure of the piece, and the contrast between the earthy, almost masculine voice of the singer, and the feminine voices in the choir. Never skimp on the choir. Without them (or a good instrumental or spoken poem) there's no contrast.
It's a pity that so many arrangements don't adequately set up the song. You have to prime a song, just like a pump. The song needs something to bounce off of, and that something has to be major entertainment in its own right, independent of the song. In the case of "Reckless" the primer overshadows the song, and that's OK. I would never cripple a really good primer, whether in music or animation, just to make the mediocre subsequent statement a little less offensive.
'I would never cripple a really good primer, whether in music or animation, just to make the mediocre subsequent statement a little less offensive."
ReplyDeleteI don't understand what you mean here. Maybe it's the use of the term "offensive", which kind of comes out of nowhere...I think I get that you're saying "don't water down a great intro(primer)just because the song that follows might not be as good", but offensive?
I doubt though that Hammerstein or any lyricist thinks his intros are superior to his main lyric. ; )
Here's a guy who understands it: Mika:
ReplyDelete"Hey! What's the big ideeeea!"
"I wanna talk to you!"
She's annoying- but you on the otherhand, I enjoyed this piece better when you performed it the other night, hahahah. What are you Eddie?
ReplyDelete"I'M RECKLESS!"
Hey Eddie-that really is Jean Harlow's real, slightly flat voice IIRC(so sayeth the writers of "That's Entertainment!" where I first saw this clip eons ago). It was later in films like "Suzy" where she's singing like a bird that she was dubbed.
ReplyDeleteSorry you don't care much for Harlow...have you seen "Red-Headed Woman", or one of her great comedies like "Libeled Lady"? But then again it seems I can never sway you on these things. ; )
[BTW that's my question above there-I was on a different computer and couldn't log in.]
Harlow did live long, until she married Paul Bern.
ReplyDeleteHarlow actually recorded her voice for Reckless; I've heard her attempt to sing. It is, sadly, rather painful to listen to. I do not, alas, believe I have this on .mp3, otherwise I would gladly share.
ReplyDeleteNICE Blog :)
ReplyDeleteMERRY Christmas :)
Eric, the entire intro--the part Eddie quotes(and likes so much)--is Jean Harlow's own voice. I can't speak for the main body of the song.
ReplyDeleteHum: Holy Cow, I just re-read what I wrote and it does seem like I'm calling the song mediocre. Sorry, my bad. As you said, "might not be as good" would have worked better.
ReplyDeleteJenny, Eric: I had to look this up. A couple of internet sources credit the voice on the song to Virginia Verrill but Jenny said Harlow did the prelude and she's usually right about things like this.
I'd like to see those later films.
nice piece. but i'm pretty sure those backup singers are saying:
ReplyDelete"you have got to gam-ble with fate"
not "get one sweet taste"
:)Daniel