The Silver Screen Oasis

I've been working on a ukulele songbook that has a lot of vintage material in it. I made an arrangement of the jazz standard These Foolish Things, and discovered that there are a number of verses that you don't always hear. One of them goes:

The smile of Garbo and the scent of roses,
and waiters whistling as the last bar closes...
that song that Crosby sings.
These foolish things
remind me of you.

May I add Billy Joel's hit song 'WE DIDN'T START THE FIRE" which mentions DORIS DAY'S name right off the bat...

Lz--I first heard Randolph Scott during the credit scroll for a late 70s film that I watched endless times on HBO, but I can't remember the name of. (Ruby with Piper Laurie comes to mind, but I'm not sure.) Love the song, had no idea who did it. Thanks

Klon--Looks like I need to get me some KLF, especially if they'll feature Ms. Wynette.

Nitrate--I have many instrumental versions of These Foolish Things, but the two vocals I have, Ella and Billie, omit the lines. Think I'll add the Stan Getz or Benny Carter. Thanks.

CineMaven--The Joel song, along with Madonna's Vogue and the Kinks' Celluloid Heroes (the original, not live version), are great jumping off tunes for the list. Lotta names in just three songs! Thanks.

I'm sure you've already added "What Ever Happened to Randolph Scott" by the Statler Brothers.

"What ever happened to Randolph Scott, ridin' the trail alone?
What ever happened to Gene and Tex; Roy and Rex; the Durango Kid..."

movieman1957 wrote:
I'm drawing a blank on a Beatles' reference.

Well, if one accepts as "stars" those persons famous for other endeavors, but who did "star" in fictional films, then:

Yer Blues ("Just like [Bob] Dylan's Mr. Jones.")
Glass Onion ("The walrus was Paul [McCartney}")
The Ballad of John and Yoko

Now to non-Beatles songs in this addictive exercise:

Zombie Zoo by Tom Petty (Boris Karloff)
Lee Remick by The Go-Betweens
Disney Girls by The Beach Boys (Rick and Dave Nelson)
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised by Gil Scott-Heron (Natalie Wood, Steve McQueen)
Electrolite by R.E.M. (Martin Sheen, Steve McQueen, Jimmy [James] Dean)

Thanks for joggin' the old memory tubes, ChiO!
How could I forget Sheryl Crowe's "Steve McQueen" ?!

It's nice when the star is featured in the title of the song. Along with Crow's Steve McQueen, I've included:
Alice Cooper--The Ballad of Dwight Frye
Bananarama--Robert DeNiro's Waiting
The Eagles--James Dean
Bauhaus/Nouvelle Vague--Bela Lugosi's Dead (Great song, I added both versions)
Kim Carnes--Betty Davis Eyes
Elton John--Roy Rogers
Blue Oyster Cult--Joan Crawford
Nick Lowe--Marie Prevost
Catfight!--Mamie van Doren
Stevie Nicks--Garbo
R.E.M.--Me, Marlon Brando, Marlon Brandy and I

I've also added Zappa's The Adventures of Greggory Peccary. It may not exactly fit the category, but what the heck. (Of course Gregory Peck is featured in Dylan's Brownsville Girl, too. )

MichiganJ wrote: Chris--Thanks for Roy Rogers.
As for the Fabs; hint: Doris Day.

Oh, yeah! Who could forget 40 seconds of "Dig It"?

movieman1957 wrote:Oh, yeah! Who could forget 40 seconds of "Dig It"?

It was one of two Beatle tunes my band covered back in the day.

Well, what was the other? "Her Majesty"?

A Ramones-esque arrangement of Eleanor Rigby. My philosophy was never to play a cover anywhere near the original (not that I could, anyway.) And when at all possible, go for the obscure or unexpected; hence, a punk rock Eleanor.

How interesting! What instrument do you play? Do you write music?

For a reference to the Beatles in song, try "Don't Call Us" by Sugarloaf. It includes a riff from "I Feel Fine" with the mention of John, Paul and George.

In the chart-climber "Summer Rain" by out-going balladeer Johnny Rivers, there's the lyric: everybody kept on playing Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts' Club Band . .
- would that count as a Beatles reference?
And how about if the subject's obvious but name is conspicuously dodged, like the haunting Elvis bio-tune "Black Velvet" ?

CharlieT wrote:For a reference to the Beatles in song, try "Don't Call Us" by Sugarloaf. It includes a riff from "I Feel Fine" with the mention of John, Paul and George.

I love that song!

klondike wrote:In the chart-climber "Summer Rain" by out-going balladeer Johnny Rivers, there's the lyric: everybody kept on playing Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts' Club Band . .
- would that count as a Beatles reference?
And how about if the subject's obvious but name is conspicuously dodged, like the haunting Elvis bio-tune "Black Velvet" ?

Like Dylan and Elvis, The Beatles' are mentioned in a lot of songs. They even mention each other in many of their solo tunes. Ringo's Early 1970, George's Living in the Material World and of course Paul and John liked to poke each other (Three Legs) until John stopped pulling his punches (How Do You Sleep?).

At least for this list, I think I'm not going to include songs that mention the Lads' or Dylan, and especially Elvis. (Full disclosure: I've only seen one Elvis movie, Viva Las Vegas, and that's all I need.)

There are a lot of songs that mention singers, etc., so I've simply started another playlist.

I did just add The Waitresses No Guilt (John Belushi) and Al Stewart's Year of the Cat (Bogart & Peter Lorre), so this list continues to grow.