Liberal Arts Blog — Cyndi Lauper — “Time after Time”, “Catcher in the Rye” (JD Salinger), “I Will Always Love You” (Dolly Parton)
Liberal Arts Blog — Thursday is the Joy of Music Day
Today’s Topic: Cyndi Lauper — “Time after Time”, “Catcher in the Rye” (JD Salinger), “I Will Always Love You” (Dolly Parton)
When you wake up with a song in your head, you know it’s good. That happened for me this morning. The song was “Time after Time” by Cyndi Lauper. The idea that came with the song was that she must have been inspired by JD Salinger’s iconic masterpiece, “Catcher in the Rye,” in which the adolescent Holden Caulfield has the recurrent dream of being a kind of superman who catches children plummeting to their deaths from a field of rye above a cliff or such at least is my foggy, mashed-up memory of it.
So with this idea in my head at 2am, I decided to dedicate this morning’s post to Lauper’s song. But to mix it up a little — pairing a line from the song’s chorus with quotes from Salinger’s text.
And then a still from the video of the song with a little elaboration. Have you seen it? If not, do so now. Please. Definitely one of the most memorable music videos I have ever seen.
Oddly, the video begins with a clip from a Marlene Dietrich film, “The Gardens of Allah.”
And features her mother, brother, and then boy-friend David Wolff. What do you think of her hair?
Cyndi Lauper — Time After Time (Official HD Video)
And, finally, a footnote with links to two versions of perhaps the greatest breakup song of all time: Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You” the best cover of which is by Whitney Houston, featured in the film “The Bodyguard.” Do you have a favorite break-up song?
Experts — please chime in. Correct, elaborate, elucidate.
“IF YOU FALL, I WILL CATCH YOU, I’LL BE WAITING — TIME AFTER TIME” (Lauper/Hyman)
1. “Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody’s around — nobody big, I mean — except me.” (Holden Caulfield, Catcher in the Rye)
2. “And I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to fall over the cliff — I mean they’re running and they don’t look where they are going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them.”
3. “That’s all I do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all.”
NB: “I know it’s crazy, but that’s the only thing I’d really like to be.”
“IF YOU’RE LOST AND YOU LOOK, YOU WILL FIND ME, TIME AFTER TIME” (Lauper/Hyman)
1. “What really knocks me out is a book that, when you’re done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it. That doesn’t happen much though.” (Catcher in the Rye)
2. “Among other things, you’ll find that you’re not the first person who was ever confused and frightened and even sickened by human behavior. You’re by no means alone on that score, you’ll be excited and stimulated to know. Many, many men have been just as troubled morally and spiritually as you are right now.”
3. “Happily, some of them kept records of their troubles. You’ll learn from them — if you want to.”
NB: “Just as someday, if you have something to offer, someone will learn something from you. It’s a beautiful reciprocal arrangement. And it isn’t education. It’s history. It’s poetry.”
TRAIN STATION SHOT FROM THE MUSIC. VIDEO — best metaphor for moving on?
1. “It was important to me that we were natural and human in the video. I wanted to convey somebody who walked her own path and did not always get along with everyone and did not always marry the guy.”
2. “The title of the song was pulled from a 1979 TV guide listing for a sci-fi movie called Time After time, starring Malcolm McDowell and Mary Steenburgen. Initially it was a temporary title, which Lauper changed, but “Time after Time” came back.”
3. “Time after Time” was Lauper’s first №1 single in June of 1984 hitting the top of the Billboard 100 and Adult contemporary charts. The song also peaked at №3 in the UK and was nominated for Song of the Year at the 1985 Grammy Awards.”
NB: “Struggling over the chorus on the phone with Hyman, Lauper suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder then started thinking up and down, falling and catching, which made up the iconic chorus of “Time after Time.”
“It came out like that. I don’t know who’s hand went on my shoulder because I was alone, but whosoever hand that was, I think they had a hand in helping me write the chorus.” (Lauper)
“The melody was catchy and hypnotic. The rhythm was hypnotic. My vocal was hypnotic. If you’re writing something and you put something very real in it then someone listening is going to feel something very real.” (Lauper)
FOOTNOTE A — on the break-up theme: Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You” — most famously covered by Whitney Houston for the film “The Bodyguard.” If you don’t know both versions, well do yourself a favor and savor each.
FOOTNOTE B — LYRICS OF “TIME AFTER TIME” (below, still from near end of the video)
1. Lying in my bed I hear the clock tick and think of you caught up in circles confusion is nothing new flashback warm nights almost left behind suitcases of memories time after sometimes you picture me I’m walking too far ahead you’re calling to me, I can’t hear what you’ve said then you say go slow I fall behind the second hand unwinds.”
2. If you’re lost you can look and you’ll find me, time after time. If you fall I will catch you, I’ll be waiting time after time. If you’re lost you can look and you will find me, time after time. If you fall I will catch you, I will catch you I will be waiting time after time.”
3. After my picture fades and darkness has turned to gray watchting through windows you’re wondering if I’m okay secrets stolen from deep inside the drum beats out of time…..
NB: If you’re lost and you can look and you will find me, time after time. If you fall I will catch you I’ll be waiting time after time. You said go slow. I fall behind. The second hand unwinds. If you’re lost and you look you can find me, time after time. If you fall I will catch you I’ll be waiting time after time. Time after time. Time after time….
Time After Time (Cyndi Lauper song) — Wikipedia
https://americansongwriter.com/meaning-time-after-time-cyndi-laupers/
The Catcher in the Rye Quotes by J.D. Salinger
Whitney Houston — I Will Always Love You (Official 4K Video)
Dolly Parton — I Will Always Love You (Audio)
Opposite of Cool • Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Songs: Cyndi Lauper, ‘Time After Time’ (#494)
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
“Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your readings have been to you like the blast of a trumpet.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
My spin — then periodically review, re-rank, and exchange your list with. those you love. I call this the “Orion Exchange” because seven is about as many as any human can digest at a time. Game?
LAST FOUR YEARS OF POSTS ORGANIZED THEMATICALLY
Updating PDFs: 2023 — Google Drive
ATTACHMENTS BELOW:
#1 A graphic guide to justice (9 metaphors on one page).
#2 “39 Songs, Prayers, and Poems: the Keys to the Hearts of Seven Billion People” — Adams House Senior Common Room Presentation, (11/17/20)
YOUR TURN
Time to share the coolest thing you learned in the last week related to music.
Or the coolest thing you learned in your life related to music.
Say your favorite song or songs. Or your favorite tips for breathing, posture, or relaxation. Or some insight into the history of music….Or just something random about music… like a joke about drummers. jazz, rock….or share an episode or chapter in your musical autobiography.
This is your chance to make some one else’s day. And perhaps to cement in your memory something important you would otherwise forget. Or to think more deeply than you otherwise would about something that matters to you.
