“This Woman’s Work” released as part of She’s Having a Baby soundtrack

This Woman’s Work Kate Bush

Writer(s): Kate Bush (see lyrics here) Released: February 8, 1988 (as part of She’s Having a Baby soundtrack) Released: November 20, 1989 (as a single) First Charted: December 2, 1989 Peak: 6 CO, 25 UK, 89 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): -- US, 0.2 UK Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 7.6 video, -- streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Kate Bush made her name in the music world in 1978 when, at 19 years old, she topped the UK charts with “Wuthering Heights.” She had four more top-10 hits in the UK. She didn’t fare as well in the United States, only reaching the top 40 once with 1985’s “Running Up That Hill.” She did, however, reach the top 10 a few times on Billboard’s alternative rock chart, most notably with the #1 hit “Love and Anger.” That album, 1989’s The Sensual World, also featured “This Woman’s Work.” Bush originally recorded the song more than a year earlier for the soundtrack of the film She’s Having a Baby. The rom-com, directed and written by John Hughes, starred Kevin Bacon and Elizabeth McGovern as newlyweds. “This Woman’s Work” is used in the movie when McGovern has complications when giving birth to their child. The song was written specifically for the movie and that sequence. She wrote the song from the man’s perspective, matching words to visuals which had already been shot for the movie. A montage of flashbacks of the couple is intercut with scenes of Bacon’s character waiting for news about the condition of his wife and baby. As Bush said, “It’s really very moving, him in the waiting room, having flashbacks of his wife and him…It’s exploring his sadness and guilt, suddenly it’s the point where he has to grow up.” SF The song was re-edited from the original for her album, The Sensual World and there was even a slightly different mix for the official single, more than a year and a half after the song first appeared on the soundtrack for She’s Having a Baby. Bush directed the video for the song herself, using the same basic concept as the movie. Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Kate Bush SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia First posted 4/3/2021; 12/23/2022.

Some Kind of Wonderful soundtrack released

Some Kind of Wonderful Various artists

Released: February 27, 1987 Charted: March 21, 1987 Peak: 57 US, -- UK, -- CN, -- AU Sales (in millions): -- US, -- UK, -- world (includes US and UK) Genre: alternative rock

Tracks: Act “Song Title” (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. Pete Shelley “Do Anything” Furniture “Brilliant Mind” (1986, 21 UK, 15 CO) Blue Room “Cry Like This” Flesh for Lulu “I Go Crazy” (1987, --) Stephen Duffy “She Loves Me” The Jesus & Mary Chain “The Hardest Walk” The Apartments “The Shyest Time” The March Violets “Miss Amanda Jones” Lick the Tins “Can’t Help Falling in Love” The March Violets “Turn to the Sky” Total Running Time: 36:20

Rating: 4.008 out of 5.00 (average of 4 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: John Hughes was the master of the teen movie in the 1980s, including Sixteen Candles (1984), The Breakfast Club (1985), and Pretty in Pink (1986). His 1987 movie Some Kind of Wonderful didn’t reach the commercial levels of any of those, nor did it become as iconic, but personally I’ve watched it more than any movie except for Star Wars. The story line was largely a reversal of Pretty in Pink. This time the boy (Eric Stoltz) from the working-class family is swooning over the popular girl (Lea Thompson) who hangs out with the rich people, all the while unaware of the crush his long-time best friend (Mary Stuart Masterson) is harboring for him. The soundtrack didn’t feature a monster hit like Simple Mind’s #1 hit “Don’t You Forget About Me” from The Breakfast Club or O.M.D.’s top-5 hit “If You Leave” from Pretty in Pink. Instead it featured “a large number of unknown artists for the day.” SK Flesh for Lulu’s I Go Crazy was featured several times in the movie and, given its upbeat, catchy nature was the right choice for a first single, but sadly it went nowhere. Furniture’s Brilliant Mind had been a minor hit in the UK the previous year. Lyrically, the song perfectly captures Keith’s trepidation in acting on his unrequited love for Amanda. Throughout the movie, songs were “chosen with meticulous precision” SK to capture the moods of particular scenes. She Loves Me is a swirling, upbeat track which accompanies the scene when Watts helps Keith practice the perfect kiss. Cry Like This mirrors the dagger-to-the-heart feeling Watts experiences when Keith tells her he’s going on a date with Amanda. There were a couple of intriguing covers on the soundtrack. The March Violets redid the Rolling Stones’ Miss Amanda Jones, which was the name of Thompson’s character. The other two main characters were named after Stones’ members – Keith (Stoltz) as in guitarist Keith Richards and Watts (Masterson) as in drummer Charlie Watts. The Stones’ original version of the song, while not on the soundtrack, was used during a montage in which Keith and Amanda prepare for their date. Lick the Tins turned in a snappy, toe-tapping, flute-infused cover of Elvis Presley’s Can’t Help Falling in Love that resembles an Irish jig. The song runs over the closing credits, matching the movie’s feel-good ending as Keith and Watts walk off into the not-quite sunset. In addition to the Stones’ “Miss Amanda Jones,” there are other songs featured in the movie which weren’t used on the soundtrack, including Billy Idol’s “Catch My Fall,” Charlie Sexton’s “Beat’s So Lonely,” the Psychedelic Furs’ “Pretty in Pink” and the movie’s opening song “Dr. Mabuse” by Propaganda. It’s a shame the soundtrack couldn’t jump start with the same propulsive beat that kicks off the movie.

Resources and Related Links: SK SomeKindOfWonderful.org WK Wikipedia First posted 10/3/2020; last updated 8/22/2021.

Furniture hit the UK chart with “Brilliant Mind”

Brilliant Mind Furniture

Writer(s): Jim Irvin, Hamilton Lee, Sally Still, Tim Whelan (see lyrics here) First Charted: June 14, 1986 Peak: 21 UK, 15 CO, 14 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 1.08 video, -- streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: No song takes me back to my college days more than this one. Lyrically, it captured the woeful, yet universal, self-pity that adolescents and young adults often succumb to when navigating life and relationships. The opening line “I’m at the stage where everything I thought meant something seems so unappealing” was practically my mantra as an unfocused, question-it-all college sophomore. Of course, nothing was more gut-wrenching to a not-quite-twenty-something than failed relationship efforts. It was all too easy to wallow in the blame-game nature of the chorus, alternating between saying “you must be out of your brilliant mind” and “they must be out of their brilliant minds.” After all, how could I be the one responsible for my shortcomings? The song was a minor hit in the UK in 1986, but I didn’t hear it until the re-recorded version featured in Some Kind of Wonderful. That movie, written by the no-one-understands-high-school-more-than-me John Hughes, was a redo on his more popular Pretty in Pink. That film had the nerdy girl pining for the popular guy, but ending up with her even nerdier long-time friend who’d been crushing on her forever. Hughes, however, caved to audiences at early screenings who wanted her to end up with the rich stud and rewrote the ending. Dismayed by his decision, Hughes revamped the story line for Some Kind of Wonderful. This time the main character was Keith, a nerdy art student infatuated with a cheerleader while oblivious to his gal pal’s interest in him. The “sardonically wistful” WK “Brilliant Mind” surprisingly wasn’t the soundtrack’s centerpiece, despite its perfect encapsulation of teen angst. Musically, it sounds like a natural on ‘80s synth-pop playlists alongside new wave standards like Modern English’s “I Melt with You” and New Order’s “Blue Monday.” However, it came up short there as well, failing to reach the lofty classic status of its contemporaries, although ‘80s music icon Boy George declared it his favorite record of the era. WK The rest of the world may not have noticed it, but I did – and more than thirty years later I still can’t get the song out of my brilliant mind. Resources: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Furniture WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 10/19/2020; last updated 10/28/2022.

 

Simple Minds hit #1 with “Don’t You Forget About Me”

Don’t You Forget About Me Simple Minds

Writer(s): Keith Forsey, Steve Schiff (see lyrics here) Released: February 20, 1985 First Charted: February 23, 1985 Peak: 11 BB, 12 CB, 11 GR, 12RR 36 AC, 13 AR, 1 CO, 7 UK, 11 CN, 6 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- US, 1.45 UK, 1.97 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 1.0 radio, 453.29 video, 885.23 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: The Scottish new wave rock band Simple Minds formed in 1977 and found popularity in the UK where they hit #1 with their 1984 album Sparkle in the Rain. That same year, they landed their fourth top-20 hit in the UK. However, they had yet to dent the United States’ Billboard Hot 100. That changed in 1985 with “Don’t You (Forget About Me).” The song, featured in the hit movie The Breakfast Club, soared to #1 in the US and gave Simple Minds their first top-10 hit in the UK. It wasn’t written by the band, but by producer Keith Forsey and Steve Schiff, who was a guitarist and songwriter with the Nina Hagen band. Forsey also wrote the #1 hit “Flashdance…What a Feelin’” for the 1983 movie Flashdance and would later write “Shakedown” for Bob Seger, a #1 song from Beverly Hills Cop II. SF Forsey and Schiff’s original demo opens the movie while Simple Minds’ version closes things out. WK There’s some dispute as to whether the song was written for Simple Minds or for Bryan Ferry. In any event, both said no. Simple Minds thought they should only record material they had written. The song was also rejected by Billy Idol and Cy Curnin of the Fixx. WK The record company suggested Corey Hart, but Forsey didn’t think he was right for the song. Simple Minds eventually agreed to record the song, although there are varied stories as to why. One version says that Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders, persuaded Jim Kerr, the lead singer of the band and her then-husband, after Forsey called her. WK Another account says John Hughes, the director of The Breakfast Club, screened the film for the band. SF Either way, the band still initially thought it would be “a throwaway song on the soundtrack to a forgettable movie.” WK Once they recorded it, however, some of the band members now thought the song had “genuine commercial potential.” WK Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Simple Minds AMG All Music Guide review by Jack Rabid SF Songfacts Related Links: First posted 1/25/2021; last updated 5/2/2024.