Dec. 19: Can't help falling in love

The Elvis Presley song, Can't Help Falling in Love, was covered by the Canadian singer, Corey Hart, sometime in the 1980s. Corey's version was the first one I heard, so for years I erroneously credited him with its origination.

It may be anaethema to say this, but I never understood the appeal of Elvis. Maybe he was just too before my time. Maybe I had to be a teenaged girl. Maybe the Elvis I remember is the older sweaty bloated dude who looked like he'd have a heart attack if he tried to reach that high C. In my playbook, Prince > Elvis. Hey, Prince wrote his own songs. Sign O The Times is a hundred times better than Elvis's Greatest Hits.

I have a favourite Elvis song. It is Jailhouse Rock. There are only two acceptable versions of that song. One is done by Elvis. The other is the one that the cast and crew of The Blues Brothers did at the end of their movie.

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Can't Help Falling in Love was featured in the 1961 movie, Blue Hawaii. In that movie, Angela Lansbury, who died this year, played Elvis' mom. In real life, Ms. Lansbury was only 10 years older than Elvis. This happens a lot in the movies. Don't believe me? Watch Scarface. Miriam Colon is only four years older than Al Pacino, yet she convincingly played his mom in that movie.

Scarface has lots of F-words. Someone actually counted them. It is used 226 times. That is 75 fewer times than what my cousin Brenda used that one time I tried to teach her how to drive a standard transmission.

One year after Blue Hawaii, Dr. No was released in theatres and cinema was changed forever.

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For people of Generation X, Angela Lansbury is mostly known for her work as Jessica Fletcher of the 1980s mystery series, Murder She Wrote. That show ran from 1984-1996 and took place in a small fictional town called Cabot Cove, Maine. I don't understand why anyone would want to love there since someone got killed every week. Seriously, it would probably be considered the most dangerous community in the world, per capita wise. At least Lieutenant Columbo, also a product of the creators of Murder She Wrote, had the advantage of working out of Los Angeles, which could credibly lay claim to such a vast amount of slayings.

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My sister could be forgiven for thinking she is the common thread in this note as she loves Murder She Wrote and, as a teenager, admired Corey Hart. I liked Corey Hart's song Sunglasses at Night. Even when it came out and when the video was always on MuchMusic, I liked it. I liked the title, I liked the concept, I liked the idea of wearing Sunglasses at Night. It seemed rebellious, dangerous, yet strangely appropriate for a young dude growing up in suburban Calgary. However, I was forbidden from expressing any sort of admiration for Sunglasses at Night. That's because my friends were all headbangers and I was only allowed to like music that came from Iron Maiden or Motley Crue or other dudes with long hair and makeup.

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Angela Lansbury died this year. She had a long and storied career on the stage and on the screen. She almost didn't play Jessica Fletcher; the role was written for Jean Stapleton, who played Archie Bunker's wife on All in the Family. 

No one ever said the F-word on All in the Family, but if there was one show that could have done it, that would have been it.

 

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