@@@@@ @ @ @@@@@ @ @ @@@@@@@ @ @ @@@@@ @@@@@ @@@
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @
@ @@@@@ @@@@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @
@ @ @ @@@@@ @ @ @ @ @@@@@ @@@@@ @@@
Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
Club Notice - 03/09/01 -- Vol. 19, No. 36
Chair/Librarian: Mark Leeper, 732-817-5619, mleeper@avaya.com
Factotum: Evelyn Leeper, 732-332-6218, eleeper@lucent.com
Distinguished Heinlein Apologist: Rob Mitchell, robmitchell@avaya.com
HO Chair Emeritus: John Jetzt, jetzt@avaya.com
HO Librarian Emeritus: Nick Sauer, njs@lucent.com
Back issues at http://www.geocities.com/evelynleeper
All material copyright by author unless otherwise noted.
The Science Fiction Association of Bergen County meets on the
second Saturday of every month in Upper Saddle River; call
201-447-3652 for details. The Denver Area Science Fiction
Association meets 7:30 PM on the third Saturday of every month at
Southwest State Bank, 1380 S. Federal Blvd.
===================================================================
1. One of the disadvantages of not having children is that you
cheat yourself of having a second childhood, at least as far as
entertainment goes. Well, for small children it would not do you
much good anyway. Who wants to watch Barney with their very young
children? Not many, I admit. But when the children start getting
older you take them to see the Disney animated films. And you tell
people you are just going to watch the kids, but after a few
minutes it is "Daddy, I wanna go home." "Sh-sh-sh-sh, Daddy's
watching the movie. Wow, look at that dragon the witch turned
into! That is SO COOL!"
But not having children Evelyn and I missed all that. I think we
also carelessly passed up having mid-life crises, which we really
were entitled to even without children. In my case it was because
I have always been mathematical and knew years in advance about
when mid-life would likely be. It did not catch me unawares and so
we didn't suddenly feel we had to act like 20-year-olds. Or
perhaps we have been acting like 20-year-olds all along (minus the
beer and the hang-gliding, of course). But I do admit that with
the advent of our getting a DVD player I am sort of revisiting the
adventures of my teenage hero, James Bond. I have just completed
my collection of the first six Bond films with YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE,
which I just now realize should really be YOU LIVE ONLY TWICE. But
that is an example of what has been happening. I expect to be
drawn into these films and I can see why I liked them, but I also
see flaws I missed when I first saw them.
One of the things I am starting to look at is the song lyrics. To
the best of my knowledge nobody really has done an appraisal of the
songs of the James Bond films. I might as well do it, albeit
superficially. I used to love the Bond songs. I would sing them
to myself when I was mowing the lawn. Now I look at them and see
how silly they were.
Take the song from FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE. (I will take the songs
in order but will skip over DR. NO. It did not really have a title
song. For the title music it used the wordless James Bond theme
and a calypso version of "Three Blind Mice.") The lyric of the
second Bond film goes:
From Russia with love I fly to you,
Much wiser since my goodbye to you.
I've traveled the world to learn,
I must return from Russia with love.
I've seen places, faces and smiled for a moment,
But oh, you haunted me so.
Still my tongue-tied young pride,
Would not let my love for you show
In case you'd say no.
To Russia I flew but there and then,
I suddenly knew you'd care again.
My running around is through,
I fly to you from Russia with love.
First of all it loses points because it has nothing whatsoever to
do with the plot of the film. This guy singing is no James Bond.
Barney Fife is a bit closer. It is a song written by someone
returning from Russia to his former girlfriend. He has been a
world traveler but all it has taught him is that he should return
to his girlfriend. But it must be returning from the right place.
It won't work if he is returning from someplace like dull Belgium
or Denmark. Warm countries are right out. Apparently his girl
wants to be returned to from Russia. Why, we never find out. Now
the plot thickens. He has been traveling around since they split
up, but he keeps remembering her and wishing he had been more
romantic with her. He really did love her but the fear that she
would reject him so unhinged his fragile little mind that he could
not speak up. This guy's not ready to cross a street much less
journey around the world. Well then he took a plane to Russia.
Here he is sightseeing and in the middle he has a sartorial
experience. Something like, "The Kremlin, onion domes, the snow
and ice, fur hats, borscht. Hey wait. OF COURSE she'll love me
again." Now there is an air of mystery added. Apparently she
loved him at one time and stopped. Why? We never know. But that
is why he is afraid to say that he loves her in case she rejects
him a second time after once loving him. Now this wimp suddenly
knows that he can make her love him again because he is returning
from just the right country. I hope he remembers to bring her one
of those little nested dolls.
I mean after I listened to what this guy was really saying in his
love song I find myself shaken and not stirred.
Well, let's move on to GOLDFINGER. A piece of this lyric goes
Golden words he will pour in your ear,
But his lies can't disguise what you fear,
For a golden girl knows when he's kissed her,
It's the kiss of death from Mister Goldfinger.
Pretty girl beware of this heart of gold
This heart is cold.
This song was clearly "written to spec" by someone who had not seen
the film. It tries to be about the character in the film, but
misses by a mile. I mean the words describe Goldfinger sweet-
talking a lady. I tell you that Gert Frobe really looks like one
hell of a lover, doesn't he? So here he is whispering sweet
nothings into some lady's ear. But he isn't fooling her. Why not?
Because she has already been painted gold and is dying of skin
suffocation. At this point no amount of sweet-talking is going to
win her, no matter how cute Frobe/Goldfinger is. Well, leave us
face it. She had to be after his money from the beginning.
So, those were the title songs from the early days of the Bond
films, when they were still deciding just what to do with the
character and the series. They were creating the Bond formula,
songs and all. Next week I will talk about what they did from that
point on. [-mrl]
Mark Leeper
HO 1K-644 732-817-5619
mleeper@avaya.com
Nobody ever really wants a scandal cleared up. Uncleared it allows the imagination to run wild
like a child in a flowerbed.
-- Roger Rosenblatt
THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT ALMOST BLANK