A fond farewell to Olivia Newton-John, 26 September 1948 to 8 August 2022.
I saw Grease on it's first release at the cinema in 1978, aged 7, and fell in love with Olivia Newton-John (although, in fairness, I loved all of the Pink Ladies) and I've lost count of the number of times I've seen it on TV since. Not that I actively seek it out or own the VHS, DVD, Blu Ray... but it's one of those films that's so embedded that a flick through the channels, a line of dialogue, a bars of a song, and I've found myself hopping on for the rest of the ride.
With the sad news of Olivia's passing, I'm guessing that clips and quotes from Grease will be all over the blogosphere and social media today, so I've opted for something else, but equally embedded in my young mind.
First off, I'll admit that I've never seen the movie musical Xanadu, which came out in 1980. Depending on which reviews you read, it's either brilliantly ambitious or woefully underwritten. However, it did contain a couple of pop song gems in the title track (with Electric Light Orchestra) and follow up single Magic. Xanadu spent two weeks at #1 in the UK whilst Magic managed a less impressive peak of #32.
I was less enamoured with follow up single Physical with it's, let's face it, pretty shonky video even for 1981. I'd assumed it was also a #1 as it felt like Top Of The Pops was always showing it (or at least an extract with the allegedly "racy" bits excised). I was surprised to find it only got as far as #7, although it managed 12 weeks in the Top 40.
Anyway, I still can't bring myself to post a link to that song/video so here's Goldfrapp performing a re-titled cover version of Physical in 2020, having originally recorded it as a B-side to her single Utopia in 2001.
A fitting tribute to the neutron-bomb. When stars who were popular from the 70's die I always think it takes you back to childhood and who any older siblings listened to. My brother had the single 'if not for you' and I didn't know it was a Bob Dylan song but as someone who was 7 or 8 it just sounded like a 'nice lady singing a nice song'. I always felt that should have been the big hit not 'yawveonethativant' which was on the radio all the time in 79...
ReplyDeleteThanks, Mike, look no further than John Medd's blog (http://www.johnmedd.com/) for a wonderful clip of Olivia performing that very song. I won't lie, I love the songs from Grease and will never get tired of hearing them (I think) but ONJ was so much more than that. Rol's excellent ONJ Top Ten this morning (http://histopten.blogspot.com/) points the way.
DeleteI can understand your reluctance to embrace Physical, Khayem, but for me it's a glorious slice of 80s cheese with a wink at the camera throughout. The Goldfrapp version is cool, but I wonder if you've heard Juliana Hatfield's cover (from her ONJ tribute album)? Might just change your mind about the song... or it might not.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfiMIK-x1uI
Thanks, Rol, not just for the ONJ Top Ten earlier but for pointing me to Juliana Hatfield's tribute album. I have Juliana's self-titled album from about 10 years ago but haven't really kept up with her since so I didn't know this even existed. Hands up, I loved Juliana's cover of Physical and, having hopped over to Bandcamp to hear the rest of the album, suffice to say money has changed hands and I now own a digital copy. Time for me to unclog these rheumy eyes and ears and revisit the ONJ original of Physical, I think.
DeleteGlad you liked the JH. It's a great album.
DeleteThat was a good shout, Rol, thanks again.
DeleteAgain, an excellent tribute (and I'll work my way over to Rol's place in due course either later tonight or tomorrow). I've worked 'Xanadu' into the pre-match playlist that'll be aired before the Raith Rovers v Morton game this coming Saturday.
ReplyDeleteNice one, JC. Regardless of the match outcome, everyone should exit feeling like winners after hearing Xanadu in your pre-match playlist!
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