The Moments - Chapter 8: Spontaneous Emotional Response

               One of my favorite movies from the 1980s is “Short Circuit” (I also love its sequel, aptly named “Short Circuit 2”).  If you’ve never seen it, shame on you.  This is the classic story of a Cold War defense robot that comes to life when struck by lightning.  The original film is, basically, the robot’s quest to avoid being destroyed by the defense contractors who built him and to convince his creator that he is, in fact, alive.  In the scene in which Number 5, the robot, confronts his creator, Newton Crosby (played by Steve Gutenberg), in an attempt to prove his near-humanity, Crosby makes statements and asks questions seeking to determine the human quality of his responses.  What ends up convincing him is Number 5’s response to a joke.  Crosby thinks he got the joke wrong but Number 5 still “gets it” and laughs hysterically (and robotically) after he thinks about the punch line for a few seconds.  When this occurs, Crosby declares his belief that Number 5 is alive on the basis of “spontaneous emotional response.”  Indeed, it seems to be a pretty exclusively human trait.  Watching Joey’s emotional responses grow and evolve has given me a deeper view of the reality of this concept.

               Ever since Joey could say a handful of words and focus on what he saw on a television, he has enjoyed watching Ernest P. Worrell (my boy has good taste in entertainment!).  He frequently requests it, too.  In the days when Joey usually only spoke a word or two at random at a time, he would simply plead “Ernest!  Ernest!” – as if he was calling out to an old friend.  When those times came, we would put a DVD of Ernest commercials or his old Saturday morning kids’ show in to play and have a ball (still do).  As with most children in the first year or two of life, Joey’s responses to many things he saw and heard were the mimicry of my responses.  If I laughed at Ernest, Joey would laugh at him.  However, one morning in the summer or fall of last year, as I was doing something else, I heard one of Ernest’s commercials begin and noticed Joey glued to the TV.  Joey’s gaze at the screen didn’t break.  It was the Pine State Ice Cream commercial in which Ernest built Vern a tall ice cream cone with one scoop of each flavor of ice cream that he had in front of him all while singing a variation of “Happy Birthday.”  Extending his arm straight ahead and out of view, Ernest hands the ice cream cone to Vern but quickly retrieves the empty cone which had lost all its scoops because Ernest piled it too high.  With a glance at the cone and a glance at Vern, he begins singing and scooping again and the commercial ends.  On this particular occasion, it amazed/amused/stopped me a bit to notice that when the ice cream fell off the cone and Ernest pulled the cone back, Joey totally got the joke and began to laugh purely based on his own understanding of what he had seen and heard.  This was a small example of spontaneous emotional response.  But, it also gave me pause to wonder how we actually develop the ability to not only understand a joke but understand it to the point of having a real reflexive reaction to it.  [This may also be the part where some of you think it’s good that Joey never really needed me to determine what’s funny for him.] 

               Spontaneous emotional response took a deeper form to me as Joey’s conversational skills continued to develop and he would say, or simply repeat, things to me in a manner that showed real understanding.  The simplest and best example of this is the statement “I love you.”  As I have written before, the first time Joey ever repeated that line to me was during our evening routine when I was drying him off from a bath and getting him ready for bed.  While it thrilled me and touched my heart to hear him say “I love you,” I also knew that it was primarily a simple repeating of what I had just said to him.  After that, yes, I always listened for him to say “I love you” back to me.  Sometimes he did, and sometimes he didn’t.  But there came a time when I knew in my mind and soul “he gets it,” and it was one of the many moments that reminded me that he and I are an inseparable team.  One afternoon early this year, we went to Kroger to do the “major shopping” (you know, when you fill up the whole buggy and make friends with the person who checks you out because you’re at the register for so long).  Joey was being extra affectionate that day.  I would stop in the middle of an aisle to look for something and he would reach up, not to seek an exit from his seat in the cart, but to pull me down for a hug.  He did that at least half a dozen times over the course of our shopping trip.  It was great!  We’d talk about what Joey was pointing to in the store and he would observe other people around us.  On one aisle, we had stopped for a moment and he pulled me in for a hug.  I said “I love you, son,” and with a little tilt of his head and a different look in his eyes than normal, he smiled and said “I love you.”  Though he had repeated it and said it at random before, I knew at that moment “He gets it!  It’s not just a line he repeats now.”  I nearly cried for a second.  But Joey and I both knew we had to finish the shopping.  Maybe I was the one experiencing spontaneous emotional response here, but I think it was one of those times where knowing his Daddy loves him, and really internalizing it, let Joey experience it too.
               As much as I love the “Short Circuit” movies (and, again, if you haven’t seen them, you must), they got one point a little bit wrong.  When Number 5 exhibited spontaneous emotional response, Newton Crosby knew and believed that he was alive.  But, in reality, when I see little Joey Grimes display spontaneous emotional response – especially when he says “I love you, Daddy” – that’s when he makes me believe that I am really alive.  And, thanks to Joey, I am more alive every day.  Knowhutimean?

Nothin' But the Music - Track 007

               Some great music can be found in movies, whether it is a song or orchestral composition written for the film or a piece already written and given new life as part of a cinematic work.  Some songs define their movies, and some movies define their songs.  I know of no other film series, however, with a more distinctive and diverse collection of music than the James Bond series.  For one thing, it’s one of the longest-running film series of all time and has simply had ample time to build up a large collection of songs associated with it.  Bond music has touched and been influenced by most musical genres, and the songs often become signs of the times in which the films were released and based.  As Halle Berry once put it, Bond music has also become a genre all its own.  With each film, a song sets the tone of the film or touches on the forthcoming plot after an opening scene, describes some of the film’s characters in an abstract way, speaks to the complexities of Bond’s own existence, or achieves any combination of the three.  As part of this blog series paying tribute to great music, naturally, I must pay tribute to the greatest examples of that unique genre.  I’ve decided to make this a top 10 list, although I love all Bond theme songs (and some of the non-theme music that has graced 007’s film outings as well).  But, I will state that I see this as the top 10 greatest Bond themes in terms of their place in the series and their proper accentuation of the films in which that are featured.  They are probably also my personal favorites, but that ranking would look a little different.  So, in Chuckonia’s view, the top 10 best James Bond themes (so far) are:

10) The World Is Not Enough – Garbage did a great job adding a grungy yet stylish start to Pierce Brosnan’s third outing as 007. It was ironically appropriate that a mostly male band led by a female vocalist would sing the theme to the first Bond film in which the primary villain was a woman. The song and film are titled after the Bond family motto that was revealed in the film and novel “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.” That, alone, gives the operative phrase significance. However, the words to the song are more like a villain’s love letter and could be considered the unspoken dialogue between Elektra King and Renard. Some would argue that in the view of James Bond as a cold, survival-only thinker, that the lyrics may more thoroughly represent his words to someone else as he trudges through a lonely, deadly mission. This is definitely a song that makes multiple points as once and was a great addition to the Bond music collection.

9) You Know My Name – Wow! I remember my heart jumping a little when I first heard this song after the first few minutes of “Casino Royale.” As great as that movie was, this song was the real kickstart to the new James Bond series. Since the film was portraying Daniel Craig’s 007 as starting out his Double-0 career, a song that essentially reminded the viewer, and the unfortunate victims of Bond’s Walther PPK, that they already knew the name and would really know it within the next two hours was very appropriate. The lyrics somewhat speak to the overall history of the franchise, though, as they take a “villains come and villains go but Bond survives” view of the world. A nice tie-in to the universal concept of fiction’s greatest superspy.

8) Diamonds Are Forever – The second of the Bond themes sung by Shirley Bassey (the undisputed Queen of 007 songs), this song was a very classy sign of the times as it, among other things, is the only real feminist anthem in the series. Hence, the line, “Men are mere mortals who are not worth going to your grave,” rings louder than any part. It was a perfect fit for the early 70s. Its melody is a good blend of smooth lounge music and psychedelic mood music. Though the film itself, like all Bond stories, was full of action, “Diamonds Are Forever” was a parade of high-class sights, sounds, scenarios, locales, and low-lifes. Those factors and the strong performance by Jill St. John as Tiffany Case, the ultimate 70s Bond girl, called for a song that spoke to the female audience in a personal way and set an audible imprint as only the voice of Shirley Bassey could.

7) A View to A Kill – No Bond theme has become more thoroughly associated with the music of its decade than this hit from 1985. Duran Duran still performs it with the frequency of their other biggest hits, and the song can be heard on radio around the world. It is a true staple of 1980s music. The song doesn’t tell a story and has little consistent theme except to talk about death and fate in random terms. But, the beat is awesome and it sets the audience up for a mood of suspense and intense shifts in the tone of the film which begins after the song ends.

6) For Your Eyes Only – Sheena Easton’s 1981 hit that opens what is often considered Roger Moore’s best 007 film has a soft tune (common with most of the themes during the Moore era) and was written like a pure love song. Its sexual undertones made it fit the stereotypes of Bond. And, since the film itself didn’t put a lot of focus on any single character, the song’s lack of connection to the story didn’t matter and allowed it to just be a cool song. This was also the first time we actually saw the theme song's vocalist during the opening credits.

5) License to Kill – Beyond the title itself, this is one of those definitive Bond songs. Yes, he was always licensed to kill (thus, he bears Double-0 status), but James Bond is also someone who doesn’t take it lightly when you mess with his friends and loved ones (remember what happened to Blofeld?). That concept was the entire plot of “License to Kill.” As bad a guy as Franz Sanchez was, he made the gravest of mistakes – he let a shark maul James Bond’s best friend and killed that friend’s wife. At that point, his number was up. Back to the song, though. “License to Kill” was the first Bond theme song that was cut short for the film. The entire first verse is left out. However, the entire song was included on the film’s soundtrack and in most other productions of the song. When you listen to the shortened version as played in the movie, the song seems to focus on the idea of avenging a friend that establishes the flim’s plot. But, when the entire song is processed, it could be considered more of an intense love song that speaks to the concept of doing absolutely anything for the one you love and to earn the love of another. In a sense, it speaks about the competition that can be seen between the two Bond girls in the film, Talisa Soto and Carey Lowell. I rank this song high on the list partly because of that clear double meaning. And though I am otherwise a fan of Gladys Knight, I also think hers was the perfect voice and presence to give life to this song.

4) Skyfall – Adele certainly deserved the Oscar for this beautiful song. Not only does it convey the melancholy plot of the film in a memorable way, but it takes both a literal and abstract approach to the song and film’s title. As the viewer eventually learns, “Skyfall” was the name of James Bond’s boyhood home where he lived until he was orphaned. But, at the time the song is heard in the film that is about an hour and a half from being learned. The song’s lyrics refer to a general place called Skyfall, particularly in the line “Skyfall is where we start, a thousand miles and poles apart,” but it more frequently splices the word into its constituent parts with the line “Let the sky fall.” It was a perfect use of the title. As comparisons go, the usage and flow of the film title as the song title is most akin to “Thunderball.” Unlike most of the themes for films titled by an uncommon word (“Goldfinger,” “Thunderball,” “Moonraker,” “Octopussy,” “Goldeneye”) this one clearly achieved telling a story in the abstract – perhaps Bond’s or M’s or Silva’s – and setting a mood that was clearly met by the story and pace of the film.

3) Goldfinger – Shirley Bassey’s first Bond theme was her best. From the first note, the song grabs you and makes you feel like you’re about to be introduced to a dark and glittery villain like none other and enter a cinematic world unlike any that has been on the screen. Indeed, that would happen. Though James Bond had been on theater screens twice before, “Goldfinger” was the film that truly launched the character into a global phenomenon. Whether that made Bassey’s performance more celebrated or if her performance can be given some credit for sending the film into orbit is debatable. What cannot be questioned, however, is that “Goldfinger” is one of the Bond themes that is universally recognized and can often be sung by people who have never seen the film or any of the 007 movies. That’s when you know a mark has been made. [Dame Shirley Bassey also made a mark at the 2013 Oscars when she performed "Goldfinger" in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Bond film series.]

2) Live and Let Die – When Roger Moore began his turn as Agent 007, he did it with a bang courtesy of Sir Paul McCartney. Paul and Linda’s coldly direct ode to the art of death delivers the concept of “it is what it is” in a very blunt style with an ebb and flow of slow and fast beats that make the song a favorite for singing along in the car. The instrumental version was also more distinctive when played over scenes in the movie than most of the other themes. Without telling a story, it became a touchstone for the story, the laid-back characters, and the lower-class locales portrayed in one of the most fun Bond films of all. [It is also still a staple of Paul McCartney's stage show.]

1) Nobody Does It Better – I have always seen “The Spy Who Loved Me” as the film that established a lot of the 007 stereotypes. There were more tuxedos, female enemy agents, and Cold War concerns in this film than virtually any other. In style and story, it was also at the top of the list during the Moore era. It was to the Moore era what “Goldfinger” was to the Connery era. As such, it needed (and achieved) a song that spoke to the character of Bond, the character of the usual Bond girl, and the infallible view of a fighter and lover that we all want to believe of James Bond. Carly Simon, one of the quintessential singer-songwriters of the 1970s, delivered just that – the quintessential Bond theme song. The beautiful melodious tune of the song put you at ease like the world will be after Bond completes a mission, and the words could be coming from the mind or mouth of a Bond girl or Bond himself. Regardless of the story or the actor of the time, “Nobody Does It Better” defines one man – James Bond.
*Honorable Mentions - There are two songs that can be found on the soundtracks of their respective Bond films that I feel were given a raw deal by not being the main themes for those films. They are:
-Surrender from "Tomorrow Never Dies." It plays during the film's closing credits.
-No Good About Goodbye by Dame Shirley Bassey from the soundtrack of "Quantum of Solace." This song was unknown to the public until the film's soundtrack was released.