Some movie songs have had a big influence on me and have affected my life. Here are some of them.
The Sound of Music film was a hit when I was a teenager, but my parents felt that going to the cinema was a sin, so I didn’t go to movies. Many years later, in the late 70′s, a friend showed The Sound of Music in a theatre, and this song influenced me. “Climb every mountain, till you find your dream.” So I decided to move to North America, to try and get into the music industry.
The first rock and roll record I ever heard was Jailhouse Rock. I was so attracted to the drums and guitar playing, and the exciting voice of Elvis. It was only about 20 years later that I actually saw the movie on TV in Canada. I had a music book of that song with pictures of Elvis.
Movie song – East bound and down
When we first visited the USA in 1976, we were in South Carolina, and the people there were using CB radios to talk to each other. It was a whole new world for us. The following year in South Africa, we saw the movie of Smokey and the Bandit, and it reminded us of the great time we had in America. It made me want to go back. I don’t agree with most of the morals, but it was so exciting. It is one of my favorites.
Raindrops keep falling on my head
When I was doing forced military duty with the Rhodesian Air Force, this song was a big hit. I always associate it with having a shower, because at home we only had a bath, but at the air force they only had showers. It was about 20 years later that we saw the movie on TV in Canada. Actually, B.J.Thomas is singing at the Seneca Casino in Niagara Falls on Feb.5.2011.
I heard this song when I was young, and it always felt good. Many years later I saw just a little bit of the movie on TV in Canada.
Here is Johnny Cash singing the song. As a teenager in Bulawayo, I used to pedal on my bicycle to a friend’s house to watch TV, and Bonanza was one of the shows I saw. It was so exciting. Many years later we bought an LP record in Bulawayo of Lorne Greene singing this song. There were so many nice songs on that record. When we first visited America we went to the Ponderosa Ranch, but it was closed for the season. (In Africa, everything is open all year – no bad winters there!) Years later I was shocked to find that Lorne Greene was from Canada. My heart was really touched when I found out that many orphans wrote to him asking him to adopt them because they wanted him to be their dad.
I was doing air force duty in Gwelo when I saw the first James Bond movie called Dr. No, and I loved this music. At the time the guys in the air force had James Bond books, and I had read the book before I saw the movie.
This song had a big influence on me when I was a little boy. I had a comic of Davy Crockett, and I had this song too. So many words in this song sounded so great to me. “The greenest State in the land of the free.” “An’ lit out a grinnin’ to follow the sun.” “His land is the biggest, and his land is the best.” How is that for promoting America! Many years later in Canada I found out there was a TV series too, and according to the internet, there was also a movie. I used to make my own toy guns and crawl around the yard, pretending I was Davy Crockett.
Many of the songs I link to on the YouTube seem to get removed. Maybe they were pirate copies, or maybe they were stolen by the Pirates of the Caribbean. If any of you see Johnny Depp, ask him if he has seen the songs.
I also have a Gospel web site. If you want to check it out, go to: http://countrygospelandbible.com/