Apr 24: Songs about going to the movies (also Kaitlin Olson)

[skullturfq]

One song you missed that mentions going to the movies is "You Were Meant For Me" by your identical birthmate Jewel Kilcher.

Also, sorry for the pedantry, but you misspelled the last name of actress Kaitlin Olson. Normally I wouldn't care, but Olson is my mother's maiden name.

[cybergeo3]

Flight of the Conchords - Hurt Feelings. All Bret's friends go to the movies (Maid in Manhattan) without him.

[melissa]

I wouldn't have gotten this #7 one way or another, but I think one of the clues is in error. "Wake Up, Little Susie" isn't about a trip to the movies or a theatre, it's about watching a movie (I assume on tv). Of course, I'm making an assumption that no movie theatre of good repute was open in 1957:

Wake up, little Susie, wake up
Wake up, little Susie, wake up
We've both been sound asleep, wake up, little Susie, and weep
The movie's over, it's four o'clock, and we're in trouble deep
Wake up little Susie
Wake up little Susie, well

Whatta we gonna tell your mama
Whatta we gonna tell your pa
Whatta we gonna tell our friends when they say "ooh-la-la"
Wake up little Susie
Wake up little Susie, well

I told your mama that you'd be in by ten
Well Susie baby looks like we goofed again
Wake up little Susie
Wake up little Susie, we gotta go home

Wake up, little Susie, wake up
Wake up, little Susie, wake up
The movie wasn't so hot, it didn't have much of a plot
We fell asleep, our goose is cooked, our reputation is shot
Wake up little Susie
Wake up little Susie, well

Whatta we gonna tell your mama
Whatta we gonna tell your pa
Whatta we gonna tell our friends when they say "ooh-la-la"
Wake up little Susie
Wake up little Susie
Wake up little Susie

************
Sounds more like they were watching it from a sofa, not a theatre. I suppose a case could be made for a drive in, but they must kick everyone out at some point!

[TheConfessor]

Regarding "Wake Up Little Suzie," I always understood it to be the story of falling asleep at the drive-in. If it were about falling asleep at home, in private, there would be no obsessive concern for their mutual reputations and how they were going to explain it to their friends, and there would be no need for the song to exist.

Here are some other songs that occurred to me, all of which did well on either the Billboard pop or country charts. They each mention going to the movies.

Those Lazy Hazy Crazy Days Of Summer -- Nat King Cole
Spooky -- Classics IV
Act Naturally -- Buck Owens (or the Beatles)
Did You Boogie (With Your Baby) -- Flash Cadillac and the Continental Kids
Ode To Billy Joe -- Bobbie Gentry
Downtown -- Petula Clark
Whatever Happened To Randolph Scott -- Statler Brothers

I assume you're not interested in songs where the title explicitly states the movie theme, such as:
Western Movies -- The Olympics
Sad Movies (Make Me Cry) -- Sue Thompson
Saturday Night At The Movies -- The Drifters

The above selections may indicate that I'm old and out of touch, or that pop stars don't sing about going to the movies as much these days. Or both. In my defense, I saw Iron and Wine Sunday at Jazz Fest, but I don't think Sam Beam sang any songs about going to movies. I blew off Bon Iver to see the Beach Boys, which probably improved my chances of hearing songs about drive-ins.

[Ken Jennings]

Agreed, Wake Up Little Susie has to be a drive-in.

Argh, can't believe I missed "Downtown" and "Ode to Billie Joe." That's a good list.

[melissa]

I always thought that Wake Up Little Susie happened in the guy's apartment. Surely a drive in's owner would tell people to leave long before 4am!

As I said before, I wouldn't have gotten it anyhow. FWIW, I've often thought that the word "groovy" was coined by lyricists needing a word to rhyme with movie!

John Sebastian had one in "Do You Believe in Magic" - Makes you feel groovy, just like an old time movie (or something like that).

[melissa]

I knew the Turtles had one! Elnore has the memorable "I really think you're groovy/Let's go out to a movie".

[Ken Jennings]

That reminds me there's also a groovy/movie rhyme in "Spooky."

[TheConfessor]

That reminds me there's also a groovy/movie rhyme in "Spooky."

"Spooky" is also in my list above.

Regarding "groovy," probably its first significant appearance in song lyrics was "A Groovy Kind Of Love," a #2 hit in 1966 for The Mindbenders. The song does not mention anything about movies (and didn't need to rhyme anything with "groovy" since it was not used at the end of a line). The co-writer gives Carole Bayer Sager credit for the original idea of using the new slang word in a song.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Groovy_Kind_of_Love

The Classics IV may had the first big hit that rhymed "movie" with "groovy," with "Spooky" in December 1967. The Turtles did it in 1968 with "Elenore" (while proclaiming "gee I think you're swell). There may be others, but not very many, I think.

[ToLiveIsToFly]

I'm a week behind reading the answers. But I don't recall any reference to going to the movies in that song. I sang to myself the version I learned at campfires, and no mention of the movies. I looked up the lyrics at bobdylan.com, no mention of the movies. I went and found my copy of The Basement Tapes, listened to the song there, no mention of the movies.

Now. I know Bob Dylan re-writes the lyrics to his songs from time to time. Is there a version of You Ain't Goin' Nowhere that does mention them?

[Ken Jennings]

The one I first heard replaces "Clouds so swift, Rain won’t lift, Gate won’t close, Railings froze" with "Cloud so swift, rain fallin in, gonna see a movie called Gunga Din." I'm no Basement Tapes expert...if I'd realized the Gunga Din version wasn't the canonical one, I wouldn't have chosen that song.

[TheConfessor]

I heard another one on the radio over the weekend. In 1957, Eddie Cochran reached #82 on the charts with "Drive In Show." It's a pretty lame and boring song, except for when it sounds like he's singing "I bet my penis to a candy bar." He also tries to entice his date with the prospect of eating six hot dogs after the show. I guess the 1950s were simpler times, when a guy could freely speak his mind.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nex4W64fRU

[ArtVark]

I was always under the impression that "Wake up Little Susie" was in a movie theater. If it were a Drive-in, you
would not have to wake her up unless she was the driver. Back in those days, they did not clear theaters out
between shows and you could sit for several showings if you want.