My Rediscovery of "Heroes" or How Music Can Change You as You Change

(A little mood music for the blog)

So, growing up, I knew about David Bowie but I never heard of any of his music (except for when Adam Sandler and company sing "Space Oddity" in "Mr. Deeds" but I wouldn't know that was a Bowie song and also when they briefly sing "China Doll" in "The Wedding Singer". Do I sense a theme here?) To set the scene, I grew up on a farm in a rural community. Sure, it is outside the third largest city in Missouri, but that's not saying much. Needless to say, I was forced to being a huge country fan. I hated watching musicals or anything that would broaden my tastes....that was until I finally saw Moulin Rouge. (FYI: I do know that "Mr. Deeds" came out after "Moulin Rouge" but in my house with two older brothers, Sandler was the biggest movie star and his movies were high priority viewing.) I still remember begging my dad to letting me rent it despite in his words "It's about a whorehouse" but I finally wore him down. Putting in that VHS in my combo TV/VCR player (Yeap, definitely super high tech for 2002....) I was floored at all of the images that Baz Luhrmann put in front of my innocent twelve-year wanna-be film snob eyes. It was magical, exhilarating, and wonderful. No, this isn't my number 9 on my favorite movies list....If anything, it is in my top 25 but really low on that end. My favorite sequence of the film is "The Elephant Love Medley". I think Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman do a wonderful job of playing off each other with each musical response that they give. The highlight for me is when they start to sing "Heroes". I argue that they should have been the climax instead of "I Will Always Love You". It is the emotional apex of the medley for me. Enjoy the scene with Spanish subtitles below

 Of course, Moulin Rouge is really the reason why I love musicals to this very day but I never did look up that song that enchanted me so but then I was watching Criminal Minds with the episode entitled "Penelope" at the very end, when I heard the same lyrics but sung by The Wallflowers, originally for the Godzilla soundtrack.Although I can't find the exact clip, I will include the version down below.

Anyway, I tried watching the David Bowie version then. I just couldn't dig it. It wasn't my beloved Moulin Rouge version.

Flash forward to 2013. I am finally sitting down to watch "The Perks of Being A Wallflower" and there it is. The tunnel song is "Heroes" and it is so perfectly placed in that movie. Sam and Charlie can never work long term but they have the potential to "just for one day." It's my favorite scene of 2013 from my favorite movie of 2013 (Sorry, Silver Lining Playbook and Avengers. This is pretty damn perfect.)

(Unfortunately, this isn't the right clip, but you get the gist. The two scenes in the tunnel are pretty damn perfect.) As I left the student union theater where they are showing it, I was so moved by the song and started looking for it. Now, this has been on repeat on my Youtube and it is quickly moving up the ranks of my favorite songs. So, why do I love it now when I couldn't love it then? It's simple, I have matured my music tastes. I pretty much despise "modern" country music and adore rock. But this song just hits my uplifting but desperate love song loving heart. It made me look up more David Bowie songs and look up more people who love David Bowie. But this is a prime example of why you should let your taste mature and not try to control it. Controlling them are never good. Anyway, I will leave you with Oancitizen's review of Bowie's movie "The Man Who Fell To Earth". It is an amazing review and he does a fantastic job. (Spoilers: It's a musical review!) PS: You should check Oancitizen's review show "Brows Held High" at http://blip.tv/brows-held-high