'You Light Up My Life'

Just awful, op.

Lots of great music created back then, but that ain't it

Did The Bionic Woman sing this song in an episode?

[quote]Just awful, op.

Agreed! It's one of those songs that was a monster hit — ubiquituous, in fact — but doesn't get played on even the cheesiest of oldies stations.

You could go from your car radio into a store and they would both be playing YLUML. It was EVERYWHERE.

roooollin' at sea....

adrift on the water....

I didn't know Michael Zaslow was in the movie version of the song. Wow! Now I may have to watch the movie just to see him.

I was a teenager working in a bakery when this song hit. And for months and months and months, people were ordering cakes with the inscription, "You Light Up My Life". Oh, how original. We got so fucking sick of it. And the song sucked from the get-go.

OP again. I had assumed that the movie was based off the popularity of the song, but it was actually the reverse: after the movie came out, Debby Boone recorded the theme as a single.

God, that song was awful.

The Bionic Woman sang ‘Feelings”. I couldn’t keep my eyes off of the conductor’s ass in “You Light Up My Life”. Does anyone else remember Lee Remick in the TV movie “Torn Between Two Lovers”?

The song was played on the radio ad nauseam. Then Debbie Boone was all over TV. This dragged on for months. The fraus and teenaged girls adored it.

Imagine if you were Kasey Cisyk or the guy who did the original version of the Twist (hank something...I forget). You record the song, nothing really happens. Then someone records the song almost exactly the way you did, and it becomes HUGE. (You Light Up My Life was the biggest selling song of the Seventies...10 weeks at number one. The Twist not only started a dance craze with sequels ...Let's Twist Again...but it became a number one song in two different years ) Those original singers must be so pissed.

Fun facts: Patti Smith sang this on the Mike Douglas show.

Grace Slick said she wanted to record it because her husband was a lighting designer.

Roger Thorpe was in the movie.

Did Michael Zaslow really wear a wig/toupee in the movie?

OP, I recently watched this movie on Prime after not having seen it for decades and it absolutely delighted me, not because it was a good movie, but because it was absolutely batshit crazy. And that is not hyperbole, and not easily explainable. The movie has to be seen to be believed. It's awful, it's insane, but it is never boring. Anyone who hasn't seen it, I urge you to rush to Prime. It's everything Moment by Moment promised to be but never delivered.

whoa whoa whoa...

The writer-director, who won an Oscar, committed suicide:

[quote]Composer Joseph Brooks, who won an Academy Award for the song “You Light Up My Life,” was found dead today, May 22, in his Upper East Side Manhattan apartment. Brooks, who was awaiting trial for the rape of several women, apparently killed himself using a helium tank hooked up to a dry-cleaning bag placed around his head. He was 73.

And his son:

[quote]Nicholas Brooks, the songwriter’s son, is being held without bail at the Rikers Island jail complex. He is accused of having murdered his girlfriend, swimsuit designer Sylvie Cachay. She was found dead in a bathtub at the Soho House club and hotel last December.

Some people may not be aware that Debby Boone is the daughter of singer Pat Boone, well known for being both conservative and a Christian.

Debbie Boone did the dubbing in the movie. Didi what's her name didn't ever sing it.

R18, what a couple of wholesome characters. Clearly Joseph drew on deep life experience when composing YLUML.

You ate the love of my life

The B-side of the single was the Boone Sisters’ cover of Hasta Manana by ABBA. Benny and Bjorn said they made a fortune in royalties because the single sold so well

"Debbie Boone did the dubbing in the movie"

Nuh-uh. Debbie sang on the record/single version. Kasey Cisyk (Kvitka Cisyk) sang for Didi Conn in the film.

And she died.

So weird that with a song that big , she never had another hit single, not even a moderate hit. It was like Zager and Evans in 1969. Their song "In The Year 2525" was number one for six weeks, but they never had any success after that.

That song, Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree and Torn Between Two Lovers come close. Then there’s just about every one of Helen Reddy’s “hits”. Angie Baby, I Am Woman among them. In Helen’s case a lot of it was her truly awful voice and deadpan deliveries. I turned off the radio.

Helen Reddy--she was awful. That voice and delivery. There was a whorish woman named Helen in our dorm who briefly dated the guy across the hall from me, the night they broke-up, she fucked someone else in one of the study rooms nearby. She was no beauty (neither was Helen Reddy), but we nicknamed her Hel-and-Ready just the same.

Very bad music, treacly. Banal.

I never miss a Melanie Mayron musical .

I actually really like the song and consider it a beautiful love song , don't get the hate. I don't care if Debbie Boone sung it to God, it was initially intended as a love song.

Song is ringing in my ears. Put this on instead to burn that mess out of my memory

[quote]Composer Joseph Brooks, who won an Academy Award for the song “You Light Up My Life,” was found dead today,

Now he's decomposing.

The saccharin voice of Debbie Boone , lips lightly brushed with lip gloss, a golden “shag «  hairdo, cheeks with a rosey enough hue for George Costanza , and eyes so fervently looking up to the heavens…. I could swear I saw tiny crucifixes. In them….

The voice everywhere nearly gave me brain damage

R 18: I thank you for those fun facts — reminds me of the composer of Gloomy Sunday , who committed suicide . The song was banned (urban legend) because it caused many to jump out the window, which I recall was the composers method as well.

I prefer it to YLUML

I hated it and it won the Grammy for Best Song. Hotel California should have won.

The song was about God. And terrible.

The Grammys awarded only the squarest music back in the day.

OP, I was twelve and in the seventh grade when that song came out. I sang the song over and over, everyday. Debbie Boone really hit the jackpot. Her religious father was beaming-gag.

Everyone knew who her dad was. Movies about someone dying had a certain mid-cult appeal.

That song was inescapable. It was constantly being played on AM radio in the car. The roller rink I spent all my free time at even played it! Never saw the movie.

No one died in You Light Up My Life, R39

It was her only hit. One hit wonder. She probably hates it some 44 years later.

The only connection to this that I have is having been an extra in Sins of the Past (1984) with your Miss Debby Boone.

R42, it must be hard to just have one big hit. You HAVE to sing it every time in concert. The public expects it. On the other hand it must be great to have lots of hits. I've been to a dozen Elton John events and he changes it up every time. The only songs I've seen him do every time were Your Song and Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting. All the other ones come and go.

Debbie had a pretty voice but no career savvy. While Madonna was climbing the charts, Debbie was having babies.

Debby has had both a musical theater career as well as a religious music career, so I would guess that she had plenty of gigs where people came to hear religious music and enjoyed that just as much.

[quote]Debbie Boone did the dubbing in the movie. Didi what's her name didn't ever sing it.

Not true, R20. And it was the original singer Casey Cisyk's voice on film.

It's weird Debby Boone had what was at the time the biggest song of all time, and then just... disappeared.

It's so disconcerting to watch Didi Conn (who is actually quite good in the movie) talk with her chipmunk voice, then sit down in front of a microphone and out comes something that would never in a million years be believable as her own voice.

[quote] [R42], it must be hard to just have one big hit. You HAVE to sing it every time in concert. The public expects it.

I think it depends on the song.

Don Ho hated singing "Tiny Bubbles," his only big hit, and so he had his audience sing it while the band played. But I've heard other performers loved their biggest hit. I think Lesley Gore loved "It's My Party" because it always makes people so happy for some reason (even though it's an ostensibly depressing song).

Sins...

I think Debby used the fame to trap a rich hubby. Stamped out some Booneque juniors so they could all worship together. Forced the kids to sing the song on church tours.

I like her song and love her snack cakes.

[quote] Lesley Gore loved "It's My Party"

Lesley Gore had more hits than just It's My Party.

Whitney never got her due on this cover...

[quote] It's so disconcerting to watch Didi Conn (who is actually quite good in the movie) talk with her chipmunk voice, then sit down in front of a microphone and out comes something that would never in a million years be believable as her own voice.

It was accepted because people saw it in real life with Tammy Faye Bakker. She had a little girl voice, but when she sang, she knew how to belt. The singing voice was miles away from the speaking voice.

Guess again, r52.

That's a pretty lousy example, R56. I can't even hear her over the choral group behind her.

Four words: Jim Nabors Kristin Chenoweth

I've always liked Debby's version of 'Baby, I'm Yours'

I want to know more about the TV movie Debbie was in with DL-fave Kim Catrall, never-a-DL-fave, Anthony Geary, and we-hate-her with-the-heat of-a-thousand-suns, Kirsty Alley... Sins of the Past!

Debbie as a former call-girl?! de-lect-able in that trashy, '80s way. could she act? Was it required?

R61 here; apologies for spelling Debby's name as "Debbie". Mea culpa, mea, mea culpa - it's early in the morning.

Debby's vocal sounds exactly the same as Kasey's.

R51 I will not rest this weekend till I find that online. Looks like some glorious 80's cheese. Honestly the premise sounds pretty good.

Carole King wrote a song with the same name several years earlier. It was a better song.

Don’t overlook didi conn in grease …. Beauty school dropout … Frankie Avalon

Besuty school dropout …. One day you’ll go and join the steno pool Go back to high school ….

…. Something bout no man would ever go for you … you look like a hooker or something to that effect ..,

Mysogny musings by the grate Allan carr

My friend was one of the dancers in the movie ….. she attempted to fuck w Richard Lewis but he was too coked out ; Travolta was with his Limo driver ( Travolta s)

I always felt sad for john having to be in thr closet ….so talented …death of his son … his wife Kelly … I don’t care if she wasn’t a wife in traditional sense

Obvious affection for each other

He was high jacked by Scientology given his vulnerability

Sorry I hi Jacked thread

R66 Your post is like poetry. Really, really bad poetry.

I still like the song. I remember that old tv movie. Wasn't it a tv movie? It wsn't good, but I didn't watch it for artistic pursuits. I liked the actress playing Debbie Boone and I liked, sometimes loved, the song. So, I watched it. She was popular and everywhere on tv back then, that actress.

[quote]She was popular and everywhere on tv back then, that actress.

That you can't even remember her name is hilarious.

The song was NOT written as a religious song. It was originally for the film and meant to be a romantic song.

Only after Miss Hideous Debbie Boone got her pussy stank all over it did it become a Hymn for Jeebus!

Wow, scroll down to read the ugly backstory of the song.

Debbie is actually pretty liberal now. She appears on the Stephanie Miller show from time to time. I think she has a pretty good sense of humor about herself and does not share a lot of her father's views.

You fucked up my life

R71 Wow, that was some fucked up shiz.

Sho many nights ...

I'd shit by my window

you still do, Liza.

[quote]r13 Fun facts: Patti Smith sang this on the Mike Douglas show. Grace Slick said she wanted to record it because her husband was a lighting designer.

Oh dear. This is a touch scary:

R16, his follow up “If Ever I See You Again” is currently streaming on Tubi. DL icon Shelley Hack is the romantic lead.

I couldn’t get through ten minutes of it but some of the reviews on IMDB suggest it is much a campy mess as YLUML. And Brooks is probably the creepiest male romantic lead ever.

[quote]“If Ever I See You Again” is currently streaming on Tubi. DL icon Shelley Hack is the romantic lead.

Oooh, George Plimpton and Danielle Brisebois together at last!!!

The theme was a minor hit for Roberta Flack, but the melody just sounds like YLUML played backwards.

And I think the Helen Reddy bashers are completely off base. They probably feel like they are carrying water for the then envious Bette Midler. Helen’s hit songs all had interesting, off kilter themes that made me a fan. Getting back to the topic of the thread, it is pretty funny that we went to the theaters so often to see TV caliber films like YLUML, Ice Castles, Benji movies…

R 67 I thank you for that.

[quote] it is pretty funny that we went to the theaters so often to see TV caliber films like YLUML, Ice Castles, Benji movies…

These sorts of movies have always been made and released theatrically. What are you talking about?

I remember going to see it in the theater. Back then if you lived in a small town, you just went to see whatever was playing in the theater. All I have is a faint memory of some big dramatic scene in a recording studio.

R67's post is worse than this.

R81: I could care less about Midler. Reddy's annoying nasal voice and her lack of stage presence make her easy to bash all on her own.

Reddy did a cameo on Family Guy, that's cool.

No that really wasn’t cool just because she is referenced in pop culture.

All hail Helen Reddy for her straight forward performance of "Angie Baby" - the song is whacked, but Helen makes it real. That neighbor boy deserved what ever happened to him! Peeking in Angie's room with evil on his mind...

Evil personal assistant Shawni Lucier will spend just four months in jail for admittedly helping Oscar-winning accused serial rapist Joe Brooks — composer of “You Light Up My Life”– procure ten young starlets to satisfy his casting couch depravities.

Once at his Upper East Side apartment, the young women were allegedly told to drink possibly drugged wine and read from a lascivious bogus script as part of “auditions” that often ended in attacks, including one outright rape, prosecutors said.

Lucier persisted as Brooks’ procurer, even as she watched young women leave the “auditions” in disheveled hysterics, and even after some of the women emailed her begging her not to let Brooks harm anyone else.

I recently saw a truly insane mother pitch some frau craft shit on Shark Tank with her 8 year old daughter at her side. She reminded me of someone, especially when she became emotional, and I finally realized it was poor Didi in "You Light Up My Life."

That was the 1st record I ever bought. I played it so much my dad stormed into my room and broke it in half. I listen to it now and gag,but back then I couldnt get enough.

Never heard of the song or the movie.

We can sing it for you!

Someone has a stalker?

Kasey Cisyk sang the jingle "Have you driven a Ford lately" which ran through the 80's and 90's, as well as the jingle "You deserve a break today" for McDonald's.

I feel like the unfamiliar can only appreciate our reaction to this sooooooonnnnnggg after they’ve heard it about 500 times straight, without a break. So here’s one more:

This song was huge when I was in elementary school. We learned the sign language version in music class and I still remember some of it.

the song reminds me of Bridge over Troubled Water.

Why wasn't Didi a bigger star?

R101 You don’t get bigger than Grease 2. There’s nowhere to go after that.

R100: Even more annoying than "Bridge".

This song, Bridge over Troubled Water, and What I Did for Love are popular karaoke ballad choices.

Debby married Rosemary Clooney and Jose Ferrer's son.

Poor Didi Conn, she was riding the crest of a wave, what with You Light Up My Life, Grease, and then Benson! I feel like Hollywood bigshots brought in Deena Freeman to undercut Didi's power in the buisness and let her know who was in charge. Didi lost certain parts that should have been hers to Deena and her career plateued. Really Deena was just an off-brand version of Didi and its know wonder her career never reached the same heights that Didi's did.

Deena… the Poor Man’s Didi Conn.

But wasn’t Didi Conn the Poor Man’s Talia Shire?

I wonder.

Thanks to this thread I watched the movie last weekend. If the song wasn't such an obvious hit, the title of the movie makes no sense given the story. The romances are all unrequited. The father/daughter conflict is the most interesting part of the film. I felt bad for Didi Conn's character now a grown woman still trying to do the same ventriloquist act in overalls that she did poorly as a kid. It was a typical somewhat depressing character study 70s film with a catchy ear worm of a syrupy ballad.

[quote]Really Deena was just an off-brand version of Didi and its know wonder her career never reached the same heights that Didi's did.

Deena Freeman looks more like the non-cerebral palsy version of Geri Jewell

[quote]But wasn’t Didi Conn the Poor Man’s Talia Shire?

They were both married to David Shire.

Didi was on Shining Time Station, when they had Ringo Starr on playing the conductor. She was also one of Olivia Newton John's closest friends.

I seem to recall Didi tried to teach ONJ how to smoke and then pierced her ears...

Oh God, R92, I was the same way. No one ever broke my 45 of You LIght Up My Life, but I played it so much it skipped in parts. No worries, I just held down the needle at the right time. I listened to that song over and over and over again to the point where my mother said she wanted to throw it like a frisbee against the wall and watch it shatter.

It was a decent enough song, but listening back I don't understand why it was such a huge hit. And I had no idea Debby was singing to God. I thought it was the love song it was meant to be.

here's the karaoke so you can sing your version.