Now and then, a rising musical artist will “catch a break,” be noted by the producer or director of a film in progress, and one of his songs will be employed in that film. There are fewer such instances of good fortune than there are “rising musical artists,” of course – and some of those artists favored by fortune never rise very far. But their one song might just “rise without them,” becoming enduringly memorable.
Here’s one such, from British composer / performer Alan Price. It became the opening-credits song for O Lucky Man!
If you have a friend on whom you think you can rely –
You are a lucky man!
If you've found a reason to live on and not to die –
You are a lucky man!
Preachers and poets and scholars don't know it,
Temples and statues and steeples won't show it,
If you've got the secret, just try not to blow it –
Stay a lucky man!If you've found the meaning of the truth in this old world -
You are a lucky man!
If knowledge hangs around your neck like pearls instead of chains –
You are a lucky man!
Takers and fakers and talkers won't tell you.
Teachers and preachers will just buy and sell you.
When no one can tempt you with heaven or hell -
You'll be a lucky man!You'll be better by far to be just what you are
You can be what you want if you are what you are
And that's a lucky man!
Oh yeah, a lucky man!
And that's a lucky a lucky a lucky man.
A nice approach to what it means to be a lucky man.
3 comments:
Ronnie Montrose recorded that song.
I always liked the lyrics, and his music was great.
Bob James did the vocals, Sammy left the band before they cut that album.
An excellent title cut to an excellent soundtrack album for a very odd movie of the same name. I have both. I guess that does say something about me. ;-)
For what it’s worth, it contains early performances by Helen Mirren and Malcom McDowell.
It’s the middle episode of a loose trilogy that follows the character played by Mr McDowell (many of the same characters can be seen in all 3, and some plot line references between them - but no formal continuity between them). They are:
If....
O’ Lucky Man, and
BritainIa Hospital
These are the handy work of British director Lindsay Anderson. I saw him speak at an AFI event at the Kennedy Center For The Performing Arts (yeah, that big white building along the Potomac, just south of the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, DC).
Oh - and the Alan Price Band has a bit part in the movie (O Lucky Man), as well.
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