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You can dance right through your life :: Under the Covers

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“Now I hear the music,
close my eyes,
I am rhythm.
In a flash,
it takes hold of my heart.”

Flashdance…What a Feeling :: Hollywood, Mon Amour, featuring Yael Naim

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Flashdance… What a Feeling is a song from the 1983 film Flashdance, written by Giorgio Moroder, Keith Forsey, and Irene Cara, and performed by Cara.

In addition to topping the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Cara’s only # 1 song, it earned a platinum record in 1983, winning the Academy Award for Best Original Song and the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song. In 2004 it finished at # 55 in AFI’s 100 Years…100 Songs survey of top tunes in American cinema.

The song was the # 3 single of the year in 1983 on the Billboard year-end chart. In 2008, the song was ranked at # 26 on Billboard ’​s All Time Top 100, which commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Billboard Hot 100.

In the United Kingdom, the song spent one week at # 2 on the UK Singles Chart dated July 5, 1983.

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I saw Flashdance in the theaters as a double feature with the film War Games. Though I loved War Games, it was the second movie in the duo, Flashdance, that captured me completely. I have always been a big fan of movies with dancing and music in them, especially when I was a teenager. I think I have always wished I could dance, like really dance, and am envious, and enamored, by those who can. Flashdance had everything I loved at the time, music, romance, a female lead who had artistic aspirations, and lots and lots of dancing.

I wanted to dance like her so badly. Oh, and I also learned the bra through the shirt trick in that movie – I may never have been able to dance like her, but I did learn how to take off a bra.

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I bought the soundtrack soon after, and I think I wore out all the grooves on the album. It became one of my beloved soundtracks of my younger teenage years, the pre-John Hughes years, I like to call them, as those soundtracks (Pretty in Pink, The Breakfast Club, Some Kind of Wonderful) took over and ruled my life when they came around. I still have a soft spot for this song though, of all the ones on the soundtrack, this one still gets me to turn up the volume and sing-a-long. I think it has a lot to do with the lyrics, the hopefulness of them, the dreams realized.

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This cover is gorgeous, stripped back, intimate, and emotional in a way that the original loses with all it’s 80’s pop/disco/dance infusion. Though I do love the energy, and the build of feeling, that the original has the way that it makes you want to get up and dance. It feels inspirational, like in that “Eye of the Tiger” kind of way.

What do you think of this cover? What do you think of the original? Do you have a favorite movie soundtrack from your younger years that you will always have a soft spot for?

Flashdance…What a Feeling :: Irene Cara

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12 Replies to “You can dance right through your life :: Under the Covers”

  1. How funny because I was the opposite… We endlessly teased my Mother for her Flashdance obsession(we still do) and constant playing of the soundtrack. On the other hand my Father liked War Games and we’d pile into the living room to happily watch that one. I associate each of my parents with each of these movies!
    I have one memory of curling up on the couch with my Mom in the den, watching her Flashdance tape together and asking lots of questions about the characters.
    I think if I’d been a teenager or older the movie might’ve resonated with me differently, I watched it sometime in my early 20s with a friend and we were taking it really seriously, it was different to me then.
    Flashdance seems unique among the 1980s romantic dramas and I like that.

    I don’t think I like the cover but the original can’t not make you wanna get up and do something with your life!

    Enjoyable post.

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    1. I was a teen when it came out in the theater…14 years old. I loved it, but I saw it less seriously at that age then I did when I re-watched it when I was in my 20’s. I should re-watch it now and see how I feel about it.

      I have seen War Games many, many more times though. It had a longer shelf-life for me in movie re-watching…know what I mean?

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  2. Beautiful cover! And amazing album. Yael Naim actually reminds me the last time I was in Italia. Her hit pop song was everywhere. The awesome thing about Europe is that MTV actually plays music videos. Thank You for introducing me to this LP, so many stirring covers that I am loving

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    1. I’m so glad someone told me about the album – I’m loving all the covers on it. Glad you are enjoying it, too.

      I remember when I was in the UK seeing a lot of music videos on MTV there – was cool. Hope you enjoyed Italy.

      What is your favorite cover on the album?

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      1. I have to say Doves. But America is very impressive. Have you heard Sleeping at Last’s cover of I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)? Always reminds me of Marshall and Ted hearing the Proclaimers original over and over again in that HIMYM road trip episode .

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  3. I knew you’d like the album, Lore. Soundtrack movie covers, and these ones are gorgeous. I think I like When Doves Cry the best, though Juliette Lewis covering This is Not America is pretty amazing.

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