1983's Twilight Zone: The Movie was, like most anthology movies, a hit-and-miss affair. The first two segments, from John Landis and Steven Spielberg, didn't really make a mark. But the Dan Ackroyd/Albert Brooks wraparound (by Landis), and the final segments from Joe Dante and George Miller were real fun (especially the latter, an adaptation of Richard Matheson's "Horror at 37,000 Feet," with John Lithgow perfect as a freaked-out airplane passenger). My favorite feature about the movie, though, was Jerry Goldsmith's diverse score. The first part is all military-drumbeats, to go along with the stark Vic Morrow story. The second is lush and flowery, to match the gushy Spielberg episode. The third episode is filled with wacked-out cartoon-inspired orchestrations, as the Joe Dante episode required. And the fourth bit is a straight-out horror score, with a screechy violin as its scary lead.
And then, somewhere in that first episode, we hear the song "Nights Are Forever" being played over the jukebox. It's just buried in the mix there, but it became the centerpiece of the Twilight Zone soundtrack when I bought it on vinyl in the early 80s. I just couldn't get enough of the song that summer, and played it constantly. It somehow never became a hit, even though it featured Jennifer Warnes, who'd just scored a #1 hit with another movie song "Up Where We Belong" (from An Officer and a Gentleman). Hearing it now, I still like the song, even if its sparkly 80s orchestration is quite dated.
The song is called "Nights Are Forever." The music is by Jerry Goldsmith and the lyrics are by John Bettis. It's sung by the sultry Jennifer Warnes.
Faceless voices talking
Smoky rings of seared lives
Strangers telling stories
No one really buys
Through the neon starlight
Women watch the men move
Through the broken music
Of what they need to prove
Nights are forever
When you have no one.
Well, nights are forever
When you're just trying to hang on.
Standing in the shadows
Staring holes in my clothes
We both know what's coming
This is how the game goes
Nights are forever
When you have no one.
Nights are forever
When you're just trying to hang on.
All is all I want
You to give.
Love me like
We only have this night to live.
Dancing makes me hungry
Lying bores me to tears
Let's just take each other
The way we appear.
Nights are forever
When you have no one.
Well, nights are forever
When you're just trying to hang on.
Nights are forever
When you have no one.
Nights are forever
When you're just trying to hang on.
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