While the story of a bored suburban New Jersey housewife getting knocked unconscious and waking up into the life of a new wave goddess in Lower Manhattan circa the mid-'80s was more than enough to land on my Top 10 all-time favorite movies list (and trust me when I say you would NOT want to watch this film with me -- I've seen it more than 100 times and I recite every line before it's said), the unsung hero of "Desperately Seeking Susan" was its eclectic soundtrack -- which, some 24 years later, has yet to see a proper release. When I completely gave up hope, my friend Jesse reminded me that it took more than a decade for the "Valley Girl" soundtrack to make it to CD, but getting a soundtrack that never really existed produced? I wasn't holding my breath.
Naturally, I was ecstatic when Thomas Newman's stellar score was finally released in 1987 ("New York City by Day" still gives me goosebumps -- the guy is a musical genius). It was packaged along with Chas Jankel's music for "Making Mr. Right," director Susan Seidelman's followup, and along with the Gershwin "Manhattan" soundtrack, is one of the few instrumental collections I play over and over again. As wonderful as it was, though, the film's complete soundtrack -- with its timeless lineup that included contemporary and classic tracks by Betty Everett, Junior Walker, Carly Simon, Iggy Pop, Aretha Franklin, Marshall Crenshaw, Run-DMC, Dee Dee Sharp, the Fixx, and, of course, Madonna's ultimate dance song, "Into the Groove" -- needed to be compiled in its entirety to be fully appreciated.
Finally in 2004 I decided I'd waited long enough. I was in the midst of converting all of my vinyl that never made it to disc with a DJ friend of mine when I got the idea to produce "The Definitive DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN Film Soundtrack." It wasn't easy. Junior Walker's R&B take on the Foreigner classic "Urgent" -- used to great effect in Madonna's opening scene where she's taking Polaroids of herself while waiting for the room service boy to deliver -- was seemingly nowhere to be found until I stumbled upon it as a bonus track on a Motown Legends compilation. (You'll recall that Junior plays the killer sax on the original Foreigner smash from '81.)
"Good going, stranger" ...
And the original "Into the Groove" -- with its iconic opening and without that inappropriate ragtime piano that was added to every version out there -- was
There were other challenges along the way, but in the end it was well worth the effort. You can judge for yourself with the links below, including a complete MP3 DOWNLOAD of the results.