SONG OF THE DAY

“The Origin Of Love” as performed by John Cameron Mitchell and Miriam Shor (Hedwig & The Angry Inch Motion Picture Soundtrack, Hybrid Recordings, 2001). Written by Stephen Trask.

INTERESTING FACTS (from wikipedia)

– Stephen Trask wrote the song, which is based on a story from Plato’s Symposium. In the Symposium, a party is being held in which a series of speeches are given paying homage to Eros, the Greek god of love. “The Origin of Love” is taken from the speech given by the playwright Aristophanes. According to the speech, long ago, humans were composed of two people stuck back-to-back, with two faces and eight limbs. Male-male humans came from the Sun, female-female humans from the Earth and male-female humans from the Moon. The gods, out of jealousy, split them in half. Now, throughout our lives, we are always trying to find our “other half”, and sexual intercourse is the only means we have to put the two halves back together; this desire to be one person again is what we call “love”. However, it is impossible to fully rejoin two people because it is our souls and not our bodies that most desire to be reunited.

– Trask says of the song’s form: “When I started writing that song, the only way I could think to write it was as a picture book. So I wrote it, all the images in it, and the way the story gets told, as the language of, like, a Dr. Seuss picture book. If you read the lyrics out loud, they read like a picture book.”

– While taken from the story within the story in the Symposium, the song deliberately jumbles characters from different cultures (such as Zeus, Osiris, and Thor.) It puts forward Hedwig’s idea that humans have pre-destined soul mates, and that she is seeking hers, Tommy Gnosis. At the end of the film Tommy addresses this idea in the reprise of the song “Wicked Little Town”, arguing that no cosmic force controls our destiny (“And there’s no mystical design, no cosmic lover preassigned.”) and suggesting that she needs to move on.

– According to the Internet Movie Database, the vocals for this song as it appears in the film were recorded live.

– The animation that accompanies the song in the film version was drawn by Emily Hubley.

– On the album Wig in a Box (a charity cover of the Hedwig soundtrack), “The Origin of Love” is covered separately by Rufus Wainwright and Jonathan Richman.

MY TAKE

Welcome the the 1990’s Musicals blog entry, a very special part of 1990’s week! This entry is, of course, dedicated mostly to the genius of the rock musical Hedwig and The Angry Inch, but I do want to pay brief tribute for the other genius musicals of the stage that this decade gave us. Here’s my Top 10 Musicals of the 1990’s:

(1) Hedwig and The Angry Inch (1998) —– tied —– (1) RENT (1996)

(3) Aida (1998)

(4) The Lion King (1997)

(5) Children of Eden (1998)

(6) A New Brain (1998)

(7) Jekyll and Hyde (1995)

(8) Once On This Island (1990)

(9) I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change (1996)

(10) The Secret Garden (1991

But back to Hedwig….Oh, my sweet Hedwig. This song is one of my true “our song” love songs with my future husband, Todd. “I’ll Cover You” from Rent is our other “our song”. Yes, those are both songs about relationships with mixed up sexes, and no that does not matter. Both songs are about love and its most intimate and painful and raw and expressive and meaningful side.

Watching this movie with Todd back in 2004 was a huge threshold we crossed together—I found someone who appreciated this song and film as much as I did, who wasn’t scared away by it, who was really struck by its meaning and beautiful music video interpretation in the film version and was as sensitive to it as I was. I never thought I could find that in a man and would always have to settle a little in the “Hedwig-love” department, but within a week of that night I knew my eyes were no longer seeing a boyfriend but were seeing a life partner.

Does anyone have the album Wig In A Box? I really want a copy of this album! I’d love to hear the alternate versions of the soundtrack’s songs recorded by people like Rufus Wainwright!! Drop me an email if you do! joaneebalonee-at-gmail-dot-com

VIDEOS OF THE DAY

Click here to see the updated 1990’s Week playlist, which now includes today’s musical selection, “The Origin of Love”.