Tom Waits found a life altering romantic experience in the lavish production of this soundtrack for one of the biggest Hollywood bombs of all time. Waits says, "Working on 'One from the Heart' was almost a Brill Building approach to song-writing--sitting at a piano in an office, writing songs like jokes. I had always had that fantasy, so I jumped at the chance to do it. I've been offerred other films, but I've turned 'em down. The director comes to you and says, 'Here, I've got this thing here, this broken toy.' And in some cases, he says, 'Can you fix it?' Or maybe he just wants interior decorating or a haircut. So you have to be sure you're the right man for the job. Sort of like being a doctor. Rest in bed; get plenty of fluids."
Waits had grown tired of living the boozy life of his songs: "There ain't nothing funny about being a drunk. You know, I was really starting to believe there was something amusing and wonderfully American about a drunk. I ended up telling myself to cut that shit out."
During the production of the songs, in which director Francis Ford Coppela took an active role, Waits met a script editor who took over his heart. He and Kathleen Brennan were married in August of 1980, before recording for the soundtrack even began, at one in the morning at the twenty-four hour Always Forever Yours Wedding Chapel in Los Angeles. He reminisces about that night, "She can lie down on nails, stick a knitting needle through her lip and still drink coffee, so I know she was the girl for me . . . I found the Marriage Chapel in the Yellow Pages, right next to 'Massage.' The Registrar's name was Watermelon and he kept calling me Mr. Watts!"
Crystal Gayle's vocals provide a stirring counterpoint to Waits' gruffly delivery, with the orchestra giving him the most sophisticated soundtrack of any of his albums. The budget of the production of the film ballooned to over twenty-five million dollars as Coppela insisted on building elaborate sets instead of filming on location. 'One from the Heart' only made less than two percent of that back, making it one of the most disastrous box office returns in history. Despite all this, the soundtrack was nominated for an Academy Award for Original Music Score.
Behind the scenes part one:
part two:
"Opening Montage (Tom's Piano Intro/Once Upon a Town/The Wages of Love)"
"Picking up After You"
"Old Boyfriends"
"Broken Bicycles"
"I Beg Your Pardon"
"Instrumental Montage (The Tango/Circus Girl)"
"This One's from the Heart"
"Take Me Home"
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