Saga of Second bests #4

‘Terry’s Theme (From “Limelight”)’ – Frank Chacksfield, 11/06/1953

You can’t say I don’t do my research. I watched Limelight before writing this review, and what a joy it was. Just for context: Limelight is a film written, produced and directed by Charlie Chaplin, who also wrote the score and stars as the lead. It involves an aged stage clown (Calvero) looking after a suicidal dancer (Terry, whose theme it is). The film is a fascinating, a sincere portrait of age, art, love and life, bolstered by Chaplin’s chops as a comedic actor and authenticated by its earnestness portrayal of failure and despair. On release, however, it was apparently boycotted due to McCarthyism, to the point where Chaplin was banned from returning to America after the film’s London premiere. Twenty years later, it won an Oscar for ‘Best Original Dramatic Score’ thanks to some dodgy release rules (it was first shown in LA in ’72, making it eligible for that year’s ceremony).

Instrumental music is so alien to the modern chart landscape. Its last gasps, it seems, were ‘Albatross’ or Hugh Montenegro’s cover of a (or THE) Morricone theme. Go even further back to 1953, and Frank Chacksfield’s recording of ‘Terry’s Theme’ stayed at number two for eight weeks, winning NME’s ‘Record of the Year’ award, another version charting IN THE SAME YEAR by Ron Goodwin, and eventually being lyricised into ‘Eternally’ (a No.8 hit for Jimmy Young).

But is it any good? I really like it. I keep starting to worry that the film has tainted my opinion on it, before realising I don’t care and enjoying the song and its context. It is delicate, sweet, shy and hopeful; it glides like a petal on the breeze (how cliché). In other words, it encapsulates Claire Bloom’s portrayal of Terry perfectly. I wouldn’t listen to it regularly, lest I dampen its efficacy, but it does stir something in me.

Should it be silver?

Our final week of ‘I Believe’ (at least until ‘Wonderwall’). Again, I can understand why ‘I Believe’ stayed (though not consecutively) at the top. Even in the ‘50s, words were preferred. That being said, ‘Terry’s Theme’ has burrowed itself into a soft spot in my heart, a place not yet reached by any song we’ve witnessed in the Saga of Second Bests.

Rating

4 chocolate oranges out of 5

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