Sometimes, an artist's best songs are the hits nearly everyone knows. In memory of Irene Cara, I offer these reflections on three of her best hits:
- Fame (For its strong hook and Cara's confidence-to-burn pipes, "Fame" deserved its commercial success. If you don't look past the surface of these lyrics, they might come across as an artist's delusional, entitled wishes. I see them, however, as a way of expressing how determined and resilient one has to be to succeed as an artist. When you face repeated rejection as a singer, dancer, or author but know you have the talent and drive to excel, this isn't a bad mindset to have. Looking back, I'm amused that our eighth grade chorus class never got around to singing the tune's lyrics. One day, Mr. B. played the opening of the tune on the piano repeatedly while the class sang, "La-la-la, la, la-la-la-la-la," over and over. That was as far as the class progressed. Inexplicably, we never got past the intro. We did, however, sing the entire song in sixth grade chorus with Mrs. B. Not surprisingly, "Fame"'s omnipresence made it the one pop song we sang in two different grades.)
- Flashdance...What A Feeling (Lyrically, the song's sentiments are somewhat similar to "Fame" but more graceful. Once you've worked hard and achieved a certain level of success, you should be able to savor what you enjoy most about your profession. "Flashdance" was custom-made to be a smash adult contemporary hit, so you couldn't escape hearing it on the radio in the Spring and Summer of 1983.)
- Why Me? (Unlike "Fame" and "Flashdance," "Why Me?" wasn't typically played on the radio after it fell off the charts. Although it was a fairly big hit, I still think it was somewhat underrated. Its bounce still holds up, in my opinion, and it works for puppet shows.)
