Meco -- Star Wars/Cantina Band

 

Yesterday, I posted an article on singer and seiyuu Emi Shinohara's（篠原恵美）"Wasureru tame ni Koi wo Shinai de"（忘れるために恋をしないで）on hearing of her untimely passing a few days ago. This was on top of the news that actor James Earl Jones had also died on September 8th at the age of 93. He had been in so many different movies such as "Dr. Strangelove", "Field of Dreams" and "The Hunt for Red October", but of course, I'm always going to know him as the voice of one of the greatest movie villains, Darth Vader from "Star Wars".

As a kid, I'd always wondered who that was inside the armour to be able to voice Vader in that iconic way. That breathing, the basso profundo, and the elegant but threatening delivery (and a talent for asphyxiation) that struck awe and fear in not only mouthy Imperial commanders but millions of theatregoers. We would later find out that it was a tandem operation with David Prowse as the Dark Lord of the Sith in body while the voice was provided by Jones.

The two of them worked together to create this master bad guy who received as many cheers as did Luke, Yoda and Obi-Wan. When "Star Wars" became this huge phenomenon in 1977, the characters including Vader showed up everywhere including the ABC music-variety show "Donny & Marie". I remember seeing that specific episode with the kitschy spoof involving Donny Osmond, sister Marie and actor Kris Kristofferson along with C-3PO and R2-D2. Darth Vader even showed up (though he was voiced by someone else) in sketches to literally rip apart settings such as a gym locker room through his Sith ways. 

I remember when "The Empire Strikes Back" premiered in 1980 at the University Theatre in downtown Toronto. It was absolute joyous mayhem as the lines snaked around the cinema like a naruto. It took two tries over as many days, but my brother and I finally got into the theatre to see the sequel and the cheering and clapping were incredible. All of us especially wanted to hear Jones speak out those words as Vader and we got them, accompanied by the new epic "Imperial March" theme. It was always a moment to hear him speak, and for me, some of my favourite quotes were: "I find your lack of faith disturbing", "The Force is strong with this one", "You have failed me for the last time", and of course, "I am your father". All of my condolences go to Jones' family, friends and fans...may the Force be with him.

As a tribute to him, my weekly Reminiscings of Youth article will be on this song connected with the franchise. Interestingly enough, as much as I have raved about John Williams' theme for "Star Wars" in its own article from 2022, I have to confess that the original Williams Main Title isn't the first version that I ever heard. That award has to go to Meco's "Star Wars/Cantina Band" which was part of his album "Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk", released in the summer of 1977, only a few months after the movie had gotten into theatres. 

Rona Barrett's "Good Morning America" feature on the original movie which included the famous TIE fighter vs. Millennium Falcon scene was the first that I'd ever seen of "Star Wars", but a few months later, I heard this snazzy disco epic or Meco-ized version of the Main Title, the Cantina Band jazz and even a bit of the Jedi theme on K-Tel commercials or even ads about the movie itself. For some reason, I didn't hear it too much on the local radio, though. I'd assumed that the mononymed Meco was some flamboyant artiste from European discos but he actually hails from Pennsylvania. 

Yeah, I know disco is all about the dancing but I'd never seen people dance to Meco's "Star Wars" until today. Just listening to it was good enough for me; such was the genius of John Williams. By October 1977, it hit No. 1 for a couple of weeks in the United States and in Canada, it was also a chart-topper. Eventually, I would hear the original Main Title and then in 1979, my father finally took me to see the movie itself, two years after its premiere. The Fairview had been showing "Star Wars" every day for those two years and yet there were still lines snaking all over the place and people were still exploding in delight when the Death Star blew up.

According to the 1977 Japan Record Awards, three chanteuses won Excellent Performance prizes:

Momoe Yamaguchi -- Cosmos (秋桜)

Hiromi Iwasaki -- Shishuuki （思秋期）

Sayuri Ishikawa -- Tsugaru Kaikyo Fuyu Geshiki （津軽海峡・冬景色）