Peter Salomone started out with a brilliant and simple premise about movie endings. His hypothesis: “‘Walk of Life‘ by Dire Straits is the perfect song to end any movie.” Spoiler alert: This post features the endings of several classic films.
Perhaps the truth of his hypothesis is an underlying assertion about the universality of human emotion. Or maybe “Walk of Life” is just so incredibly awesome. Is it really possible to improve The Godfather (1972)? Well, just add some Dire Straits.
Charlie Chaplin’s City Lights(1931) has one of the most perfect endings of any film, where the formerly blind woman recognizes the man who had once helped her. The only way to make it better is to add “Walk of Life.”
Were you confused at the end of 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)? Well, it makes more sense if you think of the star child as Johnny coming along “singing oldies, goldies / Be, bop, a, lua, baby, what I say.”
And it works with more recent movies too, like 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road.
For more examples, check out the Walk of Life Project website, with its dedication and devotion, “Turning all the night time into the day.”
What film would you like to see added to the Walk of Life Project? Leave your two cents in the comments.
On June 28, 1927, F. Sherwood Rowland was born in Delaware, Ohio. You may not recognize the name, but you should. He helped save the earth.
Rowland was a chemist at the University of California-Irvine several decades ago when he attended a talk on chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). At the time, CFCs appeared as refrigerants, as propellants in aerosol cans, and in other uses.
Rowland began thinking about the effects that CFCs might have in the atmosphere when they broke down. Eventually, his studies confirmed that CFCs did break down at high altitudes. And the released chlorine atoms worked to destroy the ozone layer that protects the earth from ultraviolet radiation.
He and a colleague, Mario Molina, published the results in the journal Naturein 1974. For a more technical explanation, here is a 2-minute video about the effects of CFCs.
How Rowland’s Work Saved the World
After Rowland published the findings, corporations attacked the study. Some of Rowland’s colleagues shunned him. No chemistry department in the U.S. invited him to give a lecture for most of a decade after the article appeared.
But eventually other scientists discovered that Rowland’s conclusions were accurate. Rowland worked to get CFCs banned, and the discovery in the mid-1980s of an ozone hole above the South Pole helped persuade politicians to act.
At the time of the treaty and years afterwards, several songs invoked the growing concerns about the disappearing ozone layer. Public Enemy had one of the earliest songs mentioning the ozone layer, when they referenced it on “Public Enemy No. 1” on 1987’s Yo! Bum Rush the Show.
Public Enemy also used the words a few years later on “Fear of a Black Planet” from the 1990 album of the same name: “I’m just a rhyme sayer/ Skins protected ‘gainst the ozone layers.”
Neil Young has one of the most famous songs mentioning the ozone layer with “Rockin’ in the Free World” from 1989’s Freedom album (“Got Styrofoam boxes for the ozone layer”). In 1989 in “Sick of You” on his New York album, Lou Reed sang, “The ozone layer has no ozone anymore/ And you’re gonna leave me for the guy next door.”
Dire Straits sang “Don’t talk to me about ozone layer” on “My Parties” from On Every Street (1991). On “Run Straight Down” from Traverse City (1991), Warren Zevon sang, “Fluorocarbons in the ozone layer/ First the water and the wildlife go.”
Don McLean wrote about the ozone layer within around three years after the publication of Rowland’s initial study. In 1977, he released “Prime Time” on the album of the same name, singing, “The weather will be fair, forget the ozone layer.”
In more recent years, artists continue to sing about the ozone layer. David Lee Roth mentioned it on “You’re Breathin’ It” (not available on YouTube) from Your Filthy Little Mouth (1994).
Eminem claimed some credit for damaging the ozone layer in “Role Model” on 1999’s The Slim Shady LP, “I’m not a player just a ill-rhyme sayer/ That’ll spray an aerosol can up in the ozone layer.”
The Cranberries took a more environmental approach in “Time is Ticking Out” from 2001’s Wake Up and Smell the Coffee. In the song, they conclude, “Looks like we screwed up the ozone layer/ I wonder if the politicians care.”
Remembering Sherwood Rowland and Others
It is funny that I knew the names of all of these artists who mentioned the ozone layer, but I did not know the name of the people who saved it. I also do not know of any song that mentions Sherwood Rowland or Mario Molina by name.
Rowland, who died on March 10, 2012, did receive the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1995 with Molina and Paul Crutzen of the Max Planck Institute in Germany. But they deserve much more, including our thanks and that we remember their work.
Photo of aerosol pollution over Northern India and Bangladesh via public domain.
On August 31, 2011, the B.B. King Blues Club in New York is hosting “Spirit of Mink DeVille”: The 2nd Annual Willy DeVille Memorial Concert. Willy DeVille — who passed away two years ago this month and was born in 1950 this Thursday, August 25 — had a long career as a musician, singer, and songwriter. He formed the band Mink DeVille in 1974, and it lasted until 1986. He recorded in a number of styles, ranging from punk rock to New Orleans R&B to an Academy-Award-nominated ballad. Later in his career, he became interested in Spanish-American music and began exploring his Native American background. At various times he was more popular in Europe than in his home country of the U.S., but he continued to create music throughout his life.
DeVille struggled for success throughout his career, and he battled a heroin addiction. After getting off heroin in 2000, his second wife, Lisa Leggett, committed suicide in 2001. Then, in 2009, he was diagnosed with Hepatitis C, and during treatment, doctors discovered pancreatic cancer. He died three months later in August 2009.
For those who have never heard of Willy DeVille, you most likely know one of his songs, “Storybook Love.” The song is from The Princess Bride and was nominated for an Academy Award. DeVille wrote the song with Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits fame. It is DeVille’s voice you hear at the end of the movie, and it is a perfect song for a perfect movie. Check out this 2002 live performance of the song (available on his Live in Berlin CD).
To get a sense of DeVille’s range over the course of his career, compare “Storybook Love” to this Mink DeVille recording of “Spanish Stroll.”
Overall, it is a pretty impressive career for someone whose name is unfamiliar to many people. Thanks to Mike for introducing me to these compelling performances by DeVille.
What is your favorite Willy DeVille song? Leave a comment.
, singing, “The weather will be fair, forget the ozone layer.”
(1994).
, “I’m not a player just a ill-rhyme sayer/ That’ll spray an aerosol can up in the ozone layer.”
and was nominated for an Academy Award. DeVille wrote the song with Mark Knopfler of 
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