Wuthering Heights

1 Prelude: The Future Ain’t What It Used To Be
Erika Christensen (a capella)
0.49 Jim Steinman
2 More
Erika Christensen and Mike Vogel
4.54 Andrew Eldritch / Jim Steinman
3 I Will Crumble
Erika Christensen and Mike Vogel
5.08 Hewitt Huntwork
4 If It Ain’t Broke (Break It)
Mike Vogel
2.09 Jim Steinman
5 Shine
Mike Vogel
3.36 Hewitt Huntwork
6 The Future Ain’t What It Used To Be
Erika Christensen
7.53 Jim Steinman

Soundtrack Produced by Jim Steinman
Music Supervisor: Amy Rosen
Recorded and Mixed by: Steven Rinkoff
Production coordinator for Jim Steinman Productions: Don Ketteler
Recorded and mixed at The Hit Factory, Bovaland and Dome Logic (NYC)
Mastered at The Hit Factory by Tony Gillis

Label MTV Original Movies / Ravenous Cat.No. - Format CD Year 2003 Country USA

A Note From The Producer
[foreword to Emily Bronte’s "Wuthering Heights" ‘new MTV edition’]

Ever since the first recording I made as a producer and/or writer — Bat Out Of Hell by Meat Loaf, released in 1977 — it’s often been written that my work is "over-the-top." I never took that as a criticism. I remember in some early interview, when asked about it, spontaneously coming out with, "Of course it’s over-the-top. If you don’t go over-the-top, how are you ever going to see what’s on the other side?" Yeah, definitely glib, but I believed it. One of the things I always loved about Wuthering Heights is how over-the-top it is — how "operatic," which easily morphs into how "rock ‘n’ roll." Both forms are heightened, musically and dramatically revved up, amplified, and in some important senses, extreme. Jugular. Wuthering Heights is a jugular work; a world pumping and roiling with astonishing passion and desperate measures in life, death, love, revenge, and obsession — a flight of merciless turbulence. For me, seeing the other side was the dark side of love primarily, where attraction crosses recklessly over borders, past love into pure dark obsession.

I first had the idea for Wuthering Heights in the late ‘80s when a film studio head met with me and told me that his studio tested song titles compulsively, finding some of their best material beginning with a high testing title. I was told, to my amazement, that the two highest testing titles ever for them were "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" and "Total Eclipse Of The Heart." The latter had been a huge hit, but it seemed too poetic to elicit that response. But, he said, among women ages 16-45 especially, it scored "off the radar screen." "So," he asked, "can you make a movie with that title?" I said "Sure," and then, dazed, wandering through Westwood near UCLA, I noticed the CliffsNotes of Wuthering Heights in a window. I had always loved the book, and thought how appropriate it was to the title and the lyrics: "Once upon a time/ there was light in my life/ now there’s only love in the dark/ There’s nothing I can do/ A total eclipse of the heart." I saw the movie as faithful to the febrile intensity and romanticism of the original, but with very young actors, set in Northern California, on the edge of America driven relentlessly by music. And, of course, amplified — this should not be "reverent" acoustic period piece, but a hot-wired rave of all that’s unleashed. "Let your dreams out of their cages." It was always meant to be an ode to Love in the Dark. Long may it rain. The studio head left, I moved on and never got the movie done, even after a first draft screenplay. Then, over ten years later, MTV expressed a startling unexpected desire to do it. Work began on a new draft, the title was changed, "Total Eclipse" was dropped, new songs were written, and here we are. It’s been a terrific adventure and an exhilarating journey over-the-top. Thanks Emily Bronte. And CliffsNotes.

Jim Steinman, Executive Producer

The Future Ain’t What It Used to Be (a capella)

It’s like a storm that’s never ending
It’s like a shadow on the land and the sea
There’s nothing so sad
As a tomorrow gone bad

The future ain’t what it used to be

Some days I feel so numb and empty
And those would be the good days for me
Nothing gets to me now
Unless I’m thinking of how

The future ain’t what it used to be …

More

Boy: Some people get by… with a little understanding
Some people get by… with a whole lot more
I don’t know… why you gotta be so undemanding
One thing I know — is want more!

Girl: And I need all the love I can get
And I need all the love that I can’t get to
And I need all the love I can get
And I need all the love that I can’t get to

Boy: D’ya get scared to feel so much?
To let somebody touch you?
So hot, so cold, so far, so out of control
Hard to come by and harder to hold

Some people get by… with a little understanding
Some people get by… with a whole lot more
’n I don’t know… why you gotta be so undemanding
I want more!

Girl: And I need all the love I can get
And I need all the love that I can’t get to
And I need all the love I can get
And I need all the love that I can’t get to

And I need all the love I can get
And I need all the love that I can’t get to
And I need all the love I can get
And I need all the love that I can’t get to …

I Will Crumble

If you want to sleep, I’ll pull the shade
If you should vanish, I’m sure to fade
If you should smolder, I’ll breathe in your smoke
If you should laugh, I’ll smile and pretend that I make the joke

If you should ever leave me
I will crumble
That’s just the way I am
I hope you never leave me

That is to say:

If you should sink I don’t want to swim
If you’ll lock the door, I’ll beg to come in
If you should sing, I won’t make a sound
If you should fly I’ll curse the ground

And if you should ever leave me
I will crumble
That’s just the way I am
I hope you never leave me

That is to say:
I will crumble
I will crumble
And I will crumble

If you’re an explosion, I’ll won’t search for shelter
If you’re the sun, I’ll sit here and swelter
If you’re the moon, I’ll stay up all night
If you’re a ghost, I’ll be haunted for life

And if you should ever leave me
I will crumble
That’s just the way I am
I hope you never leave me

That is to say:
I will crumble
I will crumble
And I will crumble

I will crumble
I will crumble
I will crumble
I will crumble …

If It Ain’t Broke (Break It)

Give me some words I can live by
Give me commandments to know
Give me some fables and proverbs
Give me some signs where to go

I’m a desperate, lonely child and I don’t have enough
I’ve come to know the rules and all the scriptures of love

If it ain’t real — fake it!
If it ain’t yours — take it!
If it don’t exist — you make it!
And if it ain’t broke — break it!

If it ain’t real — fake it!
If it ain’t yours — take it!
If it’s gone to sleep — you wake it!
And if it ain’t broke — break it! …

Everything I’ve ever dreamed of
Has begun to fade to black
I don’t know where I ever lost love
Or where to go now to get it back

There are designated angels who just might save our soul
They give me words to live by—and it’s all that I know

If it ain’t real — fake it!
If it ain’t yours — take it!
If it don’t exist — you make it!
And if it ain’t broke — break it!

If it ain’t real — fake it!
If it ain’t yours — take it!
If it’s all gone bad — forsake it!
And if it ain’t broke — break it! …

Shine

One day you’ll shiver, one day you’ll burn
One day you’re helpless, next day you’ll learn
One day you’ll practice, one day you’re playing
One day you’re lying, next day you’re praying

Hear what I’m saying:

Some days you shadow, some days you shine
Some days you’re gutter, other days you’re shrine
Some days you’re theirs, some days you’re mine
Some days you shadow, other days you shine

One day you’re incensed, one day perfumed
One you’re buried, the next day exhumed
One day you’re armored, one day you’re naked
One day you feel it, next day you fake it

Life’s what you make it

Some days you shadow, some days you shine
Some days you see and other days you’re blind
Some days you’re nectar, some days you’re rind
Some days you shadow, other days you shine

Some days you’ll prosper, some days you’ll pine
Some days you’re famished, some days you dine
Some days you’re pearl, some days you’re swine
Some days you’re theirs, but some days you’re mine

You’re mine for all time

Some days you shadow, some days you’ll shine
Some days you plumet, and other days you climb
Some days you stammer, some days you’ll rhyme
Some days you shadow and some days you shine

Shine like you’re mine
Mine for all time
Mine for all time …

The Future Ain’t What It Used to Be

Girl: I never knew so many bad times
Could follow me so mercilessly
It’s almost surreal
All the pain that I feel

The future ain’t what it used to be

It doesn’t matter what they’re thinking
It doesn’t matter what they’re thinking of me
It’s always so cold
I’m to young to be old

The future ain’t what it used to be

Were there ever any stars in the sky?
Did the sun ever shine so bright?
Do you have any dreams I could borrow
Just to get me through the lonely night?

Is there anything left to hold on to
When the rivers wash it all away?
Is there anyone left to hold on to?
Is there anything left I can say?

Say a prayer for the falling angels
Stem the tide of the rising waters
Toll a bell for the broken hearted
Burn a torch for your sons and daughters

The endless night has got a hold of me
Dark days are pulling me forward
And all these tears are washing over me
Oh, I’m crying — lost forever
In a future that ain’t what it used to be… no more
No more, no more…
Ooh ooh, ooh ooh…

It’s like a storm that’s never ending
It’s like a shadow on the land and the sea
There’s nothing so sad
As a tomorrow gone bad

The future ain’t what it used to be

Some days I feel so numb and empty
And those would be the good days for me
Nothing gets to me now
Unless I’m thinking of how

The future ain’t what it used to be …

Were there ever any stars in the sky?
Did the sun ever shine so bright?
Do you have any dreams I could borrow
Just to get me through the lonely night?

Is there anything left to hold on to
When the rivers wash it all away?
Is there anyone left to hold on to?
Is there anything left I can say?

Say a prayer for the falling angels
Stem the tide of the rising waters
Toll a bell for the broken hearted
Burn a torch for your sons and daughters

The endless night has got a hold of me
Dark days are pulling me forward
And all these tears are washing over me
And I’m crying — I’m lost forever
In a future that ain’t what it used to be… no more
No more, no more…
No more, no more …

Ooh yeah…
No more…
Ooh…

(the future just ain’t what it used to be)
It’s never gonna be like it was
(the future just ain’t what it used to be)
I wish it wouldn’t come but it does
(the future just ain’t what it used to be)
It’s never gonna be like it was
(the future just ain’t what it used to be)
Wish it wouldn’t come
Wish it wouldn’t come
I wish it wouldn’t come… but it always does …