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 …