Here’s to the Lovers, the Dreamers, and Me

Last weekend’s weird Academy Awards ceremony has me thinking about La La Land – a nostalgia-filled musical homage to the city of Los Angeles and to Hollywood’s golden age.

Central to the movie’s sentimental mood and theme of pursuing dreams is the ballad “Fools Who Dream”, which Mia (played by Emma Stone) sings for an acting audition in a pivotal scene. If the song sounds familiar, it’s because the exaltation of dreamers may have come via a shortcut (or, at least, a coincidence).

Check out this clip from “Fools Who Dream”. Pay attention, especially, to the first few notes of the chorus (the link is cued up to the right spot):

Here is what that would look like on paper (more or less):

fools_who_dream

Does it sound familiar?

Yep. As you may have known already, this motif is really similar to the first few notes of the verse in Paul Williams’s “Rainbow Connection”. Those notes look kind of like this:

rainbow_connection

Those first three notes are exactly the same. (But it’s important to note that these songs are in different keys. Because of that, these notes are contextualized differently.) There’s nothing particularly special about this sequence of notes on their own, but in the context of “Fools Who Dream”, I think they’re supposed to put us in a “Rainbow Connection” frame of mind.

If you hum of the verse melody of “Rainbow Connection” over the chorus of “Fools Who Dream”, it works pretty well because the progressions are almost the same. Further, the rhythms are very similar (although the soloists flex it a little in both songs), and they’re both in triple meter (in simpler terms, you could waltz to them). Both songs have similar instrumentation.

The upshot is that the composer, Justin Hurwitz, achieves that bittersweet nostalgia by invoking a song that is also bittersweet and nostalgic, and about which we may feel extra wistful because The Muppet Movie was awesome.

As if that wasn’t enough, “Fools Who Dream” lyricists Benj Pasek and Justin Paul included lyrics which are thematically reminiscent of the ones Paul Williams and Kenneth Ascher wrote for “Rainbow Connection”. You may have noticed that connection already from my mash-up title.

For comparison’s sake, here is “Fools Who Dream”:

My aunt used to live in Paris
I remember, she used to come home and tell us these stories about being abroad
And I remember she told us that she jumped into the river once, barefoot

She smiled

Leapt, without looking
And tumbled into the Seine
The water was freezing
She spent a month sneezing
But said she would do it again

Here’s to the ones who dream
Foolish as they may seem
Here’s to the hearts that ache
Here’s to the mess we make

She captured a feeling
Sky with no ceiling
The sunset inside a frame

She lived in her liquor
And died with a flicker
I’ll always remember the flame

Here’s to the ones who dream
Foolish as they may seem
Here’s to the hearts that ache
Here’s to the mess we make

She told me
“A bit of madness is key
To give us new colors to see
Who knows where it will lead us?
And that’s why they need us”

So bring on the rebels
The ripples from pebbles
The painters, and poets, and plays

And here’s to the fools who dream
Crazy as they may seem
Here’s to the hearts that break
Here’s to the mess we make

I trace it all back to then
Her, and the snow, and the Seine
Smiling through it
She said she’d do it again

And here is “Rainbow Connection”:

Why are there so many songs about rainbows and what’s on the other side?
Rainbows are visions, but only illusions, and rainbows have nothing to hide
So we’ve been told and some choose to believe it
I know they’re wrong wait and see

Someday we’ll find it, the rainbow connection
The lovers, the dreamers and me
Who said that wishes would be heard and answered when wished on the morningstar?

Someone thought of that and someone believed it
Look what it’s done so far
What’s so amazing that keeps us stargazing and what do we think we might see?

Someday we’ll find it, the rainbow connection
The lovers, the dreamers and me
All of us under its spell
We know that it’s probably magic
Have you been half asleep and have you heard voices?
I’ve heard them calling my name

Is this the sweet sound that calls the young sailors
The voice might be one and the same

I’ve heard it too many times to ignore it
It’s something that I’m supposed to be

Someday we’ll find it, the rainbow connection, the lovers, the dreamers and me
Someday we’ll find it, the rainbow connection, the lovers, the dreamers and me

If you want to learn more about “Fools Who Dream”, check out composer Hrishikesh Hirway’s excellent podcast below for an interview with Hurwitz. (Interestingly, there’s no mention of “Rainbow Connection”, so it’s possible the similarities are a coincidence. I think it’s more likely they didn’t want to mention the inspiration they drew from a song written by the president of a performing rights organization.) Even if you’re not a huge fan of the movie or the song, there are some interesting tidbits – for instance, Emma Stone sang her solo while she acted that scene, and she had very few takes to get it right. That’s impressive.