Over Easy:Rex Manning
There’s a cool indie film called ‘Empire Records’ that came out in 1995 and told the story of a local record store in Delaware with that name. The movie starred unknowns Renée Zellweger and Liv Tyler among others, has a wonderful soundtrack and completely bombed at the box office. Ideal for cult status, no?
For the first and only time, I got hired to write a song for a film. Usually, you’d hear about an upcoming picture that needed a closing credits song that encapsulated the timeless sweeping themes of the picture, was totally original while sounding like the song that had been temped in by the editor, and that the filmmakers were in discussion with Celine’s people about performing. Teams of songwriters all over L.A. burrowed into little rooms with no windows and too much gear to write the same song. It eventually would go to a friend of the director’s and in one case that person was Carly Simon. I didn’t know how to feel about that.
So, a washed up 80’s star named Rex Manning is attempting a comeback and is making an autograph-signing appearance at the unlikely location of ‘Empire Records’. He needs a signature song and we want you to write it. Ok! Oh, just one thing… it has to be called “Say No More (Mon Amour)’, which I actually think is hilarious. So my co-writer, the brilliant Ralph Schuckett, and I went to work at Dave Stewart’s studio (Sweet dreams are made of this!), and cut the vocal with Maxwell Caulfield, who’s been in lots of TV shows and movies including ‘Grease 2’, ‘Dynasty’ and ‘’Murder, She Wrote’. The lyrics went something like this.
(Oh, Rexy, you’re so sexy) spoken
You call me on my car phone with that je ne sais quoi
You say you need a little of my ooo la la
I know you get lonely in your canopy bed
But say no more baby I’ll be running every red
Say no more, mon amour
I’ll bring my lovin’ right to your front door
Here I come baby je t’adore
Lips are for kissing baby say no more
Fortunately, there are all kinds of people who love this movie and for whom Rex Manning is indeed a legend, so I was able to find the lyrics online, cause I couldn’t remember them. And there’s a music video with over 600,000 views and it’s pretty damn funny!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szvt8iWJ0oo
And the actor who played Rex, Max Caulfield, said in an interview on the 20th anniversary of the film, “I don't know what that (the song) was about. It makes no sense whatsoever."
C’est vrai, mais …
