And then Saturday, everything changed, and he's the largest thing again. I mean, the last three weeks, I've seen Tim, you know, be the greatest thing on the planet. It's about one man kind of against the world. So I made the lyrics seemed like the wheels with Demi Moore's jeep, but really, it's Rick. And I thought we've got to lend this guy a hand. The Rick was just setting out on the Man in Motion tour for Vancouver. And David showed me a little five-minute TV segment. Elmo's Fire," the movie, and I really just couldn't get inspired, you know, to write the lyrics. What happened was David Foster and I were writing the theme song for "St. So you originally wrote it for a Canadian Paralympian, right? It was written about Rick Hansen, the wheelchair athlete.īLOCK: Yeah. But then, as I've, you know, seen Tim play and seen the man he is, I thought maybe he deserves better than this because, obviously, that song is written about another athlete. Elmo's Fire"? Which I did.Īnd just as they were going to roll the cameras, they said: You couldn't call it "Tim Tebow's Fire," could you? So I did it just for fun way back then. And they said to me: Have you got your guitar? Would you go on set and play "St. And they asked me if - and so I did - I want to pitch a song for "Monday Night Football." So I wrote a song for the vacant slot for that, went up to ESPN to pitch the song. Really, what happened was I've been living in America for the last seven months, doing shows for the American military, for the troops and their family. PARR: It's a strange set of circumstances, Melissa. John, Tim Tebow wasn't even born when this song came out in 1985. So why in the world would Parr dust off his pop gem and turn it into a valentine to pro football's flavor of the season? Well, John Parr joins me now from his home in northern England to explain. Elmo's Fire." It was a huge hit back in 1985 and the theme to the Brat Pack movie of the same name. Take me where the future's lying, Tim Tebow's fire.īLOCK: That's right, "Tim Tebow's Fire." The singer is John Parr, who wrote and recorded the original song, "St. I'll be where the eagle's flying higher and higher. JOHN PARR: (Singing) I can see a new horizon underneath the blazing sky. Football fans, if you're tired of hearing about Denver Broncos' quarterback Tim Tebow, about his multiple miraculous come-from-behind victories, his greatness, his Christian faith, we're sorry because this is happening. But as a relic of an era in which bad, forgettable art sort of flourished, it’s somehow managed to endure as a piece of nostalgic pop-culture ephemera, and we fully expect to be reading another article like this one five years from now.We end this hour with a warning. In a vacuum, it’s a bad, forgettable song from what should’ve been remembered as an equally bad and forgettable movie. Our warm memories owe entirely to this corny but musically confident anthem, which really does brings us back to a time when we feel like we could “find a new horizon underneath the blazing sky, where the eagle’s flying higher and higher.” Elmo’s Fire, a movie we’re not even sure we’ve ever watched all the way through. Those terrible people were portrayed by a talented but peaking group of that decade’s young actors dubbed the “Brat Pack.” For some of them, this movie served as a last hurrah of sorts (kudos to Lowe and Demi Moore for their staying power).Īnd yet we have nothing but love for St. It may not slap, but “Man in Motion” does maintain its earnestness and good nature three-plus decades later.Ĭo-written by Parr and Grammy-winning songwriter David Foster, “Motion” was released pretty much exactly halfway through 1985, so it kind of serves as the decade’s exact median point.Īt this point we should note that Parr’s song is the lynchpin of a soundtrack to a recognizably bad film revolving around seven of the “most loathsome human beings” ever put to script (at least according to one movie exec). The song’s post-1985 placement in pop culture (see also: The Simpsons, part of a Tim Tebow tribute) can best be described as 75% ironic and 25% recognizing the song’s dated but undeniable anthemic appeal. It was Parr’s second and last hit.Įven if you’re under the age of 35, you’ve probably heard the synth- and horn-driven anthem, most likely in Deadpool or Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Three months after its release, the song topped the charts in America. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion),” John Parr’s hit single from, natch, the St. You can find our tribute to him here.Īn indirect tribute follows: This week marks the 35th anniversary of the release of “St. Elmo’s Fire (along with The Lost Boys, Flatliners and two Batman films) passed away this week at the age of 80.
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