Today’s classic movie song of the day is “St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion)” from the 1985 movie, St. Elmo’s Fire, performed by John Parr. The song was released as a single in June of 1985 and hit #1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Cash Box Top 100 charts.
“St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion)” was written by British singer John Parr and Canadian producer/songwriter David Foster, the man responsible for changing Chicago from a respectable jazz-rock band into a schlocky adult contemporary hitmaking machine. The two were contracted to write a song for the upcoming film but Parr was struggling for ideas. Foster showed him a news clip about paraplegic Canadian athlete Rick Hansen, who had just embarked on his Man in Motion World Tour. It took Hansen 26 months to travel the world in his wheelchair, raising more than $26 million for spinal cord research and quality of life initiatives. Parr was inspired by Hansen’s trek and wrote lyrics for the movie’s theme song that would also draw attention to Hansen’s campaign.
The result was “St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion)” (yes, that’s where the subtitle came from), one of the more memorable movie theme songs of the ’80s. The soundtrack for St. Elmo’s Fire was nominated for a Grammy for Best Album of an Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or a Television Special; it lost to the soundtrack to the Eddie Murphy movie, Beverly Hills Cop.
St. Elmo’s Fire, the movie, was one of those Brat Pack coming of age films, directed by Joel Schumacher and starring a bevy of attractive young actors, including Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Andie MacDowell, Andrew McCarthy, Demi Moore, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, and Mare Winningham. The movie, while critically panned (one critic called it “the worst movie of all time”), was a huge hit, especially with Gen X audiences who identified with the whiny “just out of college and having to deal with being an adult” theme.
And here’s your daily bonus video of the day, the official trailer for St. Elmo’s Fire. If you’re of a certain age, I know you remember this one.
