Let the River Run
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"Let the River Run" is a song first featured in the 1988 film Working Girl, with music and lyrics by Carly Simon.[1] The song won the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 61st Academy Awards in 1989.[1] The song also won a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song at the 46th Golden Globe Awards in 1989 and the Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or Television at the 32nd Grammy Awards in 1990.
It was the first of only two songs to have won all three awards (Oscar, Golden Globe, Grammy) while being composed and written, as well as performed, entirely by a single artist – the other being "Streets of Philadelphia" by Bruce Springsteen from Philadelphia (1993: Oscar, 1994: Golden Globe and two Grammys.) Barbra Streisand shared the Oscar (1976), Golden Globe (1977) and Grammy (1977) for "Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star is Born)" which she composed and wrote with lyricist Paul Williams (for which she also won the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance). Annie Lennox won all three awards – 2003 Oscar and Golden Globe, 2004 Grammy – for "Into the West" from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, sharing all three with co-composer and lyricists Fran Walsh and Howard Shore.
Carly Simon has stated that she found inspiration for the lyrics by first reading the original script, and then by the poems of Walt Whitman. Musically, she wanted to write a hymn to New York with a contemporary jungle beat under it, so as to juxtapose those opposites in a compelling way. The phrases "Silver Cities Rise" and "The New Jerusalem" seem to have taken on a new meaning for many people, but the song was not originally composed with any particular political and/or religious overtones.[2]
The Working Girl soundtrack also contained a choral version featuring The St. Thomas Choir of Men and Boys of New York City.
As a single, the song reached peak positions of number 49 on the Billboard Hot 100, and number 11 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart in early 1989.
In 2001, the song was used for an advertisement for the United States Postal Service in the wake of the 2001 anthrax attacks. In 2004, the song was used in the end scene of the film Little Black Book.
"Let the River Run" was re-released on Carly Simon's album Never Been Gone on October 27, 2009.
[edit] References
- ^ a b Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 136. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
- ^ "Carly Simon Faq page". http://www.carlysimon.com/askcarly/faq.shtml. Retrieved August 21, 2011.
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