Podunkian Music Club

Dan Hartman- I Can Dream about you

The Music Club goes to the movies tonight, after a refresher viewing of the cheesy 84 offering, Streets of Fire. It’s a movie that over the years has become kind of a cult classic of the era.

Featuring Michael Pare, (who had many big things predicted, but disappeared into a number of unheralded features), a young Willem Defoe and Rick Moranis trapped in a pseudo gang movie, put to a rock and roll soundtrack. It was at the peak of the genre of these movies that Streets appeared, following such other rock and roller movies as The Warriors, Eddie and The Cruiser, Rumble Fish and such.

Ever since Blackboard Jungle and West Sid Story, the tales of youth running amok have intrigued movie audiences. Streets of Fire picked up the theme of a neighbourhood boy returning home to rescue his old girlfriend and protect his old home. With lots of action, some snazzy pyrotechnics and grim sets to reflect an urbane nightmare and a rockin’ beat it made for an interesting diversion.

The movie itself isn’t particularly enthralling; you begin to watch more for the dialogue and mannerisms than for any plot development. The agents involved probably received a few phone calls afterwards from their respective clients asking for a bit more research next time. But for the mid eighties it made for an interesting diversion for an hour and a half.

Streets of Fire, was perhaps the first full length Music Video turned into a feature film. It had a killer of soundtrack with Ry Cooder providing the underlying themes for the tale of love lost, regained and then allowed to leave. Musically, besides Cooder’s soundtrack, the most memorable of the main clips came near the end of the movie with the Sorel’s taking to the stage and performing if I can dream about you.

The song became the identifiable hit of the soundtrack and co-composer Dan Hartman put out the version that went to radio stations and the video shows of the day, His video interpretation, puts him in a bar serving drinks as a patron selects the song from the jukebox. After a bit of prodding he jumps onto the bar to belt out a tune.

It’s something he had past experience with, Hartman had a varied career from working with the Edgar Winter Group, Todd Rundgren, Stevie Wonder and Ian Hunter to name a few. He may best known for his disco era hit Instant Replay of 1978 which went gold and probably still pulses through the heads of those that took to the disco floor in the late seventies. Though just as many remember his 84 hit from the movie and rate it as his most memorable song, it was the last big hit of his lengthy career.

Considering the scope of his music from the electronic era of the seventies, through the disco era into the video revolution, he perhaps a better understanding of the music industry and it’s wild swings than most. Hartman passed away in 1994 and cheesy movies or not, his music seems to have brought together a large and vocal group of fans who celebrate his music.

Artist-Dan Hartman
Recording-Streets of Fire soundtrack