COME AND FOLLOW ME
Hey, does anybody remember when movies and characters had theme songs? This is one thing I really miss from the 80's. I used to listen to American Top 40 like a zealot every Sunday, and I still remember the summers when half the songs on the chart were movie themes. 1986 was no exception.
Come and Follow Me is Number Five's theme song from Short Circuit. The song, which closes the film and also plays in the background in the scene where Stephanie and Newton meet at the bar, was written by composer David Shire, Will Jennings, and Max Carl, who was then the lead singer of the band ".38 Special". The strains of this tune, can be heard from the first frame of Short Circuit. The entire movie score, also written by David Shire, is based on the song, or should I say that the song is based on the movie score? (Probably a little of both)
Max Carl and Marcy Levy perform this never-released song. Oddly enough, and to my great distress, Short Circuit never had a soundtrack release, nor was the song included on David Shire's compilation of movie songs. As late as 1990 I would still comb the "movies and shows" section of every record store I entered in hopes of finding a Short Circuit soundtrack. It became a ritual of sorts, one which never met with success.
Due to this unfortunate turn of events, there is no "clean" copy of Number Five's theme song to be had or heard, but if you want you can hear the song in RealAudio. It is played from teh music and effects-only track of the DVD, and, gladly eough, it was played in its entirity at the end of Short Circuit. It seems that this kind of thing is rarely done in films today either. (Props to the makers of the 80's tribute The Wedding Singer for playing an entire song at the end of their film - Video Killed the Radio Star by "The Presidents of the United States.")
So you might wonder why I dedicate an entire section to one song that never got any airplay. Well, I happen to know that at least a couple of other people agree with me that it is s pretty good song. It might have even been a hit if someone had decided to release it and market it. Hey, there might have even been a Short Circuit soundtrack for us to enjoy. I'd still like that.
Besides all that, the song means a lot to me. It has sweet lyrics and was written for Number Five. And though the movie theme Who's Johnny fits Number Five and his personality pretty well, it was not written specifically for the film. Come and Follow Me - on the other hand - was based on the movie, yet it was still "unspecific" enough to have a possible wide appeal.
I used to stay parked in my theater seat until the end of every viewing of Short Circuit so I could hear the whole song. And of course I also stayed to watch all the clips. (Short Circuit was one of the only movies I went to which kept the whole audience seated until the very end.) I used to sit in front of the TV and sing the whole song. I learned the harmony. I played it on the keyboard. I even arranged it on sheet music. I played it so much on the school piano that my choir teacher told me I couldn't play it anymore. Come and Follow Me had gone the way of Heart and Soul in the Long Beach High School choir room, e.g. NOT ALLOWED!
In the summer of 1987 I looked up the song in that big fat book they used to have in all the record stores. And I tried to order it, thinking maybe it was released on a small scale and a few copies were still sitting in a warehouse somewhere. I waited for six weeks until that fateful day came. A notice arrived in the mail, informing me that Come and Follow Me was UNAVAILABLE. I cried the rest of the day. Hey, I was only 14. Later I wrote to MCA records to ask if I could get a copy of it. I never got an answer.
So I figured out how to make a recording from video/laser disc/DVD, and that is what I have been doing for the past 13 years. I also did plenty of makeshift copies of the complete movie audio to listen to on my headphones on long trips. I was the kid who sat in the back corner of the bus on school trips listening to Short Circuit. I also listened to Weird Al a lot.
Come and Follow Me is still one of my favorite songs. It rings with the innocnce that made Number Five live for me. Sure, he's a really cool robot, but his gentleness and purity were what ultimately attracted me. And his song is really about him. It was almost as if he sang it to me himself and invited me along on a great adventure, one where life is eternally precious and magical.
Number Five's theme from the movie Short Circuit
by David Shire, Will Jennings and Max Carl
Feels like I came alive just yesterday.
Feels like I'm always gonna feel this way.
Hearts havin' set in motion,
Worlds havin' turned around,
When you've been lost you know when you've been found.
Easy to hide and live your life apart.
Easy to find new ways to kill the heart.
But I've lived through some changes,
Laughter as well as pain.
Now I can dance in sunshine or in rain.
Chorus:
Come and follow me
To wherever the light breaks through.
Come and follow me
And you're gonna be dancing too.
In your eyes I see,
You're alive as me.
So whenever I'm lost then I can follow you.
Too many people throw it all away.
Can't seem to take another empty day.
Trick is to keep believin'.
Trick is to simply see,
Just how great the gift of life can be.
Chorus:
Come and follow me
To wherever the light breaks through.
Come and follow me
And you're gonna be dancing too.
In your eyes I see,
You're alive as me.
So whenever I'm lost then I can follow you.
Bridge:
Just when the light seems to be goin' dim,
You will be there I know like a true friend,
Helpin' me to shine again.
Chorus:
Come and follow me
To wherever the light breaks through.
Come and follow me
And you're gonna be dancing too.
In your eyes I see,
You're alive as me.
So whenever I'm lost then I can follow you.
COME AND FOLLOW ME: the dance hit?!?
Turns out that "Come and Follow Me" was a hit of sorts... at least in the European Happy Hardcore scene. In the late 90's the song was covered by DJ Stompy on the British New Essential Platinum label. If you listened to the song above now imagine it at over 120 beats per minute! It's really somethin'! If you want to hear it, we have two versions in RealAudio. Click below to listen. Special thanks to Josee! She's the Short Circuit fan from Quebec who found these dance tracks. Hey, and while you're at it, you can also take a listen to the extended dance version of Who's Johnny.
Come and Follow Me - dance version 1
Come and Follow Me - dance version 2
Who's Johnny - dance version
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