MovieChat Forums > Riders to the Stars (1954) Discussion > Worst movie song ever? Yes! Still....

Worst movie song ever? Yes! Still....

posted 17 years ago by hobnob53
27 replies | jump to latest

Science fiction films are the least likely venue for any kind of song, but the torturous, downright moronic lyrics for the sappy, irrelevant and unnecessary love song sung over the opening credits of RIDERS TO THE STARS takes the cake.

Follow the bouncing meteor:

>Riders to the stars,
That is what we are,
Every time we kiss in the night.

Jupiter and Mars
Aren't very far
Any time you're holding me tight.

Your embrace
Changed time and place
Hurled in space were we!

And now we're whirling past the moon,
Far away from Earth,
Just the way I dreamed love would be.

Riders to the stars are we.<

I don't blame them for hurling in space, listening to that one.

Of course, the printed word is a poor substitute for the full effect of "vocalist" (as she's credited) Kitty White, putting her all into Leon Pober's romantic and sensitive lyrics, in a tune written by the aptly-named composer, Harry Sukman.

And yet, there's something oddly fitting to this dreadful dirge, heard as the credits are shown over a not-bad illustration of the upper portion of the Earth as if seen from orbit. It's really all very 1954, and somehow, amid the inappropriate dopiness of these awful lyrics, you do get a sense from the music itself of the lure and mystery of space as it must have seemed to people just then awakening to the distant possibilites of spaceflight.

Anyway, next time, listen to the terrible song, but see if the melody doesn't spook you a little with a hint of the remoteness, the unknown, and -- dare I say it? -- the romance of the unexplored outer reaches beyond this planet, in those dim pre-beginnings of space travel.

[–] temple_drake 16 years ago

Your post made me almost re-break a previously broken and healed rib, I laughed so hard.

My poor little white cat has had to endure being called "Kitty White" since I saw this movie. But at least now I can actually sing the lyrics to her. Thanks!

[–] hobnob53 16 years ago

Same thing happened to me on the centrifuge.

Now...my little Abyssinian died last November. She for some reason loved to watch "King Kong" -- she had a thing about monkeys, believe it or not -- but I really once did sing the opening lyrics of "Riders" to her one day when it came on while she had come over for a head rub. She was a very smart cat and I'm quite certain she was completely appalled. Hope your luck is better! (I love the Kitty White coincidence!)

[–] Iridescent_Phantom 16 years ago

I saw the film in 1954 and not again for nearly five decades. Yet I dimly remembered the music, although not the words. Yes, the lyrics are dreadful, but the music itself is evocative of something mysterious and unreachable just beyond the frame of the movie. Too bad they didn't simply record the music and leave the lyrics on the music stand.

[–] hobnob53 16 years ago

Just what I was trying to get across. I first saw this movie when it was about 5 or 6 years old, I was about the same age, and the music has stuck with me since. But even back then I thought the lyrics were dopey. You make a very good point: they should have ditched any words and just stuck with the rather haunting melody.

[–] scotbpens 15 years ago

The title track from Irwin Allen's Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961), crooned by teen heartthrob Frankie Avalon, is almost as bad:

Come with me, come with me
On a voyage to the bottom of the sea.

In our scene of blue-green,
We will find love at the bottom of the sea.

Unbelievable, inconceivable,
Fantastic it may seem,
But we'll be the first, the very first
To live such a strange new dream.

There we'll be, lost and free,
On our voyage to the bottom of the sea.

Romantic pop ballads and science fiction mix like Bloods and Crips.

All the universe . . . or nothingness. Which shall it be, Passworthy? Which shall it be?

[–] hobnob53 15 years ago

Another good example, but for my money, Riders is still much the worse ditty. And at least Frankie had a real recording career. Kitty White? Anyone? Anyone?

By the way, pardon the pedantry, but a couple of slight corrections to the Voyage lyrics...

In the sea of blue green
We will find love at the bottom of the sea.

And

Unbelievable, inconceivable,
Fantastic it will seem...

(Irwin Allen made sure there was no uncertainty as to its being just simply fantastic!)

And you (mercifully) neglected to jot down the wind-up chorus:

[Chorus:] Come with me
[Frankie:] On our voyage to the bottom of the sea
[Chorus:] Come with me
[Eight times!!!!!!!!]

[–] scotbpens 15 years ago

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yse9atFMj-Y

On this recording, which is different from the one on the movie soundtrack, it sounds as if the second verse starts with either "in our sea" or "in our scene." I suppose "in our sea" makes more sense, but it's a bit redundant.

But you're right about "Fantastic it WILL seem." And fantastic it was -- the Van Allen radiation belt catching fire (??!!), a minefield in the mid-Pacific for no apparent reason, and a submarine with huge windows in the bow and Cadillac tailfins!

All the universe . . . or nothingness. Which shall it be, Passworthy? Which shall it be?

[–] hobnob53 15 years ago

The CD of VTTBOTS has an extra track in which some guy plays a piano and sings (very badly) an early draft of the titular tune. I haven't listened to it in quite a while, but several of the lyrics varied from the final song heard over the film's credits.

The line definitely is In the sea of blue-green, but you're quite correct, it's extremely repetitive -- downright redundant with the last words of that stanza...not to mention with much of the entire song. As lyrics go, they're pretty poorly done.

I'd love a CD of the Riders to the Stars soundtrack, though I imagine such a pressing would consist of about three copies.

[–] qatmom 14 years ago

Voyage to the Sea is best viewed as a comedy, especially so for the later, sillier, crazier episodes.

[–] hobnob53 14 years ago

We were talking about the original film (Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea), progenitor of the TV show, but you're right about the series' last couple of seasons. The first two were pretty good. Good music too.

[–] qatmom 14 years ago

I saw this movie as a kid, and remember the music, but mercifully, I forgot the awful lyrics.

[–] hobnob53 14 years ago

Sorry to bring back traumatic memories!

[–] liscarkat-2 12 years ago

Worst movie song ever? Try this one, from the Sean Connery/Brigitte Bardot western "Shalako":

-------------------------
Shalako, Shalako,
He rode wild country down to Mexico
Born on the wind, to follow the sun
Fought death with a knife, would gamble his life to own a woman!

Love came to Shalako, Shalako!
She called his name and wanted Shalako.
Biding his time, and planning to win
He loved for a day, then traveled his way
And the lady followed him
The one called Shalako, Shalako, Shalako!
--------------------------

That's the best I can interpret from the singers' sometimes muddled enunciation. Pedantic corrections are welcome!

[–] jknuttel-2 12 years ago

My choice for the worst movie song of all time:

"Stuck in My Throat" from War of the Gargantuas

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvPmOmHMsCg

[–] hobnob53 12 years ago

Okay, you guys may have dredged up even worse things. Thankfully, I don't recall that song in War of the Gargantuas, and I don't intend to watch it for a refresher.

RTTS's rather haunting music wasn't bad, but those lyrics (which you can download on line) haven't acquired any deeper meaning over the past 59 years.

And whatever happened to Kitty Wells?

[–] escalera-2 12 years ago

Riders to the stars
Riders to the stars

Into this house we're born
Into this world we're thrown
Like a dog without a bone
An actor out alone
Riders to the stars

There's a killer on the road
His brain is squirmin' like a toad
Take a long holiday
Let your children play
If ya give this man a ride
Sweet memory will die
Killer on the road, yeah

Girl ya gotta love your man
Girl ya gotta love your man
Take him by the hand
Make him understand
The world on you depends
Our life will never end
Gotta love your man, yeah

Yeah!

"Please use elevator, stairs stuck between floors."

[–] hobnob53 12 years ago

Ah yes, the love song from I Spit on Your Grave.

[–] The_Dying_Flutchman 12 years ago

Hey Elevator; it ain't "Riders to the stars", it's "Riders On the Storm". U need to be savagely realigned for this!

It's the nothing that makes us something; it's what we miss that hits the mark.

[–] escalera-2 12 years ago

As Foghorn Leghorn used to say, "That's joke, son! That's a joke! Don't you get it?"

Ah! -- Messr. Leghorn. Always with the rightly spoken word!

"Please use elevator, stairs stuck between floors."

[–] The_Dying_Flutchman 12 years ago

Hey, Mack! Do you know who wrote "The Doors of Perception"? Hint: It wasn't Jack Narz.

It's the nothing that makes us something; it's what we miss that hits the mark.

[–] escalera-2 12 years ago

Yes, of course. Aldous Huxley (nee, Alberto Veeohf�nf).

It's all about who read it (Jim Morrison for one).

I read the Classics Illustrated version.

"Please use elevator, stairs stuck between floors."

[–] The_Dying_Flutchman 12 years ago

Then U did no read it.

I do like yer spelling of Alberto V O 5. Clean; beyond green mean Joe or otherwhose.

It's the nothing that makes us something; it's what we miss that hits the mark.

[–] escalera-2 12 years ago

So many books...etc.

"Please use elevator, stairs stuck between floors."

[–] darryl-tahirali 10 years ago

Yes, of course. Aldous Huxley (nee, Alberto Veeohfünf). - escalera-2

And Aldous borrowed the phrase from William Blake, but since Blake was already dead and thus had his doors cleansed by then, he saw it all as infinite and didn't mind.

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"Questions are a burden to others; answers a prison for oneself." Village wisdom

[–] escalera-2 10 years ago

I don't know who said it, but I think it's true: "Always borrow from the best!"

Please use elevator, stairs stuck between floors.

[–] darryl-tahirali 10 years ago

Riders to the stars
Riders to the stars

Into this house we're born
Into this world we're thrown - escalera-2

OK. I'm glad to see that it's not just me.

I never saw this film until TCM aired it in early 2013. But as I absorbed the title, I couldn't help but be reminded of ol' Jimbo the Lizard King.

And then I walked around for the next day or so humming, "dum-dum-dum-dum-dum-dum-DUM-DUM, dum-dum-dum-dum-dum-dum-DUM-DUM."

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"Questions are a burden to others; answers a prison for oneself." Village wisdom

[–] escalera-2 10 years ago

"Please use elevator, stairs stuck between floors."