Did it seem like the soundtrack budget was extremely limited? In addition to Sammy Johns' song making about a dozen appearances, the movie has only a couple other songs, and they play repeatedly. I have the soundtrack on vinyl.
shareDear Warped in San Francisco: I have an old 45 rpm record of Sammy Johns' song CHEVY VAN and it's on the old GRC record label. The thing I found most interesting about this was the date on the record was 1973. THE VAN didn't come out until '77. I know some other people have mentioned that Bobby's van was a Dodge, but they already had a ready-made song in CHEVY VAN so there wasn't a need for trying to create a song about a "Dodge Van". Also, having seen THE VAN several times (in point of fact I own a very early video release of THE VAN on VCI from many moons ago. Maybe the early '80s -- the box isn't dated) I recall another Sammy Johns' song: Early Mornin' Love. I can remember another song as well, but the title escapes me at the moment. I don't know how many Sammy Johns' songs were recorded exclusively for THE VAN, but CHEVY VAN sure wasn't. I'd bet the others weren't either. My guess is the filmmakers had a LOW budget to work with for music. Without Sammy Johns songs they probably would have had a low-grade '70s porno-movie music score.
FUN TRUCKIN' -CG
Hi, Astralv:
Wow, you sound like even more of a collector than I am! I regret I do not have Sammy Johns' 45 of "Chevy Van," but I remember hearing on the radio when I was a child in 1973. I do have it on one of Rhino's "Have a Nice Decade" collections.
It's always struck me as odd that a folky song about hippie bliss should be made into a teen sex comedy four years later, but I guess Sammy Johns' catalog was pretty inexpensive by then.
I wonder if Sammy Johns' album with the "Chevy Van" single (assuming there was one) was merely repackaged as the soundtrack four years later. "Early Mornin' Love" is on the soundtrack, along with seven or eight other gems. Unfortunately, I'm at work as I write this, so I can't list the remaining songs. Perhaps it's better that I haven't committed them to memory.
Dear WarPedSF: I'm sure you're right >> the filmmakers for THE VAN just used that old Sammy Johns album as the soundtrack. Probably saved them a bunch of money and Sammy was probably thrilled to have his songs in a movie.
Besides the CHEVY VAN record I've got that same HAVE A NICE DAY '70s Volume with CHEVY VAN on it. I think it was Volume 14, but I'll have to go look at my CD to be sure.
-CG
Hi, Astralv:
I spoke too soon earlier. Turns out I *do* have Sammy Johns' first (only?) long player, and it's also on the GRC label. It has about five songs that were reissued for "The Van" soundtrack. The cover features a rather amateurish painting of Sammy playing his guitar and what looked like a sticker (but was actually printed on the cover) that announced that it contained "Chevy Van" and "Early Morning Love."
Regardless, I'm sure Sammy was glad to be have his songs in any film by 1977, regardless of the caliber. Had "The Van" had a bigger budget, I'm sure those kids would have been listening to Bad Company, REO Speedwagon and Ted Nugent.
Dear WarPed in San Francisco: Congratulations upon finding Sammy Johns on the old GRC label. Probably was Sammy's only LP. And if he did have more than one LP released, it darn sure wasn't many more than 1! Sammy was probably pleased as punch to have his tunes permeate THE VAN.
If you like those "teenage" movies from the '70s (I know I do) here are a few others you may not have heard of. There is SUPERVAN from 1977, CHEERING SECTION from 1976 and ON THE AIR LIVE WITH CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT, which was released in '79. (I think it was filmed in 1977, though). One thing about CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT is that Ted Nugent's song "Cat Scratch Fever" is played several times and "Maggie May" by Rod Stewart is also heard once. It was released on video in the mid-1980s by I.U.D. Video (Intra-Uterine Device Video. HA HA. Just kidding. It's "INDEPENDENT UNITED DISTRIBUTORS"). It's been out-of-print for years, but I've got 2 copies of it. One of them is still brand new and sealed. Needless to say, I only play the used one. But if you like teenage angst and pirate radio '70s style then seek out ON THE AIR LIVE WITH CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT on I.U.D.
Since my only hobby is rounding up collectible videos I've got lots of hard-to-find videocassettes on rare labels sitting around my room in banana boxes. I get around to watching them . . . eventually. I've also got an old railcar in my backyard full of the rest of my nearly 3,000 videos. It's the kind of railcar you'd see on the back of a freight train. Makes for a hell of a heavy storage unit.
In case you might be curious, my moniker comes from a video label I collect that's Canadian: Astral Video. I have 172 of those at the present time. They released some interesting titles. Those wily Canadians.
Other teen/early 20s-oriented movies I thought of that I have stashed around somewhere:
GIRLS OF THE ROAD (1972) on Unicorn Video in a clamshell case.
THUMB TRIPPING (1972) on Charter Entertainment.
TEACHER, The (1974) on Sterling Home Entertainment & Vidamerica and
maybe even DVD by now. Rest assured, however, if this is on DVD it will
be on one cheap mutha of a label. Stick with the Vidamerica videotape
on this one or the SP mode Sterling videotape. Angel Tompkins gets
physical with Dennis the Menace.
SISTER-IN-LAW, The (1974) John Savage. On Prism Home Entertainment.
-CG
Hi, Astralv:
Wow, I bow before you and your impressive VHS collection! A railcar in your backyard ... I wish I had a backyard in San Francisco. I hope you have protections against the elements. As it is, my living room is stacked almost to the ceiling with LPs. I regret that I don't have them indexed, and only about half are alphabetized. That's how things like Sammy Johns' debut album slip through the cracks of my mind.
Thanks for the recommendations. It's kind of off the subject here, but did you ever hear of a 1973 film called "The Baby"? I'm a big fan of drive-in fare from the '70s, especially horror films, and this is one of the weirdest ones I have ever seen. It's pretty widely available on DVD, but you probably already have it on VHS:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069754/
Dear WarPed: I used to have THE BABY on VHS on a label called Program Hunters. I used to have CHESTY ANDERSON, USN (1976) on Program Hunters Video as well. I had both videos in their original Clamshell cases, BUT they disappeared when I moved. I had 2 banana boxes of videos go AWOL. One box had all of my Warner Clamshells in the Comedy and Horror Genre. The other had various original Clamshell cases on a number of obscure labels. THE BABY was in this box. I admit to not having got around to watching it before it vanished. Maybe I still have it somewhere . . . but I've looked all over the place and I'll be damned if I can find it.
So to make a long story short (too late): I did have THE BABY. I never did watch it before it disappeared, however.
Video collecting is more fun than getting hit in the head with a dull axe.
-CG
I love the ST to this movie, but I am wondering what genre is it? I mean, it's not country and it's not exactly folk, rock or pop. Anyone?
"I had to rescue a burning baby. See, I got burning baby all over me."
- CHEECH
I have a copy of the 45 on the GRC label (the b-side is "Hang My Head and Moan"). While the date on the label is indeed listed as 1973, the song was actually a Top Five hit in the late spring of 1975.
Just watched the DVD last night (got the version released by Rhino, looks to be the best one out there, apparently unedited although the picture is full-frame and some scenes seem to have a slight yellow age tint to them, but that's relatively minor). "Hang My Head And Moan" is played when we see Bobby huddled in a blanket at the beach the morning after his one night stand with Sally and when he meets Tina at the pizza place that morning.
COOL That you still have it on vinyl! Man I remember buying records when I was a kid up until like the mid 80's during my teenage years. LOL
Dedicated to USA UP ALL NIGHT and the fans of the show! www.deefilmroll.com/usa-uan/
Woah yeah, I still have thousands of LPs, and I'm never giving them up. Soundtracks – especially those from the '70s and '80s – are gold mines for pop culture memories.
The trouble is, I can't get to my turntable these days because of the piles of videotapes around it. Time to watch more movies ...
I know what you mean about that because I have a lot of LP's myself from the late 70's and on up through the 80's until they introduced the CD to replace the vinyl records. I even have Michael Jackson's Thriller album on a old vinyl record along with other soundtracks from movies as well. LOL
I no longer own a record player now so it makes it hard to listen to the records.
Dedicated to USA UP ALL NIGHT and the fans of the show! www.deefilmroll.com/usa-uan/
When I started converting my collection to CDs, I cleared a lot of my LPs out except for things like Elton John and Led Zeppelin, which had very memorable artwork and things like lyric sheets that I didn't want to get rid of.
But over the years I got back into LPs because they were so cheap, accessible and durable. I still play mostly CDs out of convenience, but I could never close the door on my beloved vinyl -- just like I can't get into downloads. Music is very much a physical as well as auditory experience, and MP3s just don't work for me.
That is cool to hear and I understand about keeping some of your LP's that you have because they are like you said worth a lot of money. Yeah I think some of the artwork are cool as well on a lot of the records from the past.
COOL That you got back into LP's once again. Yes I have heard stores are opening up to seel LP's especially in like larger cities. I heard about this while I lived up north near Chicago that people were going out to buy records that are hard to find now. I buy CD's and have no problems with them. I do own a MP3 player but I have not used it yet. LOL
Dedicated to USA UP ALL NIGHT and the fans of the show! www.deefilmroll.com/usa-uan/
Something about the snap, crackle, and pop of vinyl that soothes my ears :)
"I had to rescue a burning baby. See, I got burning baby all over me."
- CHEECH