MARKS BEST MOVIE SONGS EVER (1955-99) COUNTDOWN ... NO. 8 CHARIOTS OF FIRE–VANGELIS (#1, 1982, Chariots Of Fire) The instrumental main theme from the Hugh Hudson-directed epic Chariots Of Fire debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 94 on December 12, 1981. And thus began the journey up the chart. On February 13, 1982, the song made its Top 40 debut. By April, the song hit the Top 10 and in its 22nd week on the chart – then a Hot 100 record – it hit No. 1, spending one week at the top spot of May 8, 1982. In the 22 weeks leading up to No. 1, the movie Chariots Of Fire became a huge success and then at the Academy Awards, it won four Oscars, including Best Film and Best Original Score, composed and performed by Greek-born Vangelis (born Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou in Volos, Greece on March 29, 1943). The movie focuses on two British athletes training for the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, one Harold Abrahams (played by Ben Cross), an English Jew who deals with the prejudices that his religion causes him to deal with, and the other Eric Liddell (Ian Charleson), a devout Scottish Christian who runs for the glory of God and whose quest to make it to the Olympics is shunned by his family. For five years, the two are competitors, but become friendly and this true-life story is depicted as they make it to Paris as Olympians both battling for gold in the same event. The film is inspired from the line Bring me my chariot of fire by poet William Blake and taken from the hymn Jerusalem, which is played at the end of the movie. Though the instrumental smash Chariots Of Fire was never meant to be a sports music theme, it certainly has been over the years at running events and was the basis behind the opening ceremony at two Summer Olympic games, one being the Atlanta Games in 1996, the other the London Games of 2012 when fans inside the stadium heard the opening strains and went nuts hearing it performed by the London Symphony Orchestra (coming up later with an instrumental as well in this countdown) and then laughed hilariously as that scene of the runners running on the beach in Chariots Of Fire was parodied by none other than Mr. Bean himself, Rowan Atkinson. This is the first of four total or almost total instrumentals within the Top 10. Thoughts, memories? Enjoy!
Posted on: Sat, 27 Dec 2014 03:08:33 +0000
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