Michel Legrand came along at a time when it was not considered cool to be slaves to the vagary of romantic love. That belonged to a bygone time. There were more important matters to attend to and hopefully change for a better future.
But the heart has its whims and its passions and while outwardly we agreed with Bob Dylan that times were indeed a-changing and imagined the world as one with John Lennon, we were going all a-flutter in private over boys to the tune of the soaring melodies composed by Legrand. And so we sang:
“If it takes forever I will wait for you/ for a thousand summers/ I will wait for you/ till you’re back beside me/ till I’m touching you/ till I hear you sigh here in my arms/ The clock will tick away the hours one by one/ and then the time will come when all the waiting’s done/ a time when you’ll appear and find me here and run straight to my waiting arms….” I Will Wait For You from The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, 1964.
“You must believe in spring/ when lonely feelings chill/ the meadows of your mind/ just think if winter comes/ can spring be far behind/ beneath the deepest snows/ the secret of a rose/ is merely that it knows/ you must believe in spring.” You Must Believe In Spring from The Young Girls of Rochefort, 1967.
“Round / like a circle in a spiral/ like a wheel within a wheel/ never ending nor beginning/ like an ever spinning wheel/ like a snowball down a mountain/ or a carnival balloon/ like a carousel that’s turning/ running rings around the moon/ like a clock whose hands are ticking past the minutes of its face/ and the world is like an apple whirling silently in space/ like the circles that you find/ in the windmills of your mind.” The Windmills Of Your Mind from The Thomas Crown Affair, 1968. Academy Award winner for Best Original Song.
“What are you doing the rest of your life/ north and south and east and west of your life/ I have only one request of your life/ is that you spend it all with me/… I want to see your face in every kind of light/ in fields of gold and forests of the night/ and when you stand before the candles on a cake/ oh let me be the one to hear the silent wish you make.” What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life from The Happy Ending, 1969.
“The summer smiles/ the summer knows/ and unashamed she sheds her clothes/ the summer smooths the restless skies/ and lovingly she warms the sand on which you lie/ the summer knows/ the summer’s wise/ she sees the doubts within your eyes/ and so she takes her summer time/ tells the moon to wait and the sun to linger/ twists the world round her summer finger/ lets you see the wonder of it all.” The Summer Knows from The Summer of ’42, 1971 Academy Award winner for Best Original Song.
“If the hands of time/ were hands that I could hold/ I’d keep them warm/ and in my hands they’d not turn cold/ hand in hand we choose/ the moment that should last/ that lovely moment/ that should have no future and no past….” Brian’s Song, 1971. Grammy Award for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture or TV Show.
“How do you keep the music playing/ how do you make it last/ how do you keep the song from fading too fast/ how do you lose yourself to someone/ and never lose your way/ how do you not run out of new things to say/…if we can be the best of lovers/ yet be the best of friends/ if we can try with every day to make it better/ then I suppose/ the music never ends.” How Do You Keep The Music Playing, 1982 from Best Friends.
How indeed do you keep the music playing?
“It may take a kiss or two/ through all of my life/ summer, winter, spring and fall of my life/ all I ever will recall of my life/ is all of my life with you.”
Through the memories.
Thank you, Michel Legrand for providing the soundtrack for the joys and heartbreaks of our lives.
Michel Legrand, composer, singer, arranger, conductor and producer born Feb. 24, 1932, died Jan. 26, 2019.