Taylor’s new song for Cats

What a privilege on the part of Taylor Swift to be able to write a song for Cats with the legendary creator of great musicals Andrew Lloyd Webber.  And vice-versa on the part of Webber to be able to collaborate with the global pop music icon Swiftie. The two have composed a new original for the motion picture adaptation of Webber’s record-breaking musical Cats, which comes to local theaters on Jan. 8.

Writing a new song for the movie version of a musical has become a common practice. This is to give the film a crack at the annual awards rites. The Best Song from a Motion Picture category is handed out to new works.

Since the songs from the soundtrack of the musical are already several years old, a new song that can also be used in the promotions is usually included. An example is You Must Love Me, also by Webber and Tim Rice, that is performed by Madonna in Evita, and which won the Academy Award.

So from now on, Memory will not be the only song that people remember from Cats. There will also be Beautiful Ghost by Webber and Swift. The song will be performed in the movie by the London Ballet principal dancer Francesca Hayward who plays Victoria and who, it now turns out, can also sing. Swift’s pop version will be played in the end credits and I suppose will also be released as a single from the soundtrack. She plays the kitty Bombalurina.

Now, now, I am thinking, do you think they will also release the rendition of Memory by Jennifer Hudson who stars as Grizabella? That one certainly deserves to be a single.

I’m still thinking. This time into the future.  Do you think they will put it in a new song in the soundtrack of the upcoming Steven Spielberg production of West Side Story? I honestly hope not. That will be almost a sacrilege.  Besides composer Leonard Bernstein is no longer around. Although come to think of it, the musical’s lyricist who is now America’s greatest living composer Stephen Sondheim, still is. Maybe, if he can be convinced...

Anyway, the last months of the year are turning out to be quite a feast for memorable movie soundtracks. There is already the music of the blockbuster Joker, which includes Send In The Clowns and That’s Life by Frank Sinatra, Laughing by Guess Who, I Started A Joke by the Bee Gees and that heart-breaking Smile by both Nat “King” Cole and Jimmy Durante.

Then there is the Ariana Grande-produced soundtrack for the latest reboot of Charlie’s Angels with the new theme, Don’t Call Me Angel by the powerhouse trio of Grande, Miley Cyrus and Lana Del Rey plus Bad Girls by Donna Summer, Nobody by Grande and Chaka Khan, the love ballad How I Look On You by Grande and even the iconic Charlie’s Angel’s Theme remixed this time around by Black Caviar.

And then there is Last Christmas. You all know the song, a big-selling holiday perennial from Wham! from many years ago that sings like this, “Last Christmas, I gave you my heart/ the very next day you gave it away…” The hip-duo of Wham! was made up of Andrew Ridgeley and George Michael, who would go on to have a magnificent career as a solo artist. Unfortunately, Michael died suddenly on Christmas Day almost three years ago, just as actress and screenwriter Emma Thompson had begun work on the project.

Thankfully, although all concerned were jarred by Michael’s demise, they were able to resume work on the picture and it is now ready for release out here on Nov. 27. It features the Christmas classic and is, of course, titled Last Christmas.  And what do you know, the soundtrack includes other George Michael songs like Faith, Freedom ’90 and the previously unreleased This Is How (We Want To Get High). 

Last Christmas is a romantic-comedy set in London during the holiday season. The lovers of the story are the lovely Emilia Clarke, who was last seen in Game of Thrones as an elf in a Christmas shop and the gorgeous Henry Golding of Crazy Rich Asians as her unlikely lover. Along for the ride are Thompson and Michelle Yeoh.