The recent and disastrous box office ‘Joker: Folie á Deux’ is generating all kinds of opinions, but the most widespread is… why the hell is it a musical? However, not only is it not that extravagant of an idea, it’s been done before. Specifically, on the soundtrack of Tim Burton’s first ‘Batman’ in 1989, where the well-known Prince composed an eccentric thematic album in which he had all the characters in the film sing, including the Joker played there by Jack Nicholson.
In fact, Prince’s ‘Batman’ isn’t exactly the movie’s soundtrack. The legendary incidental music that we all remember and that plays during the film is the work of Danny Elfman, who came to tell how in principle the soundtrack was going to be written halfway between him and Prince. Elfman refused and was fired from the project. But when Prince delivered a soundtrack that couldn’t be used to set a superhero movie (which at the time wasn’t even known what it should sound like if it wasn’t intended to be an imitation of John Williams’ score for ‘Superman’), the Producers reconsidered and asked Elffman to return. The move turned out well: Elfman signed his first multimillion-dollar hit and Prince’s album was a best-seller.
The album is Prince’s eleventh studio album (immediately after the devastating ‘Lovesexy’) and the first and only soundtrack to a film in his career in which the musician himself has not participated as an actor. Its genesis is very simple: in an initial cut of the film, Burton used two Prince songs, ‘1999’ and ‘Baby I’m a Star’, and They worked so well that he asked the musician to re-record them for the film or provide new songs.
Prince was hesitant at first, but when he visited the set in January 1989, saw what they had recorded and discussed a possible concept album with Burton, he warmed to the idea. He even thought about suspending the ‘Lovesexy Tour’ Japanese tour in order to record it, but he finally rejected the idea: it would have cost him a fortune. As soon as he returned from the tour he began recording a demo of the album, with three songs that he finished in just a month. Two of them would replace those employed by Burton. The work was approved and moved forward. ‘Batdance’ was the last song he recorded for the album.
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The album became a hit (six consecutive weeks at number one) that, without a doubt, Prince needed: ‘Lovesexy’ and ‘Sign O’the Times’ had been critical hits, but not so much with the public, and from there the support of Warner to compose the soundtrack of an almost certain success like ‘Batman’. And the album is not exactly a paragon of commerciality.
In fact, their most popular song, the ‘Batdance’ that closes the album, is a hit. collage of sounds and samples funk of almost seven minutes and it is strange that it became number one. It is a dialogue between all the characters that have appeared on the album, with nods to Bat Man as a pop emblem (those choruses fabulously stolen from the tune of the sixties television series). The result is absolutely unclassifiable and a good example of the avalanche of disparate textures that populate the album.
The rest of the songs are sung by different characterswhich can be followed in the credits as if it were a zarzuela: ‘The Future’ and ‘Scandalous’ are sung by Batman; ‘Electric Chair’ and ‘Trust’ are for the Joker; ‘Vicki Waiting’ is sung by Bruce Wayne; ‘Lemon Crush’, Vicki Vale; and both, ‘The Arms of Orion’. In ‘Batdance’ a character called Gemini also appears, a kind of Batman for Prince, being half Prince and half Joker. Prince himself is also a character, singing on ‘Trust’ and yelling “Stop!” in ‘Batdance’.
Sound confusing? It is: the lyrics are extremely cryptic, they play at sensory saturation and the machine gun of ideas more than developing a coherent plot line. In addition, they develop themes that interest Prince and that are barely mentioned in the film, such as the romance between Wayne and Vale plus, of course, his fascination with the Joker, captured in the character of Gemini or in the best song on the album, ‘ Partyman’, which Prince composed after meeting Jack Nicholson in person.
In it, Prince adopts the personality of the Joker and makes us long for a ‘Folie á Deux’ that would have been this shameless and carefree. With iconic verses like “All hail the new king in town“, Prince’s Joker channels the spirit of Jack Nicholson’s interpretation, buried by the passage of time, but funnier than Heath Ledger’s or Joaquin Phoenix’s crybaby. And by the way, reminds us why the Joker from the comics is so terrifying: All he wants is to have a laugh. Whoever falls falls.
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