By Steve Evans
Famed composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist Oscar
Hammerstein created the Broadway musical Carousel in 1945 when a little fellow
named Gerry Marsden would have been three years old. The musical was adapted 11
years later into a major motion picture filmed in a stunning, ultra-widescreen
process known as CinemaScope. Carousel also features, hands-down, the greatest
composition to be heard in any American musical. It is the only song I know of
besides Danny Boy that can leave strong men crying in their beer.
Gerry went on to form a band called The Pacemakers. He
covered this great tune in 1963 when he was 21 years old and had just signed a
contract with Brian Epstein, who by then had added a little band called The
Beatles to his stable of groups under management.
Gerry and the Pacemakers never achieved The Beatles’
stratospheric heights of success, but they cut some damn-fine singles and
You’ll Never Walk Alone is one of them.
Marsden died yesterday. He was 78.
Seek out the 1956 Hollywood adaptation of Carousel as well.
It’s the best musical the studio system ever produced. An absolutely
devastating cinematic experience.
The expression of encouragement in this song is so powerful it is almost overwhelming.
Cinema Uprising copyright © 2021 by Stephen B. Evans. All
rights reserved.
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