Ruined for 36 Years: Finally Now with Title Song

“The law is an ass.”
— Charles Dickens

The great author wasn’t speaking of music clearances, but he could just as well have been. Because no one had a crystal ball foretelling the home video market, we had decades of classic films stay unreleased.

Or worse.

The alternative? Release a film but without its title song — the one that inspired someone to devote months of his life writing a script or producing the film. THE VERY REASON THE FILM EXISTS. Just paste over a different track. Who’s to notice?

This is the stupidest goddamn thing ever. California Dreamin’ is not a great film, maybe not even a good one. But it was someone’s inspiration. And losing the song that brought the project to life in the first place absolutely destroys it. The song is about being in a dreary, cold, wet place where all the leaves are brown and wishing you were in “evergreen” California, where — ironically — it is raining as the credits roll. Without it, any impact in the ending is lost.

Shame on everyone responsible for this asinine miscarriage. What a waste for everyone: all parties lost. What on earth was the point?

Live long enough and all wrongs are righted. Amazon Prime now has the original theatrical version in HD, complete with America’s hit version intact.