Hard Candy Christmas
Does anyone know if the film version of this song exists out there anywhere? If so, how do I get it?
shareI'd like to know, too.
I purchased the soundtrack CD but was completely disappointed that the songs were not taken from the movie (as I'd hoped) but were just re-recordings.
Dolly did Hard Candy Christmas without any of the other women. It really was too bad - the rest of the women added a great deal to the song.
That's odd. I have the soundtrack on vinyl, and "Hard Candy Christmas" is the version from the movie, credited to "Dolly Parton and the Whorehouse Girls."
I wonder why the CD is a rerecording. Maybe there was a licensing or royalty issue with some of the musicians or singers.
Regardless, it's a lovely song. But the movie version is so much better.
This was actually the LAST vinyl LP I purchased before going to CD only purchases. Less than a year later I purchased the CD. They are identical. "Hard Candy Christmas" is credited to "Dolly Parton and the Whorehouse Girls". The chorus of the song is the same as the film, but Dolly sings all the verses. I think this was done so it would be a more popular single. Personally I think the original version should have been on the CD, and the Dolly only version released as a single.
I'm really hoping that someday soon, the soundtrack will be remastered and reissued and that whoever releases it will expand it. Most soundtracks in the last few years that have been remastered and rereleased have been expanded to include bonus songs. THE BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS is LONG overdue for a reissue. Unfortunately it was an MCA Records release, and I don't think they do much progressive work! I'd like to see Rhino Records get a hold of the rights and release us a COMPLETE soundtrack with all the scoring music, BOTH versions of "Hard Candy Christmas", "Where Stallions Run"!!!!, "Down at the Chicken Ranch", Dolly's demos of the other songs she wrote for the film that weren't recorded, and anything ELSE that rests in the vaults of MCA Records and Universal Studios!
check out this link:
http://content.cdlib.org/view?docId=tf0489n6hb&doc.view=entire_text&brand=oac
It is a list of documents & recordings that are at UCLA in a collection of the late directors work. There are SEVERAL songs with the recording dates listed that are NOT in the film but from the original musical. As well as multiple takes of all the songs including my beloved "Where Stallions Run" which also shows was listed earlier as "I Wish I'd Been a Poet". Anyone know if this material is accessible to the public? Anyone wanna look into it? Let's contact Rhino Records with the info and get them to put something together!
Thanks for the information! I haven't played my LP of "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" in a few years, so my memory of that version of "Hard Candy Christmas" is sketchy. (I'm away from home now, so I can't play it.) I also have the original Broadway soundtrack of the musical.
I totally agree that the soundtrack is due for a reissue. Rhino would be the best label to do it, and they would do it right. I liked Rhino more when they were independent before being taken up by the WEA labels, but now they have more money and better lawyers behind them. I wonder, though, how much interest there is in reissuing archival material now that CDs are falling victim to downloads. I still buy CDs (and LPs too, for that matter), but unfortunately the music business is in a freefall these days.
Thanks for the link on Colin Higgins! I'm glad someone is in charge of preserving this great director's work, and hopefully someday the public will have access to it. It looks like the archives for "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" alone could fill a large room.
Nice to know I'm not going crazy...L...I've been looking for the movie version of this song for years.
Since Dolly has done 9 to 5 for Broadway, writing original songs, maybe we can enlist her help in getting the movie & soundtrack reissued with all the cut songs/scenes restored.
I've seen the version with Where Stallions Run & it was a very lovely scene.
Being a second alto, I'd love to have the girls' version to sing along with.
Not that I don't love Miss Dolly's version...........
Indeed, I'd love to see Dolly work to get the original versions of movie/soundtrack songs released, and she seems to have a lot influence in these matters. Of course, I suspect a lot of this involves copyright and royalty issues, and fighting lawyers is probably a losing battle.
On another matter, I'd love to hear a new album of Dolly rerecording some of her soundtrack songs, maybe doing acoustic versions of songs like "Hard Candy Christmas" and "9 to 5."
I like the movie version of Hard Candy Christmas better too, the only way I know to get it would be to record the audio from the DVD of the film. Unless one of the record labels has it now on CD :)
shareI'm not holding my breath that there'll ever be another official soundtrack, so I put together one of my own. I combined extended segments from the album with rips from the DVD and bits of the score. It all sounds good except "Where Stallions Run," which I don't have a high quality copy of, so I tacked that on near the end.
http://vinnierattolle.blogspot.com/2010/08/down-at-chick-chick-chicken -ranch.html
Dolly Parton released an album around the time the film came out called "Burlap and Satin" it included the song "A Gamble Either Way" which she sings to the young girl - Shy (Andrea Pike) when hiring her on at the house (the scene came just after the "Sneakin Around" scene and is similar to the same scene in the Broadway play (Minus the Angel Character) it was cut before the film's release. Photos exsit of Dolly singing the song from the film (check ebay - Dolly's standing at a window wearing the same dress she wears when she meets Jim Nabors in her car)
On the same LP, Dolly recorded the song "A Cowboys Ways" which is the same song Burt Sings (Stallions run) (Dolly does it much better!) "Sometimes he gets crazy as men are know to do...I wish he'd have been a poet" Sounds great in stereo and fully orchestrated.
Re-isuues of the LP excluded "A Gamble Either Way" and " A Cowboys Ways" but the import CD from Germany includes them and sounds great.
When I saw the show on Broadway one of the dancers - Valarie Leigh Bixler - was mentioned to be playing Angel in the film - the character was shorten from the play but did have a few scenes dicussing her child and going back home and giving up prostitution. She is the girl who sings "Maybe I'll settle down" in "Hard Candy Christmas". She also had a phone call to her son before the Aggies win the game.
Shy is the girl who sings "Maybe I'll meet someone and make him mind"
Too bad these scenes, the extended Aggie song, Burt and Dolly's songs and the Shy & Angel scenes could not be added into a directors cut - the film would be more rewarding and the songs make for a better listen on the CD I burned
Side note - one of the girls "Melanie Winter" hurt herself while dancing and had to wear an eyepatch the remainder of shooting - She's the girl found in bed with Robert Manden - her "pirate" look appears throughout the film.
The girl who does the speciality dance at the wedding in "Steel Magnolias" is the same girl who sings "Maybe I'll count the stars until the dawn" Dolly must have liked her!
Terri Treas - "Taddy-Jo" starred in the tv version of "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" shortly after the film came out, but the show was cancelled before Christmas 1982
The girl who sings "Maybe I'll dye my hair" is Trish Garland who originated the role of "Judy" in "A Chorus Line" on Broadway
Jennifer Narin Smith (Linda Lou) - was one of Bob Fosse's dancers cast in the "Take Off With US" show/number in the film "All That Jazz"
Someone had asked, to the best of my knowledge, the girls are:
In "Hard Candy Christmas" Order
Trish Garland (Beatrice) ..dye my hair
Gail Benedict (Elloise)...get a car
Melanie Winter (Ginger)...bounce right back
Terry Calloway(as Terrie M. Robinson) sleep real late
Lily Mariye...lose some weight
Leslie Cook...junk
Carol Culver...get drunk
Dolly Parton Chorus
Teresa Merritt (Jewel)...learn to sew
Lee Lund...just lie low
Terri Treas (Taddy-Jo)...hit bars
Sandy Johnson...count the stars
Lorraine Fields (Ruby Rae) will go on
Valerie Leigh Bixler (Angel)....settle down
Jennifer Nairn-Smith (Linda Lou)...just leave town
Paula Lynn...maybe have some fun
Andrea Pike(Shy)...make him mine
That's for IDing who sang what line in the song in the movie (and well as the terrific trivia which is all new to me). While the number is great on film, I don't think it would have worked so well as a recording with so many different people singing different lines and certainly would not have been a "radio friendly" track. I actually love Dolly's solo performance of the song better, in many ways this works better as a solo number as the lines seem like thoughts that would run through a single person's mind during a bout with depression.
Interesting that the album was released on MCA (since it was a Universal film) but the singles "I Will Always Love You" and "Hard Candy Christmas" came out on Dolly's label, RCA. I think that may have been a first and possibly the only time it was done. Two years later another RCA singer, Rick Springfield, starred in a Universal film (HARD TO HOLD) but the soundtrack and the singles were all on RCA.
Had been trying to figure out who was who in this song...great post! I was trying to figure out who Terri Treas was...she looked familiar...
I like this song a lot, but I don't consider it a Christmas Song. Curiously it is included in many Christmas albums by Country Music stars.
Oh no, I hired the soundtrack from the library yesterday assuming the film version of "Hard Candy Christmas" was on there . I guess I'll have to make do with the clip on YouTube.
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