MovieChat Forums > You Light Up My Life (1977) Discussion > story on NPR about the bitch who inspire...

story on NPR about the bitch who inspired song.

posted 10 years ago by Clothes-Off
7 replies | jump to latest

See blow for the link. This 62 year-old man Scott Sanders told his tale of when he was 21 and fell in love with a woman, Sarah, five years his senior. They had two years of bliss when one day she got a call from a successful older music arranger for movies. So of course she started cheating on Scott openly, then left him. The movie guy, Joe Brooks, was so inspired by her that he wrote a song--and a movie around the song that would become his directorial debut. That movie bombed; but the song, You Light Up My Life, became the biggest hit of the decade, and poor Scott couldn't go ANYWHERE without hearing it. Fast forward 34 years, and now cheating, uncaring Sarah must live with the knowledge that the man for whom she left Scott was a serial rapist who took his own life facing a lengthy prison term, and who also raised a son Nicholas (not by Sarah) who's now in prison for an unrelated murder. And the song, now critically reviled, is being used in an infomercial, and usually comes up in articles under the topic "what were we thinking"? No matter what music buyers were thinking, they can't possibly feel as stupid as Sarah, who now lives with the knowledge she inspired a crappy movie and dated a felon, but at least didn't have kids with him. I feel no sympathy for her.

Here's the full story: https://soundcloud.com/snapjudgment/you-light-up-my-life-snap-judgment -fools-gold?in=snapjudgment/sets/fools-gold

"Well, for once the rich white man is in control!" C. M. Burns

[–] millerdsplaydzign 10 years ago

Unless you're Scott Sanders, I don't understand your bitterness.

[–] Clothes-Off 10 years ago

I just sympathize with the man. Those Snap Judgement radio stories really pull you in, just like a movie, so I would like the "bad" character to get a comeuppance.

(Of course some would say the knowledge that you fell for someone who later became a monster--perhaps was one at the time--is enough of a comeuppance. It's just interesting.)

[–] cookiela2001 9 years ago

So, you're unhappy this woman didn't stay with a serial rapist/felon (?)

[–] newguyindc2001 9 years ago

And why do you care so much? You're such a dork.

[–] oxblood 9 years ago

Wow. I didn't know about any of this. It's on tv right now. I remember that inane song being played 24/7 on the radio when I was in high school.

[–] cathy-creswell 8 years ago

I remember my music teacher saying it was an insipid, overplayed song. He was right. We were all sick of it.

[–] trevorh321 (5495) 3 years ago

She doesn't seem that bad. People break up for all kinds of reasons. She did it for a man who was then rich and successful. That hardly makes her a bad person. People have done that forever for less. The guy turned out to be a very bad person, it seems. And his son, too. Probably both Democrats.