#WORDS FOR GREASE LIGHTNING SONG MOVIE#

Barry Gibb seemed untouchable – and the music helped chivvy the film through its lukewarm early reviews.

By the time Greased Lightning was hitting the airwaves, the soundtrack had become the second biggest selling album of the year in the United States – beaten by Saturday Night Fever. The 1978 summer smash was Summer Nights – one of the re-recorded songs from the original stage musical. You're The One That I Want not only repeated that trick, it became one of the best-selling singles of all time. The Grease single went to number one, selling more than seven million copies. With the title track swiftly followed by the swinging Travolta/Newton-John duet You're The One That I Want (another song Kleiser wasn't totally comfortable with at the time) and the Oscar-nominated ballad Hopelessly Devoted To You, the procession of infectious pop songs set the tone for the breezily giddy high school tale of star-crossed lovers, wise-cracking 'rebel' Danny and preppy goody-goody Sandy. It predated the film by two months, something that would seem a little strange today, but listening again, it's clear why. On Saturday, it will be 40 years since the Grease soundtrack was first placed on heavy rotation on American airwaves. I would flip on the radio and hear the s ong at every station.' The rest is music history – and it's telling that Kleiser would later tell the Bustle website: 'It's good that I lost that creative choice, because it was a giant hit. But Gibb had just written Staying Alive, How Deep Is Your Love and Night Fever for the all-conquering Saturday Night Fever soundtrack (the film also starred Travolta). Director Randal Kleiser was certainly uneasy at its inclusion. After all, there's a certain incongruity in a teenage musical set in the 1950s being introduced by a 1970s disco track written by The Bee Gees' Barry Gibb.

#WORDS FOR GREASE LIGHTNING SONG MOVIE#

It's one of the great movie theme tunes – and yet it might never have seen the light of day.

Words for grease lightning song