Original subtitles

["Killing Me Softly With His Song" playing on piano]

[Charles] So, I have this dream.

I'm in an unfamiliar place, very far from home.

The culture is different. The customs are different.

[piano note plays]

But it's beautiful there.

[playing gentle tune]

And all those differences,

those things that are supposed to keep us apart

really don't matter at all...

because there's music.

["Festival" by Charles Fox plays]

What's so amazing about this dream...

is that it isn't so different from my real life.

How did it happen?

Now, that's a story.

[man vocalizing]

♪

♪

[cheers and applause]

[smooth instrumental music plays]

I like that. It feels really nice.

It's lovely to be back.

Lovely to see all of you fantastic musicians.

And I think you know what we're doing

is we're gonna do a song that I wrote with,

uh, Rita Wilson.

And so she's gonna be here to sing it and...

- and Jason Alexander. - [man] Dang.

So we have a great day ahead.

About to have a lot of fun.

[Charles] My entire life has been

a series of musical adventures.

I've written television themes,

film scores, concert and ballet music,

and hit songs.

[Charles imitates guitar strumming]

Don't let those... the eighth notes get lost.

[imitates drum beating]

The halftime samba?

Think of it more if like Stevie Wonder

- were making this record. - Yeah. Okay.

You know?

[Charles] Along the way, I've gotten to work

with some of the greatest musicians in the world,

and so many amazing singers and performers.

And if I... if I hear the chord, I know where I am,

and then I can go, "Oh, that's a half-step treble."

♪ These dreams ♪

♪ These dreams can make you believe ♪

♪ In endless possibility ♪

We were talking about

the celebration of the experience

of going to the movies.

So we said,

"Maybe we should write this song."

But then...

♪ At the movies ♪

Yeah, perfect.

[Charles] Uh, that's it.

One, two, one.

["At The Movies" by Charles Fox and Rita Wilson plays]

♪ Room full of strangers but tonight I'm not alone ♪

♪ It's my story that I didn't have to write ♪

♪ There's magic in the air ♪

♪ An escape to take me home ♪

♪ Out of the darkness comes the light ♪

♪ A light and I'm alive ♪

♪ At the movies ♪

♪ That's me dancing in the street ♪

♪ At the movies ♪

♪ I am flying, I am free ♪

♪ At the movies ♪

♪ I can be most anything ♪

♪ If it's raining in my heart ♪

♪ Then that's me who is gonna sing ♪

♪ No one can see ♪

♪ If I have laughed or shed a tear ♪

♪ But we're together on this ride ♪

♪ This place of dreams can give a hard wipe, sorrows clear ♪

♪ So you can soar and feel alive ♪

♪ Alive, feel so alive ♪

♪ These dreams ♪

♪ These dreams can make you believe ♪

♪ In endless possibilities ♪

[Charles] I feel so fortunate to have spent

the last 60 years or so making music.

And to think it all started on Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx.

[soft instrumental music playing]

["Ballade" by Charles Fox plays]

[Charles] 2857 Sedgwick.

I was born here.

I lived here till I was 18

with my parents and my two brothers.

My life then revolved around my family,

my friends and music.

My roots, right here in the Bronx.

These are my buddies.

My brother Bernard.

We must have been ten years old when we met, huh?

Yeah. And actually, Eddie and I formed a band

when we were probably about 12 years old.

He played the vibes, I played the piano.

It was pretty lousy, but we had a good time.

[Ed and Charles laugh]

[mandolin strumming]

[Charles] My father played the mandolin, and he played

these sweet little Jewish melodies, you know?

And when I was old enough, I could play piano well enough,

I'd accompany him at the piano.

I'd get an extra 10 cents or 15 cents to my allowance.

So you might say I was professional from an early age,

- you know. - [all laugh]

["Ballade" by Charles Fox plays]

[Ira] I wanna tell you a great story about Charlie.

We were in the seventh grade or so,

and myself and a couple of other guys

knocked on his window and we said,

"Charlie, come on. We're going to the schoolyard,

play basketball."

Charlie said, "I can't go."

"What do you mean you can't go?"

"I have to take piano lessons."

"Piano lessons? Charlie.

Piano lessons, basketball, well, you know?"

And meanwhile, he became this famous piano player,

and I played basketball and never had a...

I never had a jump shot.

[all laugh]

But you had big elbows. That was it.

- Yeah. - He said to me,

"Piano, where's that gonna get you?"

[laughter]

[Charles] When I was 14 years old,

I went to the High School of Music & Art.

And it was a revelation to me

because I found a lot of other people

who also love music,

great clarinet players and violin players.

Some of my friends were great accomplished jazz musicians.

And it suddenly became my main interest

to play jazz in a band.

So we got a band together...

with the hope that we'd get a job

in the Catskill Mountains in the summer.

That was... would be big time.

Somehow, miraculously, we got a job.

It was a little rundown hotel.

I only made $15 a week as a pianist,

but it was heaven.

So one day at the hotel, two guys come to visit us,

who I knew from high school.

And they had played at the very hotel that we were,

and two years later,

we're now playing with Randy Carlos' Band.

He was one of the big Latin band leaders.

And I wasn't even familiar with Latin music,

but they invited us to come to see them play

that night at the Nemerson Hotel.

["Like So" by Charles Fox playing]

[Charles] The place was swinging.

There were young, beautiful women on the floor

dancing and... and guys sweeping them off their feet.

And I got so taken with the music

that Randy's band was playing.

Right then and there, I decided that's what I wanna do.

I wanna play Latin music.

[audience applauding]

And in all these years, it never left my heart.

It never left my mind.

♪

[conductor] Uno, dos, one, two.

[Latin instrumental music playing]

[Charles] So I graduated

from the High School of Music & Art,

and I was playing with Latin bands around New York.

[audience applauding, cheering]

He was 15, pretending to be 16, playing in Latin bands.

And he wasn't old enough to drive.

So my father would drive him to the jobs,

and I would go along on the trip

and hang out with... with my father in the car.

Our father financed his first salsa record,

which is pretty amazing when you think about a...

old Jewish guy coming from Poland

financing a salsa record.

[Latin music playing]

[audience applauding]

[Charles] So one day I came home late at night

after a job,

and my teacher was here walking her dog,

and we stopped to talk.

This is my piano teacher who taught me piano

from the time I was eight or nine years old.

And she said, "What are you doing with your life?"

And I said, "Well, I'm playing the piano in bands.

I'm studying composition with my composition teacher

from, uh, Music & Art."

She said, "Well, there's a teacher in France.

Her name is Nadia Boulanger. She's very well known.

She's taught some great composers,

and she is in a summer school called Fontainebleau.

And, uh, maybe if you can get accepted to that,

that you would be able to meet her and work with her,

and that might be great for you."

Well, the idea of going to Paris sounded pretty cool to me,

to be honest with you.

I said, "I didn't think my parents could afford

to send me there."

And she said, "Well, I know your parents.

I'll talk to your mother and father,

I'll tell them how important this is.

Maybe they can find a way to send you."

And pretty soon, I was on the plane to Paris.

[soft classical music plays]

[Charles] "Dear family,

this is my first evening at Fontainebleau,

and I know that I can expect a truly happy summer.

We have already had a cocktail party

in one of the beautiful gardens of the palace.

As you can see, I'm having a wonderful time,

but of course, I miss home a little.

Do write and tell me how things are.

Love, Charles."

[Joseph] Wow, look at this place.

Remember the first time you saw this place?

I do remember, Joe.

I was 18 years old, came from the Bronx.

I had only been to Brooklyn a couple times,

and here I was in France.

And I remember the anticipation that I had,

not knowing what was ahead of me.

And, uh, I remember my first lesson

with Mademoiselle Boulanger.

I didn't know what to expect.

I heard her a lot about her.

I was very nervous about it, you know,

being away from home,

from everyone I knew in... in this foreign world.

[gentle piano music]

"Dear family,

Saturday I had my first private lesson

with Mademoiselle Boulanger.

She's the most exciting and thoroughly alive person

I've ever met."

[Charles] "She studied my string quartet

and said I had a lot of original ideas,

but of course, my lack of training

was obvious also.

I can think of no better teacher to begin with."

Look at these paintings.

It's like our family photos on the wall of the Bronx.

Just a little bigger, a little more ornate.

Each one of these is about the size of our apartment

in the Bronx.

The first time I met her, she got up to greet me,

and she gave me her hand, extended her hand.

And, uh, we talked a little bit.

And then we sat at the piano.

And, uh, she has this beautiful, warm smile...

this loving smile.

And there's a kind of a depth perception

of what she felt that somehow permeated from her.

And you knew you were in the presence

of someone really important.

It wasn't just a lesson, it wasn't just a person.

It was someone who carried with them a lot of weight.

[upbeat instrumental music]

[Charles] "Dear family,

I've just returned home

after a lesson with Mademoiselle.

I'd like to work for a couple of hours

before dinner, so I won't write much now.

Needless to say, my new composition

has been taking most of my time.

I hurriedly finished it and made revisions.

It will be performed sometime next week.

I have scheduled the first rehearsal for tomorrow,

and I'm looking forward to it,

as it will be the first time that I will conduct."

♪

[Joseph] So here's where we had the concerts.

It didn't look like a tennis court.

Like, there was a big stage here.

There was a Cavaillé-Coll organ.

- [Charles] Yes. - [Joseph] And, uh,

there were all these beautiful tapestries.

- Do you remember that? - Yes. Yeah.

I remember the time

that I conducted for the first time.

[woodwind music]

I was on the podium, completely unsure of myself.

And Mademoiselle Boulanger

was in the very first row on this side.

And right behind her was Mademoiselle Dieudonné.

And I looked over to see if they gave their approval,

and she smiled at me.

- [Joseph laughs] - And that meant everything.

[audience applauding]

And then Mademoiselle said,

there's something she thought that could improve the piece.

And I didn't think so.

So I never came up against having a different opinion.

I was afraid to express my opinion.

But then I said to the orchestra,

"All right, well, let's do it

halfway between what I said and what Mademoiselle said."

- Yeah. - And then she...

she was next to me.

- She took my jacket like this. - Uh-huh.

Like, to get my attention.

And she said, words that I'll never forget.

She said, "But my dear,

compromises makes for very good friendship,

but for very bad music.

Play it your way or play it my way, but don't compromise."

- Ah, that's... - And...

and I never... I live with that.

I never forgot that.

[gentle piano music]

Oh, my.

This is Napoleon III's...

private opera house.

[Charles] "Dear family...

there doesn't seem to be so much to write about these days.

Not that I'm doing less than before,

but I guess that I'm just getting

pretty used to things around here

and take them for granted.

My life is so different from what it was at home.

It's almost unreal."

Beautiful.

I can picture Boulanger.

[sighs]

I can see her face, I can see her smiling face.

[Charles] On that same visit to France,

I was scheduled to do a set at the jazz club.

["Like So" by Charles Fox plays]

Luckily, I'm working with some of the best players in Paris.

Are we playing twice at 79?

[woman] Yes.

[Charles] I also asked my good friend

Alexandre Desplat,

who's a two-time Oscar-winning composer,

to join us in this set.

What is... going back to when I was in my early twenties

and I... I used to play flute and salsa music

and jazz and...

but because I become a composer, I stopped playing and I stopped,

you know, practicing and playing with friends.

So when Charlie offered to do that,

I thought, "Wow, it's like

an old cowboy with this gun, you know.

- [both laugh] - The box.

It's okay, it's... makes [speaking French].

So I've been practicing for weeks to...

to bring my fingers together.

- Alexandre. - [Alexandre] Ah, can't film it.

To me it was similar.

I started playing the piano, and then

I got into writing music and I...

but at three o'clock in the morning

when I was busy writing, I'd stop and go...

[vocalizing]

[Alexandre laughs]

You probably did the same thing.

Absolutely.

One, two, three.

["Nite Life" by Charles Fox plays]

[Charles] For this set,

I knew that I wanted to present a new song,

sung entirely in French.

Currently, I've been collaborating

in a new musical with Alain Boublil,

who wrote such wonderful shows

as Les Misérables and Miss Saigon.

And since Alain and I were doing a show together,

I asked him to write a song with me.

I became aware of Charlie Fox back in 1972.

We were both competing against each other

in this competition, in this song contest.

Uh, I had a song, you know,

a French song with French artists there.

Charlie had just a little new song,

which he wrote with Norman Gimbel,

called "Killing Me Softly."

So when I heard that song, not only did I know that

he was going to win the festival, obviously,

I knew that the song was going to...

to conquer the world.

As I never thought or dreamed

that I would be working as a lyricist

with someone having written

the kind of hit song that Charlie has written.

[Charles] Together we wrote a passionate love song,

and to sing it, I was so happy to work with Anne Sila.

Anne Sila is a wonderful French singer.

She was a winner

of the French version of The Voice,

but I had never met her until now.

[Anne] Very nice to meet you.

Thank you so much for inviting me.

Oh, you are wonderful.

Oh, I'm sorry that I didn't answer earlier.

It's okay. You're here. You're here.

- It's all that matters. - And I'm very happy to be here.

- Thank you. - [audience applauding]

Anne Sila.

["On N'aime Qu'une Fois Comme Ca" by Charles Fox plays]

♪ [lyrics in French] ♪

♪ [lyrics in French] ♪

♪ [lyrics in French] ♪

♪ [lyrics in French] ♪

♪ [lyrics in French] ♪

♪ [lyrics in French] ♪

♪ On n'aime qu'une fois comme ça ♪

♪ [lyrics in French] ♪

♪ [lyrics in French] ♪

♪ On n'aime qu'une fois comme ça ♪

♪ [lyrics in French] ♪

♪ [lyrics in French] ♪

♪ [lyrics in French] ♪

♪ On n'aime qu'une fois comme ça ♪

♪ [lyrics in French] ♪

♪ [lyrics in French] ♪

♪ [lyrics in French] ♪

♪ [lyrics in French] ♪

♪ [lyrics in French] ♪

♪ [lyrics in French] ♪

♪ [lyrics in French] ♪

♪ [lyrics in French] ♪

♪ [lyrics in French] ♪

♪ [lyrics in French] ♪

♪ [lyrics in French] ♪

♪ [lyrics in French] ♪

♪ [lyrics in French] ♪

♪ On n'aime qu'une fois comme ça ♪

♪ [lyrics in French] ♪

♪ [lyrics in French] ♪

♪ On n'aime qu'une fois comme ça ♪

♪ [lyrics in French] ♪

♪ [lyrics in French] ♪

♪ [lyrics in French] ♪

♪ [lyrics in French] ♪

♪ [lyrics in French] ♪

[vocalizing]

♪ On n'aime qu'une fois comme ça ♪

♪ On n'aime qu'une fois comme ça ♪

[audience cheering and applauding]

["Salsa Suite" by Charles Fox plays]

[Charles] After I completed

that wonderful summer at Fontainebleau,

Mademoiselle asked me to come to Paris

so I could continue my studies with her.

Those months of intense one-on-one lessons

completely changed my life.

In the years that followed,

my career kept me mostly in Los Angeles,

but sometimes I would come to record in London.

And when I was that close,

Joan and I would come over to Paris.

Invariably, when I was here

I would pass by Nadia Boulanger's house.

But this time was very special, because the new tenant

kindly let us into Mademoiselle's apartment.

I hadn't been there in more than 50 years.

Bonjour Madame.

Comment ça va?

[speaking French]

- What is your name? - Ann.

- Ann? - Ann.

- I'm Charles. - Nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you too. Thank you very much.

This is lovely of you to allow us to do this

and, uh, revive these memories.

And, uh, um,

it's a very special memory for me, for sure.

I've carried her with me all these years.

[Charles] I was in this apartment

at least three times a week

for private lessons and composition class.

She had a... a grand piano like this...

a grand piano where you are, two of them.

And over there was a full pipe organ

like you'd see in the church.

[intriguing piano music plays]

[Charles] Mademoiselle Boulanger

was always extremely demanding with the music.

There were times when, uh,

if I did something that she didn't like, she'd go,

"Mon dieu, qu'est-ce que vous faites?"

And boom, she'd give me a shot in the elbow like this.

A couple times knocked me right off the seat,

and then she left, then she left.

But she also let you know how much she cared.

When Mademoiselle Boulanger said she'd like me to come on

to Paris and study with her,

and I said, "I don't think my parents could afford

to send me to Paris and keep me in Paris."

She said, "Well, do you think they could even afford

$100 a month?"

Which was not a lot of money even then, in 1959.

So I said, um...

"Can I live on $100 a month?"

So she said, "Let's do a budget."

So we made a budget, this much for... for room

and for food and music paper.

And... and, uh, I said, "But Mademoiselle,

uh, you didn't leave any money for your lessons."

She goes... [scoffs] "I don't care about that.

I just... I'm... I'm more concerned

you have enough to eat."

So, in fact, I never paid her

for a lesson all the time I was here.

She wouldn't have it.

But she said, "If you can ever do it,

you can do the same thing for someone else one day."

She used to use the word "the truth."

She'd say, "If you write something,

it could be with anything.

It doesn't have to be with composition.

It could be within an arrangement or a song.

But putting the notes together in such a way

that they cannot really be changed,

it becomes the truth."

[low flute note]

[hollow percussion sound]

It's kind of an aesthetic value

that has influenced me my whole life.

[energetic salsa music]

♪

♪

[audience cheering and applauding]

["It's De-Lovely" by Cole Porter plays]

♪ The night is young, the skies are clear ♪

♪ And if you wanna go walking, dear ♪

♪ It's delightful ♪

♪ It's delicious ♪

♪ It's de-lovely ♪

♪ I understand the reason why you're sentimental ♪

♪ 'Cause so am I ♪

♪ It's delicious ♪

♪ It's de-lassic ♪

♪ It's de-lovely ♪

I remember the first time I saw you.

I came home really for the summer.

- Mm-hmm. - I kept my apartment in Paris.

I was gonna go back to Paris after the summer.

And that first time I saw you,

- I was... - Laurels Hotel and Country Club.

- Laurels Hotel. - Yes.

- You were a counselor. - Mm-hmm.

Yes, I was working

- at the hotel. - Yeah.

And you were, uh, I... I can still remember

you had a beautiful blue dress.

Uh, and I took one look at you and I said...

- "I'm in love." - Yeah.

What was... what did you remember?

[sighs] Um, we just tried to stay away from the band.

- You did? - Yeah.

- Why the band? - The band had a bad reputation.

We were cool.

Who wanted to be with musicians?

We had red jackets. What are you talking about?

We wanted the promise of a good life.

- Musicians. [laughing] - [laughing]

All right, well,

- so you gave in on that one. - Yeah.

[Latin music playing]

[Charles] So when did you fall in love with me?

- Hmm. Not then. [laughing] - [laughing]

- Why not? - I don't know.

[Charles] Do you remember how we got engaged?

I do. I do.

No ring. There was no ring.

- It was before the ring. - Before the ring.

I wanted to bring you

- back to Paris. - Yeah.

I wanted you to meet my teacher.

Yes, and I said my mother wouldn't allow that.

- Right. - 'Cause we weren't married.

- Right. - Right.

So that was kind of an entree for me to say,

"So if we were married,

then your mother would let you go?"

Yes, she would let me go then.

So I... [laughs]

I probably said...

- "So, will you marry me?" - Right.

- And I probably said, yes. - And here we are.

[both laugh]

[soft music playing]

- And we had no money saved. - [Joan] We had no money saved.

Never had any money during the summer.

- But that did not stop us. - Why would it stop us?

Why would we not go to Europe?

Just 'cause we had no money didn't really matter, right?

Right, so you know how we got the money?

- I do. - How?

- [laughs] - From our wedding money.

- Right. - Our wedding present.

We got the envelope, we took the money out.

And we said, we'll go to Europe as long as it lasts.

[thrilling music playing]

[Joan] Quite a way to travel.

Only when you're 19, you could do that.

When we came back from our honeymoon,

- we had no money. - We had no money.

- We spent it. - Right. [laughs]

- We had no furniture. - We had no furniture.

- You weren't happy. - No.

That's when I was really annoyed at you.

[Charles] You were annoyed at me.

We spent all that money on this trip,

and now we have no bedroom set.

- We had nothing. - Nothing. A mattress.

And all your friends who got married had bedroom sets.

They did 'cause they didn't go to Europe

- and waste their money. [laughs] - Yeah.

So look, here it is,

- 60 years later. - Yeah.

- It's almost 60 years. - Oh, my God.

We're still remembering those months, right?

That's true. That's true.

You think those people remember the bedroom set?

Uh... [laughs]

no, they're all divorced. [laughs]

♪

[Charles] So I really had no job.

And we were gonna have a baby then.

- That's right. - Right.

- Why wait? [laughs] - Why wait? [laughs]

- So we had... - Nothing.

An apartment with no furniture

- and a baby. - Yeah.

We had a crib for the baby though.

- It was nice. - We had a crib, yeah.

And I earned really very little money.

- Very little. - And then I started to get work.

[heroic music plays]

[Charles] I got my first opportunity

to do a television theme.

ABC had a new sports theme show called Wide World of Sports.

[commentator] The thrill of victory...

and the agony of defeat.

[Charles] That led to two years later

doing the theme for Monday Night Football.

♪

And I started doing all those game shows.

[announcer] The Match Game.

[announcer 2] What's My Line?

[audience applauding]

[To Tell The Truth theme song plays]

♪ It's a lie, lie, you're telling a lie ♪

♪ I never know why... ♪

[Charles] So I did that.

But I always dreamed about composing for film.

I did The Incident in 1967.

Charlie, you are the guy who sits with me

and watches the film silent with just dialogue

and have to add the most important part of the picture,

the music that you put in it to surround the film.

That was my first picture, Larry.

You were a kid with a lot of hair.

All I remember was this huge head of hair.

[laughs] And you ended up making this great score

that really helped make that film for me.

[Charles] That was the beginning of my whole career.

How did you go between your film-scoring career

and your songwriting career?

- How did that happen? - You know,

curiously enough, I never had any ambition

about being a songwriter.

- Really? - Never. I had a friend,

uh, Ed Newmark, who was a producer, he was head

- of a record company. - [Tom] True.

And he said to me, "You know,

if you learn to do rock and roll,

you can get work, you know, doing arranging."

I was embarrassed to be listening

- to rock and roll. - [laughs]

I... I just was. It wasn't my background.

I liked opera. I liked classical music.

You know, Stravinsky.

Um, and I loved Latin music and I loved jazz.

I loved everything but rock and roll.

So, I'd start listening to rock and roll

on my car radio, and with the windows down.

And then if someone drove next to me at a light,

and I would... I'd roll up my window

- so they shouldn't hear me. - [laughs]

[Tom] God forbid.

You shouldn't be listening to rock and roll.

And eventually, I got to do a job.

And one job led to another.

And I... I... I like rock and roll.

♪ Billy, Billy, baby ♪

[Tom] So you wrote arrangements for rock and roll artists?

[Charles] Arrangements. All arrangements.

I did a lot of that stuff.

♪ Ninety-nine... ♪

[John] Well, you conformed in a professional way.

♪ Juanita Banana ♪

But I didn't think of myself as a songwriter

till I worked with Bob Crewe,

one of the big record industry producers of the '60s.

There was a picture called Barbarella,

and they asked Bob if he would replace the music.

Bob was not a... was not a composer, film score.

- He was a songwriter. - No. Songwriter, yeah.

So when he got the job to do Barbarella,

he said, "We need about five or six songs.

We'll write the songs together."

I became a songwriter.

♪ Barbarella, psychedela ♪

♪ There's a kind of cockleshell about you ♪

The... Barbarella starts with Jane Fonda

going to take a... a... a long intergalactic voyage.

And for that, she had to take off all her clothes

and go to sleep.

And I had to go to France

to teach her how to hum along with this.

So while she was taking off her clothes, she'd be going...

[Tom] She'd be humming the tune.

♪ La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la ♪

♪ Barbarella, psychedela ♪

- [laughs] - So we did that movie.

It was very successful movie, Barbarella.

Larry Peerce's next picture

was, uh, Goodbye Columbus.

- Oh, yeah. - [Tom] Oh, sure.

It was the picture that would take me out to Hollywood.

And that changed my life.

You wanted me to do, uh, Goodbye Columbus,

- the next picture. - I did indeed.

But the folks at Paramount didn't know who I was.

I wasn't getting the job

- very quickly. - No.

And Stanley Jaffe, he was the producer of the film.

I know you wanted me, I knew Stanley wanted me,

but I didn't know if it would happen.

One day, I..., um, as... from my office

on the 52nd Street, I put a dime

- in the telephone booth. - [Larry] Of course.

[Charles] Every... every telephone booth

- was an office, you know. - [Larry laughs]

Then I called Joan and she said, uh,

"Stanley Jaffe called you, call him quick."

So I put another dime in and, uh, I...

I can still hear Stanley say

these words to me many years later.

He says, "How would you like to come to Hollywood

and score Goodbye Columbus?"

[calm jazz music plays]

Well, that was the beginning of it.

And that was the absolute dream for me.

So the very first day,

we sit down to discuss the orchestra,

what kind of an orchestra did we need

for Goodbye Columbus?

And there were three of us in the room.

There was a wonderful man who was the contractor,

uh, Phil Kagen.

And there was a man named John Hamell.

So we sit down to talk and Phil says,

"Who do you like?" I said, "I don't know anyone."

He says, "Who do you wanna drum?"

I said, "I don't know anyone."

He said, "How about Shelly Manne on drums?"

I said, "Shelly Manne will play for me?

- He said, "Of course." - [John laughs]

"Of course. And... and who do you bass?"

I said, "I... I need to..." "How about Ray Brown?"

I said, "Ray Brown's gonna play for me?"

"Yes. And Conte Condoli, and, uh, Pete Jolly

- and Bud Shank and..." - Yes.

Anyway, so I end up with a spectacular orchestra.

And then he said, "How about, uh, strings?

How many strings do you need?"

So I said, "Not that many, uh,

maybe, um, maybe six violins or something like that.

And two violas and two celli."

A... a budget string section by those standard.

A budget string. And I was used to that.

At one point, John Hamell,

who was head of the music department,

then goes over to the window

and he's looking out on... on the Paramount lot.

And Phil looks into... leans into me and he says,

"You got a little stinky orchestra here."

- [laughs] - I said, "What?"

He says, "Six violins?

You're gonna be embarrassed here in Hollywood.

Buddy, it's your first picture.

They're gonna laugh you outta Hollywood."

- [laughs] - I said, "Really?"

He says, "Take 20 violins.

- Take ten cellos." - Amen, brother.

So I... I... I gave it a quick thought.

John came back, sat down, and I said,

"Uh, I'm rethinking of the strings a bit."

You know, I'm trying to sound cool.

He said, "Yeah."

I said, "So instead of six violins,

can I have like 20?"

He says, "No problem."

- [John] Whoa. - Didn't even blink.

And I said, "How about, uh, ten violas?"

- "No problem." And ten cellos. - Oh, my God!

So I... I can't believe it. I got this 70-piece song.

I don't even know what to do with 70 pieces.

[laughs]

Well, I knew what to do with it very quickly,

'cause the next morning, at nine o'clock in the morning,

I get a call from Stanley Jaffe, the producer, who says,

"Have you gone crazy here in Hollywood?

You told me 30 musician. You're up to..."

with some four-letter expletives and so it's...

"Do you really need 20 violins?"

I said, "No, six will be fine."

- [laughs] - You caved immediately.

That was on my first day in Hollywood.

[laughing]

[calm music playing]

The Other Side of the Mountain. It was a wonderful movie.

The movie was about Jill Kinmont...

[Larry] Yeah. Yeah.

She was 15 years old when she had...

[Larry] She was 15 or 16. A young kid.

[Charles] She was the Olympic hopeful.

- Paralyzed from the neck down. - A fall that she took.

[melancholic music plays]

[Larry] You talk about strong,

this woman paralyzed from the neck down

and made a life.

[Charles] Jill Kinmont came

- to some of the sessions. - [Larry] Yes.

[Charles] She was sitting in a wheelchair right behind me.

And there was that one scene

that she was learning to pick up a chip...

- [Larry] Yes. - And put in her mouth.

Using all the strength she could possibly muster.

And Jill was crying.

And her mother told me that she had never seen

- Jill cry before. - Oh, never.

That music somehow must have brought it out of her.

♪

So my very first year I was here,

they have a pilot for a new series

called Love, American Style.

♪ Love, love ♪

♪ Love, love ♪

♪ Love, American Style ♪

♪ Truer than the Red, White and Blue, oh, oh, oh ♪

♪ Love, American Style ♪

♪ That's me and you ♪

- Do you remember that show? - Oh, sure.

- I don't know. - Arlene Golonka. [laughs]

♪ Love, American Style ♪

It's the greatest celebrity name ever.

I remember the titles, though. Remember?

It had the Love, American Style with the heart and the...

♪ That's me and you ♪

[Charles] So in that same first year,

Universal asked me to do a movie called Pufnstuf.

They had a successful television series.

- Sid and Marty Krofft made it. - [light guitar music plays]

And they asked me to do the music

and write all the songs.

I needed a lyricist to work with.

Norman Gimbel wrote some of the great standards

like "The Girl from Ipanema" and "I Will Wait for You."

We started to work together

and we wrote six or seven songs for the film.

And we had a really good collaboration.

♪ We're alive and well ♪

♪ And living here on Living Island ♪

♪ Living every happy day ♪

[Charles] Who could have imagined that our collaboration

would last for over 30 years?

And it all started with the adventures of Witchiepoo,

a foam rubber dragon, and a talking flute.

♪ We hope someday ♪

♪ The whole world will live this way ♪

- What a pleasure to see you. - Wonderful to see you.

- How are ya? - Welcome to my home.

[Charles] These days, Henry Winkler may be best known

for his wonderful role in Barry.

My career is shit, Barry.

[Charles] But when Happy Days was on the air,

he was the Fonz.

Geez Louise, your prize is coming.

- Me. - [audience cheering]

So the first year they used "Rock Around the Clock"

- as the main title. - Right.

- Bill Haley & The Comets. - [Charles] Yeah.

I think it just got to be too much money

to pay for that song.

So they had the really good sense

- and taste... - Mm-hmm.

- To call you. - [laughs]

So now what happens?

You... you're working with, uh, your partner.

- Norman Gimbel. - Okay.

So what's the first thing that you do?

You start talking about the show.

We talked about the song, what it should do.

And because...

What do you mean what... what it should do?

What does that mean, what it should do?

What it should do

- is introduce the characters. - [Henry] Okay.

Should introduce the time. Should introduce the flavor...

- [Henry] The flavor of the show. - [Charles] ...of the show.

And in this case, it's a period piece.

[Henry] Right.

[Charles] So it should feel like it's the '50s.

So Norman said, "Well, they like 'Rock Around The Clock.'"

Uh, "One o'clock, two o'clock, three o'clock rock,

four o'clock, five o'clock," et cetera.

So Norman said, "Why don't we just...

"Sunday, Monday, Happy Days. Tue..."

- It was kind of an offshoot. - Got it.

He's... he's... he is like a role model.

And out of that came a song

that everybody knows.

[Charles] There's a group called The Barenaked Ladies.

They do that song in their act.

For ages, we've been introducing

the Big Bang Theory song that I wrote,

and I say, "Well, we wrote a song for a television show."

And then we end up playing one of your songs

just as a gag saying, "Oh, okay,

- we didn't write that one." - [Charles chuckles]

But we've been dropping your songs into our set

for a decade.

You yourself, you know, have experience

doing television themes.

You just have to capture the moment, you know?

The theme is almost a character,

I feel like in the... in the show.

Like it's the first foot through the door...

- [Charles] Yeah. - You know?

And it just al... already, you feel comfortable

as soon as you hear it.

Songs like this have a time machine quality.

Like, they immediately bring back,

uh, childhood memories, you know,

of hanging in the living room with family or friends.

Well, the word schlemiel

and schlimazel, you know, they just...

- Hasenpfeffer Incorporated. - Incorporated.

They just... That'll get you every time.

[Charles] Yeah. Yeah.

You try to get that into every song

because every song starts with "schlemiel, schlimazel."

There's a magic to it, you know?

Unfortunately most of the time, like Love Boat,

they wouldn't go for it, you know?

Oh, darn.

- The secret ingredients. - A Wide World of Sports also.

Schlemiel, schlimazel sports.

Did you do the Wide World of Sports' theme?

- Yeah. I did, yeah. - Oh, my God, man.

"The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat."

I think most people grew up on your songs,

but we became musicians on your songs.

You know, we... we learned how to write,

we learned how to be efficient,

succinct, communicate well.

Those songs, uh, had an enormous impression

on the way we would end up writing.

I just love that.

I have to tell you, I never had the compliment

that you gave me tonight, right now,

that it... it informed you for writing songs and, uh...

That really is very special thing.

Thank you for that, I... I really, uh, that...

- that means an awful lot to me. - It's from the heart.

They are the songs that we sing.

We had the pleasure of writing a theme song...

- [audience cheering] - for a very popular...

comedic television program.

[man in audience] Never saw it!

And we'd like to do it for you right now,

if that's okay.

♪ Sunday, Monday, happy days ♪

♪ Tuesday, Wednesday, happy days ♪

♪ Thursday, Friday, happy days ♪

♪ The weekend comes, my cycle hums ♪

♪ Ready to race to you ♪

♪ These days are all ♪

♪ Share them with me ♪

♪ These days are all happy and free ♪

♪ Goodbye grey sky, hello blue ♪

♪ Nothing can hold me when I hold you ♪

♪ Feels so right, it can't be wrong ♪

♪ Rockin' and rollin' all week long ♪

[Charles] 5,000 people singing the song

that I wrote 50 years ago.

♪ Sunday, Monday, happy days ♪

[Charles] And having a joyous time.

♪ Tuesday, Wednesday, happy days ♪♪

♪ Thursday, Friday, happy days ♪

♪ Saturday, what a day ♪

♪ Groovin' all week with you ♪

♪ These days are all ♪

♪ Share them with me ♪

♪ These days are all happy and free ♪

♪ These happy days are yours and mine ♪

♪ These happy days are yours and mine ♪

♪ Happy days ♪

"Happy Days" will be right back.

- [audience applauding] - All right. All right.

We didn't write that.

But Charlie Fox, who wrote that song,

- is here tonight. - [audience cheering]

Wrote that, The Love Boat theme,

"Killing Me Softly."

The guy is a genius.

- Wonder Woman. - Wonder Woman theme song.

[speech continues faintly]

So they hand you

- Laverne & Shirley. - Yeah.

And they go, "Give us a theme song."

Did the... the lyric exist?

Did it... did anybody talk about it?

Not at all.

The, uh, the two girls in the, um, yeah,

uh, did a... a brief... a brief part of,

uh, Happy Days one day.

- [Rita] Yes. - [Jason] Right.

Laverne. This is Laverne DeFazio.

- She's mine. - [audience laughs]

And this is Shirley Feeney. She's yours, as you can see.

Apparently, ABC and Paramount got a lot of letters,

"Who were those two girls?"

And they decided to do a quick...

Like a little presentation or something?

A little presentation. Exactly right.

And that was Garry Marshall, you know, I mean...

So Shirl, what do you think of this kid?

- You've been with worse. - Oh, he's nice.

- And a tie too. - And a hanky.

Is that for showing or for blowing?

[laughing]

All we knew about the two girls,

was that they worked in a factory of blue collar...

collar workers, and they had dreams.

There was no pilot, there was no script.

They just two girls. And they're dreaming.

So we wrote a song about hoping

and wishing our dreams come true.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

Schlemiel! Schlimazel! Hasenpfeffer Incorporated!

♪ Give us any chance we'll take it ♪

♪ Read us any rule we'll break it ♪

♪ We're gonna make our dreams come true ♪

♪ Doing it our way ♪

♪ Nothing's gonna turn us back now ♪

[Charles] I had no idea the impact that song

and that title sequence would have.

♪ We're gonna make our dreams come true ♪

♪ Doing it our way ♪

♪ There is nothing we won't try ♪♪

♪ Never heard the word impossible ♪

♪ This time there's no stopping us ♪

♪ We're gonna do it ♪

♪ On your mark, get set, and go now ♪

♪ Got a dream and we just know now ♪

Hey, wait a minute. What are we doing?

♪ And we'll do it our way, yes our way ♪

♪ Make all our dreams come true ♪

♪ For me and you ♪

Schlemiel! Schlimazel! Hasenpfeffer Incorporated!

I love it! Drew! Got it. We got most of that.

When my wife and I got married 28 years ago,

and we had the lovely woman doing the service

read a small poem

written by the great poet, Mr. Charles Fox.

She said to the guests,

"Love, life's sweetest reward,

it's a friendly smile on an open shore.

Love, exciting, and new.

Come aboard, we're expecting you."

- [laughs] - Okay.

I... I love it, but I have to correct you of one thing.

- The poet was Paul Williams. - Oh, of course.

[piano version of "Theme from Love Boat" playing]

Maybe you can speak this.

♪ Love ♪

♪ Exciting and new ♪

♪ Come aboard ♪

We should do... redo this series.

♪ We're expecting you ♪

♪ The Love Boat, the love ♪

Excuse me.

♪ Today we'll be making another run ♪

[Jason] I'll follow you.

♪ The Love Boat ♪

♪ Promises something for everyone ♪

♪ Set your course for adventure ♪

♪ Your heart on a new romance ♪

♪ And love ♪

♪ Won't hurt anymore ♪

♪ It's an open smile ♪

♪ On a friendly shore ♪

♪ Welcome aboard, it's love ♪

Oh, my God. Listen to that.

[Charles] Look at that, we can still do that.

I couldn't get up to that note

if my children's eyesight depended on it.

But what was interesting is that

neither of us were great prognosticators

about the future of The Love Boat.

How long would it last?

I know it's like, "How long was it gonna last?"

Turned out to be 11 years, first time.

When we did that show, there were only two boats.

Princess Lines. Now there's about 1,000.

I don't know. It actually...

That show created the whole cruise industry.

They'd be begging in the streets with a tin can

- if it wasn't for us. - [Charles laughs]

- [laughing] - Okay, then there's this one.

♪ Wonder Woman ♪

Oh, yeah! =♪ Wonder Woman ♪

- I didn't know that was you. - ♪ Wonder Woman ♪

♪ All the world is waiting for you ♪

[laughs]

♪ And the mirrors I possess ♪

♪ In... ♪

I love this.

♪ In your satin tights ♪♪

♪ Fighting for your rights ♪

♪ And the old Red, White and Blue ♪

[upbeat orchestral riff]

[Latin music playing]

♪ Wonder Woman ♪

♪ Wonder Woman ♪

♪ [lyrics in Spanish] ♪

♪ [lyrics in Spanish] ♪

♪ [lyrics in Spanish] ♪

♪ [lyrics in Spanish] ♪

♪ Wonder Woman ♪

♪ Wonder Woman ♪

♪ [lyrics in Spanish] ♪

♪ [lyrics in Spanish] ♪

♪ [lyrics in Spanish] ♪

♪ [lyrics in Spanish] ♪

♪ Wonder Woman ♪

♪ Wonder Woman ♪

♪ [lyrics in Spanish] ♪

♪ [lyrics in Spanish] ♪

♪ [lyrics in Spanish] ♪

♪ [lyrics in Spanish] ♪

♪ Wonder Woman ♪

♪ Wonder Woman ♪

♪ [lyrics in Spanish], Wonder Woman ♪

♪ [lyrics in Spanish] ♪

♪ [lyrics in Spanish], Wonder Woman ♪

♪ [lyrics in Spanish] ♪

♪ [lyrics in Spanish] ♪

[speaking Spanish]

[audience cheering]

[Charles] Diane Warren has written huge hits

for some of the greatest singers.

She's written many Oscar-nominated songs,

and she's my good friend.

How did you become a songwriter?

I became one when I, you know, looked on a record

and saw the parentheses and my older sister's singles,

45s, back in the day.

- And I imagined myself there. - [Charles] Mm-hmm.

[Diane] I started making up songs.

- [Charles] Oh, really? - [Diane] Yeah. Yeah.

But when I was 14, I became obsessed.

I just... I studied. That was school to me.

Billboard, the radio, that was school.

I had no plan B, I... I was... This is what I was gonna do.

- And I never looked back. - I had no plan B.

- I had no problem. - You can't have a plan B.

Well, you've written a lot of scores and songs.

I just... I only write songs, um, but, um, I, um...

Just wait a second. It's not only songs.

Songs are the... So important to every person's life.

- You know, we know that. - Yeah, songs are...

- Well, they... they move us. - They do.

And we... we take songs with us.

Three and a half minutes just can change your life.

♪ You remind me... ♪

[Charles] Norman and I wrote the theme song

for a movie called Foul Play.

"Ready To Take a Chance Again" became

a huge hit all around the world.

I think because the emotions in that song are universal.

I'm sure you have that experience,

a lot of people tell you how meaningful a song was to you

- in your life. - Yeah. I get that a lot.

How they... It carried them through bad times, hard times,

- good times, you know. - 'Cause songs go right

to your heart. They don't go to your mind.

- They just, they touch you. - They do. Yeah.

♪ And I'm ready to take a chance again ♪

And writing songs for movies, you know,

we've both done that a lot. And I love to

read a script, or ideally to see a movie,

and then, like, what do I wanna see

at the end of that movie?

Or what's gonna be the heart of that?

Like, it's all the emotion and the heart for me.

With songs for pictures,

sometimes you wanna write against

what the actual action is going on.

Right.

You wanna tell something deeper.

- The subtext. Yeah. - You wanna see the subtext.

♪ Lost, lost as a child's first thought ♪

I'll never forget, you called me and you said,

"What do you think of this lyric?"

And you... and you read to me,

"Lost, lost as a child's first thought."

♪ I must have arms to hold me ♪

♪ Lost without loving care ♪

♪ I must have my fair share ♪

Lost as a child's first thought.

What a fantastic idea that is.

It was in your music, Charlie.

Basically, I think I'm a translator.

I hear words in music.

♪ Justice, if you're still there ♪

And the words in your music are exquisite.

♪ I will have my fair share ♪

♪ Justice is a lady ♪

♪ Lay me down with justice in a long white gown ♪

♪ With a breath of love, we can share ♪

♪ Share, sleep with me if you dare ♪

♪ Celebrate my fair share ♪

And Seals & Crofts, it made a really pretty record.

- [Charles] Beautiful. - [Paul] Yeah.

I love Charlie so much.

I'm willing to... I'll let you see this.

But this is, you know,

52, which is I think just is the inches of my height.

[Charlie] They had us, um, basketball uniforms

of the team that Robby Benson was on.

How... who's this guy with an afro?

- [Paul laughs] - You recognize him?

This just screams machismo, doesn't it?

[laughs] It just... I mean this just says,

"Don't screw with this little cougar

because he will just have at you in a heartbeat."

[intriguing music]

[Charles] A.J. Croce is the son of the late Jim Croce

who had a huge hit with a song

that Norman Gimbel and I wrote called

"I Got a Name."

A.J.'s an incredibly gifted musician,

with a style that's all his own.

Your father's one of the great storytellers.

- I... I agree. - Literally, I mean,

The characters he invented, the Roller Derby Queen.

- Mm-hmm. Rapid Roy. - And Rapid Roy.

- Bad Leroy Brown, I mean. - Yeah, yeah.

He made heroes out of...

- out of everyday people. - Yes, he did.

And I find it hard to believe that all of it was written

- in 18 months. - Wow.

- Yeah. - Pretty amazing.

I was told "I Got a Name" was for the film.

It was.

["I Got a Name" by Jim Croce]

♪ Like the pine trees lining the winding road ♪

♪♪ I got a name, I got a name ♪

It's interesting how many people have told me

how they relate to from their fathers.

Mm-hmm.

Um, that's what your father said to me.

Yeah, and I think it was always,

you know, a heavy song for me

- in the same way. - Yeah.

Because, you know, my... my father

never really saw his success.

♪ And I carry it with me like my daddy did ♪

[Charles] Your dad singing my song

was one of my great moments.

♪ ...that he kept hid ♪

[Charles] He died the day the record was released.

♪ Movin' me down the highway ♪

[A.J.] I never performed his music.

I've been asked my whole life to play his music

and never wanted to,

I didn't think there was any integrity in doing it.

But probably 20 some years ago, I was in my early thirties

and I was transferring these old tapes,

and I listened to this one tape of covers.

And I had been playing these songs

- since I was 12 years old. - Of course.

When I realized the connection that we had to music,

and how important that is, and how the...

important the connection is that we have with our... the...

our family and the people we love...

- [Charles] Yeah. - It... it resonated.

What a great story. Great story, how you came to it.

It... it didn't just hit you over the head.

You... you grew into it from...

- from your own roots. - [A.J.] Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely.

Which is probably the best way to do it, you know?

It comes... it comes organically from your own past music

that you grew up listening to.

Some of my other songs have

- lots of covers on. - [A.J.] Mm-hmm.

[Charles] We've had some covers of this.

[A.J.] Yeah.

But really, they go back to Jim Croce singing this song.

He's a definitive voice, and now you.

[gentle music]

♪ Like the pine trees lining the winding road ♪

♪ I've got a name, I've got a name ♪

♪ Like the singin' bird and the croakin' toad ♪

♪ I've got a name, I've got a name ♪

♪ And I carry it with me like my daddy did ♪

♪ But I'm living the dream that he kept hid ♪

♪ Movin' me down the highway ♪

♪ Rollin' me down the highway ♪

♪ Movin' ahead so life won't pass me by ♪

♪ Like the north wind whistlin' down the sky ♪

♪ I've got a song, I've got a song ♪

♪ Like the whirlpool whirl and the baby's cry ♪

♪ I've got a song ♪

♪ I've got a song ♪

♪ And I carry it with me and I sing it loud ♪

♪ If it gets me nowhere ♪

♪ I'll go there proud ♪

♪ Movin' me down the highway ♪

♪ Rollin' me down the highway ♪

♪ Movin' ahead so life won't pass me by ♪

♪

♪ And I'm gonna go there free ♪

♪ Like the fool I am and I'll always be ♪

♪ I've got a dream ♪

♪ I've got a dream ♪

♪ They can change their minds, but they can't change me ♪

♪ I've got a dream ♪

♪ I've got a dream ♪

♪ And you know I could share it if you want me to ♪

♪ If you're goin' my way ♪

♪ I'll go with you ♪

♪ Movin' me down the highway ♪

♪ Rollin' me down the highway ♪

♪ Movin' ahead so life won't pass me by ♪

Once again.

♪♪ Movin' me down the highway ♪

♪ Rollin' me down the highway ♪

♪ Movin' ahead ♪

♪ So life won't pass me by ♪

♪

[laughing]

[upbeat music playing]

- Right, good. Ready? - Can I do my thumb?

One, two...

["Blue Pachanga" playing]

Mr. Charlie Fox, he's a legend.

And also for me,

what's important and very nice

is to be able to play

the music he wrote, with him.

♪

For me, it is a big honor to play with Charlie Fox musics.

You can be Cuban, you can be French,

you can be Chinese, Japanese,

and you would love this music.

So natural, so spontaneous, so human.

And whoo!

He can play.

And also, yeah, for sure.

I... "Killing Me Softly."

I wanna talk to... to my wife that

I'm gonna play Charlie Fox music, she said,

"Charlie Fox music?"

"Yeah, the guy who wrote 'Killing Me Softly.'"

She was like, "Wow, really?"

Do you know my song "Killing Me Softly?"

Yes, of course.

- Would you sing that in French? - Oh, of course. Oh...

No one... no one sings it in French.

You'll be... you'll be the only one.

I've never heard "Killing Me Softly" in French,

so I'm... I'm very, uh, happy and excited

to be able to sing it, uh, tomorrow.

You know what?

I used to sing it in Turkish every time.

In Turkish?

Because my father is Turkish and I used to sing...

[singing in Turkish]

♪ Singing my life with his words ♪

♪ Killing me softly with his song ♪

♪ Killing me softly with his song ♪

- What year did that come out? - '73.

So I was 13 when that song came out.

It's not a song that would normally speak

to a 13-year-old kid,

but within six months of that song coming out,

- I knew it inside out. - Oh, totally.

Every kid I knew, like if we got together for the,

you know, the school chorus, the girls would start in with...

♪ Killing me softly... ♪

And the guys would... be start making up harmonies.

How did that come about?

Was it a... just a typical writing session?

Did you write it in the back of a cab?

As it happened, uh, Norman Gimbel and I

were working the new album.

We had recorded nine songs, they were in the can.

And we needed a tenth song.

So we're sitting on the piano like this,

and, uh, Norman had a book of...

of lyrical ideas and titles,

- thoughts that he had for... - Yep.

And he's looking through the book

and he said, "Well, here's something interesting.

What do you think about

"Killing Me Softly With His Blues?"

- With his blues. - His blues.

So he thought, well, blues, even in 1972,

sounded kind of, like, an old-fashioned word.

So, he thought of it for a while and he said,

"How about with his song?

Killing Me Softly With His Song."

There was... Seemed to be no song that talked about

how one feels and listening to someone else

sing a song that moves him.

So he went home,

he called me a couple of hours later,

and with the telephone like this,

I wrote the lyrics down.

He just gave you the lyric and... and then

that inspired you enough to sort of get that melody.

It just kind of wrote itself, you know.

- I mean the... - [playing piano]

♪ Killing me softly with his song ♪

♪ Killing me softly with his song ♪

And then I think I told again.

♪ My whole life ♪

So he came up with that...

♪ ...whole life with his words ♪

♪ Killing me softly with his song ♪

Yeah.

We got that record released,

and one of the nice things that Capitol did for us

was to get it programmed on American Airlines.

Like, when you would go and you'd put those, like,

things that look like stethoscopes in your ears,

and then you would listen... Yeah.

So, how did Roberta get it, then?

So, Roberta was on American Airlines,

and she fell in love with the song on the plane.

When she got to New York,

she called Quincy Jones and she said,

"How do I meet Charles Fox?"

I was at Paramount Pictures in the music library,

and someone hands me a telephone, says,

"Hey, this is for you."

And she said, "We haven't met, I'm Roberta Flack,

but I'm gonna sing your songs."

♪ I heard he sang a good song ♪

♪ I heard he had a style ♪

♪ And so I came to see him ♪

♪ To listen for a while ♪

[Charles] Several months later,

I got a call from someone

at Columbia Pictures Publications in Florida,

and they asked me if the print rights

are available for "Killing Me Softly."

So I said, "Yeah, they're available, why do you ask?"

He says, "Well, come on man, it's a big hit."

I said, "It's a hit?"

He said, "Don't you know?" I didn't know.

So I ran down to the local newspaper stand,

and I bought Cashbox

and Record World and all those things.

- [Rita] Oh, my God. - And there it was all over.

It was like 40 with a bullet, with charts with...

[Rita] Oh my goodness.

[Charles] And the one thing I always remember,

one paper said, "Killing Me Softly

is gonna be bigger than swimming pools in California."

[all laughing]

Roberta was out here for the Grammys

a couple years ago.

They honored her with a lifetime achievement award.

- [Rita] Yes. - And so we got together.

Hey, my dear. Wonderful to see you.

- Good to see you. - Oh, you look beautiful.

- Thank you. - You look beautiful.

[Charles] And I said to her, "How lucky for me, Roberta,

that you found the song."

And she's a very spiritual person, you know,

she's a beautiful person.

And she said, "No." She said, "The song found me."

[Rita] Oh!

["Killing Me Softly With His Song" playing in French]

[musicians speaking faintly]

♪ Elle chantait ma vie en musique ♪

♪ Elle disait mes mots en chanson ♪

♪ Je revoyais l'Amérique ♪

♪ Elle touchait mon coeur, tendrement, ♪

♪ Parlait doucement ♪

♪ M'emportait loin du présent ♪

♪ Du présent ♪

♪ On m'avait dit qu'elle chantait ♪

♪ Dans un quartier perdu ♪

♪ Alors ce soir pour l'écouter ♪

♪ Je suis venu ♪

♪ Et les mots de sa chanson ♪

♪ Semblaient être écrits pour moi ♪

♪ Elle chantait ma vie en musique ♪

♪ Elle disait mes mots en chanson ♪

♪ Je revoyais l'Amérique ♪

♪ Elle touchait mon coeur, tendrement ♪

♪ Parlait doucement ♪

♪ Elle m'emportait ici, loin du présent ♪

♪ Du présent ♪

♪ Les notes de mes années ♪

♪ Défilaient sous mes mains ♪

♪ Et sans me connaître ♪

♪ Elle semblait me connaître bien ♪

♪ Oh, oh ♪

♪ J'étais seul avec elle ♪

♪ Elle racontait mon passé ♪

♪ Elle chantait ma vie en musique ♪

♪ Elle disait mes mots en chanson ♪

♪ Je revoyais l'Amérique ♪

♪ Elle touchait mon coeur, tendrement ♪

♪ Parlait doucement ♪

♪ M'emportait si loin du présent ♪

♪ Du présent ♪

♪ J'aurai voulu deviner ♪

♪ Qu'elle a chanté pour moi ♪

♪ Mais il y avait tendre ♪

♪ tristesse dans sa voix ♪

♪ ♪ [lyrics in French] ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ [lyrics in French] ♪ ♪

♪ Elle chantait ma vie en musique ♪

♪ Elle disait mes mots en chanson ♪

♪ Et je revoyais l'Amérique ♪

♪ Elle touchait mon coeur, tendrement ♪

♪ Parlait doucement ♪

♪ M'emportait si loin du présent ♪

♪ Du présent ♪

♪ Elle chantait ma vie en musique ♪

♪ Elle disait mes mots en chanson ♪

♪ Et je revoyais l'Amérique ♪

♪ Elle touchait mon coeur, tendrement ♪

♪ Parlait doucement ♪

♪ M'emportait si loin du présent ♪

♪ Du présent ♪

♪

- Thank you so much. - [audience applauding]

- Anne Sila. - [Anne] Anne Sila.

[audience applauding and cheering]

Merci beaucoup.

[Henry] Let me ask you a question.

This is... You... you said that when you were...

When you were growing up, you were thinking,

"Oh, I... I'm classical music,

I'm going to compose classical music."

Now you're creating songs for television shows.

Did that ever... did you ever resent that?

Or did you think, "Hey, here I am, this is great."

I thought I was the luckiest guy in the world.

- Yeah, really. - The luckiest guy.

- It never got old for me. Yeah. - No.

[Charles] Henry wasn't the first person to ask me,

"Was I missing classical music in my life?"

I always felt like the luckiest man in the world

to be doing whatever I was doing.

But yes, I did wish that one day,

I'd have the opportunity to get back to classical music.

Then in 1983, Michael Smuin,

the artistic director and choreographer

for the San Francisco Ballet,

asked me to compose a new work

based on the story of Richard Oakes,

the leader of the Native Americans

who took over Alcatraz Island in the 1960s.

[classical music playing]

"A Song for Dead Warriors"

was a turning point in my life in music.

It took me a year or maybe two years to write,

I don't know.

I can only tell you that I said to my agent,

"Don't even call me about any other opportunities.

This is all I wanna do right now."

And then Michael asked me to compose the music for

a ballet based on The Legend of Zorro

for his new company, the Smuin Ballet.

Zorro was a very lighthearted work,

very romantic, and a lot of fun.

These ballets opened up the door for me

to get back to concert music.

It was like I needed a pivot point

to go back to something that I was missing in my life.

[chorus singing]

I was asked if I could write a piece

based on the words of Pope John Paul II.

I jumped at the chance to do it.

[hopeful music playing]

I conducted the piece at the Warsaw Opera House.

They had 140 singers,

including 40 children and a full symphony orchestra.

[chorus singing]

It was a very moving moment for me,

because I was also standing not far

from where my father came from

when he left Poland as a young man.

[chorus singing]

[audience applauding]

I've never wanted to limit myself

to any one genre in music.

I love to respond to challenges

and to explore different musical possibilities.

- [piano playing] - [Charles humming]

♪ Listen to the children sing ♪

♪ Give the world a song ♪

[Charles] Common is one of the legends of hip-hop.

We've been friends, but I haven't had the chance

to collaborate with him until today.

♪♪♪

♪ I can write a song for the world to sing ♪

♪ [mumbling] the world to dream ♪

♪ [mumbling] the law supreme ♪

We really created something that felt like

was speaking to a person in love,

like, you know, like a partner in love.

But... but then it really took on a universal...

- But to the world also. - Thing to the world. Like, yeah.

Giving the world a new song, a brand new song.

We... we may call it that, right?

♪ Give the world a brand new song ♪

♪ Let the rhythm of the love keep giving on ♪

Yeah.

♪ When tonight turns to day ♪

♪ There's a light to show us the way ♪

♪ To a brand new song ♪

Yeah.

- Yes, that's great. - It feels good.

Yeah, it feels definitely good. It feels good.

I have crazy covers of... of my songs and that's...

I love them, I love going on YouTube

- and looking at cover versions. - Me too.

Isn't it fun? And you realize, like,

sometimes it's kids in their room

and some far away country

that you've never met in your life.

How cool is that, that your song got to them?

[Charles] It's so touching to me that my music

is meaningful to so many people.

♪ Strumming my pain ♪

♪ With his fingers ♪

♪ Movin' me down the highway ♪

♪ Rollin' me down the highway ♪

♪ Ready to take ♪

♪ A chance again ♪

♪ Ready to put my love ♪

♪ On the line with you ♪

[Charles] Princess Lines uses

my Love Boat theme on their foghorn.

[foghorn playing theme]

It's one of the ugliest sounds in the world,

but it makes you feel great.

One day just for the fun of it,

I did a web search for my name and the word salsa.

[salsa music playing]

And lo and behold,

20 or 30 countries around the world

had videos of people dancing to music

from the record that my father paid for

50 years ago.

Maybe the time was right to take a chance

on the dream that I had when I was in my twenties.

I'd been invited to Cuba to do a concert of my music

at the Opera House,

and I jumped at the opportunity.

[upbeat music playing]

Somehow, it seemed my musical journey

would come full circle in Havana.

The concert was organized by my dear friend,

Edesio Alejandro.

[singing in Spanish]

Edesio was a wonderful and prolific composer

of Cuban films and television.

[singing in Spanish]

His pop song "Blen Blen" was a huge hit

on the international club scene.

[singing in Spanish]

And he's a very sweet man.

[car honking]

Fuck you! Fuck you, mamalon.

♪

Edesio's son Cristian Alejandro

is the wonderful young singer who's very popular in Cuba.

When you were 15 years old,

you started your first professional orchestra?

- Yes. Yeah. - Wow.

And we had a job for two months in the summer

in a small rundown hotel,

but it was in the area

where there were big hotels where Machito played.

- [Cristian] Machito. - [Charles] Machito and Joe Cuba.

And, uh...

One of the great Cuban musicians

who I was so excited to visit was the legendary Chucho Valdés.

I'm excited to see Chucho.

Chucho Valdés is one of the greatest

Latin jazz pianists in the world.

I hear music. [chuckles]

I've been a fan of his for many years.

- Hola! - Hola!

- Comment allez vous? - How are you? Oh, very good.

[piano melody playing]

[Charles] There's no one like Chucho.

He's the master.

Music is truly the international language.

It's not a cliché at all.

My first three days in Havana were filled with rehearsals.

Okay, it's all very good.

At the end though...

Dinners.

Happy Birthday!

Let's bring the old celebration for Joan's birthday.

Impromptu performances...

and press conferences.

Thank you all very much for the...

This is really a great honor for me.

I know that Cuba is filled with music.

It's filled with the joy of music.

And I know that because when I was very young,

when I was 15 years old,

living in New York, in the Bronx, it touched me.

[jazz music playing]

[Charles] I always remember the generosity

that Mademoiselle Boulanger showed to me

when I was her student.

[violin playing]

And I never forgot my promise to her

to do the same when I could.

I love working with young musicians.

I always hope to inspire them to believe

that what's in their hearts is possible.

And I always encourage them to follow their own dreams.

♪

I knew they were giving it their all.

They got very spirited

and wanted to play my music as best they could.

There's a very spiritual bond between people

who sit next to each other and play the same notes.

We sing the language of music together.

Bravo. Bravo.

[all applauding]

- That was wonderful. - [speaking Spanish]

- That was really good. - [speaking Spanish]

[cheerful music playing]

[Charles] What a pleasure it was for me

to meet all those bright, cheery-eyed, young,

hopeful musicians.

Their high spirits about their future in music

was the same that I remember from my high school days.

[Cuban music playing]

Feels like we should be singing opera.

- We'll have the lid down. - Literally down.

[Charles] Life in Cuba is obviously very different.

But you know,

the people are wonderful...

and they love music.

It's completely intertwined with the culture.

And the talent in Cuba is extraordinary.

How do you feel?

Are we where we need to be? Are you a little nervous?

Why?

♪

I'd like to gather everyone together

and let that energy flow just all around us

and just let it take over.

There's a thing about Cuba,

and I learned that ten years ago when I came.

Nothing ever goes as planned, but it...

everything always happens...

uh, smoothly.

Right in the last moment, everything falls into place.

[audience cheering and applauding]

♪ [lyrics in Spanish] ♪

♪ [lyrics in Spanish] ♪

♪ [lyrics in Spanish] ♪

♪ [lyrics in Spanish] ♪

♪ [lyrics in Spanish] ♪

♪ [lyrics in Spanish] ♪

[Charles] Music is taking me on a journey

I never dreamed about.

It's given me opportunities

to meet people around the world...

play with musicians around the world...

and have great friendships through music.

It's a very satisfying feeling knowing I can communicate

with an audience what I feel musically.

[audience applauding and cheering]

[Charles] For me, the greatest reward is the doing,

the writing of it.

That's the journey for me.

[playing piano riffs]

["Killing Me Softly With His Song" playing]

[audience cheering]

[Charles] When I was in Paris,

I always would send my teacher flowers

from the flower shop downstairs.

And one time Joan and I were in Paris.

We were driving someplace together. I said,

"I would like to send flowers to Mademoiselle."

So we parked the car and I said,

"I'm just gonna run in and send flowers up."

So, I went into the little flower shop

and bought some flowers.

Then Giuseppe, who worked for Mademoiselle,

passed by and said, "Oh, Mr. Fox, how are you?

Nice to see you. What are you doing in Paris?"

And I said, "I'm just here sending some flowers

up to Mademoiselle."

He said, "Oh, but you must bring them up to her.

You can't just send." And I said,

"I didn't wanna disturb her

in the middle of a lesson."

He said, "No, no, but you must."

So he convinced me, and I went upstairs with the flowers.

And the moment she came to the door,

and she held my hand in both of her hands like this,

she kissed me on both cheeks and "How are you, my dear?

And how is your lovely wife?

And how is your beautiful children?

And how are you? And are you composing music?"

That's all she ever want to know if I'm com... composing music.

I said, "Yes, I'm composing."

And she said, "You know, I'm so sorry.

I'm in the middle of a lesson,

I can't give you a proper greeting."

And she again, held my hand

and she kissed me again on both cheeks.

And she left.

But I was so happy to have seen her

that I bounded down the staircase out the door,

around the corner.

I started walking up the hill to my apartment,

20 years from my past.

I totally forgot that I had a wife

waiting for me in the car. [chuckling]

And when Joan saw me walk up the hill, I passed her.

And I suddenly hear, "Charlie, Charlie."

And I... I turned around.

She's like, "Where are you going?"

I was transported back to my youth.

It sounds silly, but I... I was truly transported back.

That was the effect that she had on me.

And that was indeed the last time

I ever saw my teacher.

["Killing Me Softly" playing on piano]

In this room,

I realized I would spend my life writing music.

When I was a young boy in the Bronx,

my life revolved around three things.

Family, friends, and music.

And, you know,

after all these years, nothing has changed.

Mil gracias, Havana.

[audience applauding and cheering]

["Sing A Brand New Song" playing]

♪ Oh ♪

♪ Listen to the children sing ♪

♪ Give the world a song ♪

♪♪ Teach them all to sing ♪

♪ And we'll know where we belong ♪

♪ We can go where we are free ♪

♪ You and me, sweet melody ♪

♪ Dent your heart away ♪

♪ And trip the light fantastic ♪

♪ Live another day ♪

♪ And make the night fantastic ♪

♪ Oh ♪

♪ Oh ♪

♪ Open up your heart ♪

♪ And you'll hear the voices in the air ♪

♪ Voices in the air ♪

♪ You can hear the angel sing ♪

♪ Love is living there ♪

♪ We can walk when we are free ♪

♪ You and me, sweet harmony ♪

♪ Dent your heart away ♪

♪ And trip the light fantastic ♪

♪ Live another day ♪

♪ And make the night fantastic ♪

♪ Give the world ♪ ♪ The world ♪

♪ A brand new song ♪ ♪ A brand new song ♪

♪ Let the rhythm of the love we have ♪

♪ Keep moving on ♪ ♪ Moving on ♪

♪ When the night ♪ ♪ When the night ♪

♪ Turns to day ♪ ♪ Turns to day ♪

♪ There's a light that shows the way ♪

♪ To a brand new song ♪

♪ Listen to the children ♪

♪ Listen to the children ♪

♪ Listen to the children ♪

♪ Listen to the children ♪

♪ Listen to the children ♪

♪ Listen to the children sing ♪

♪ Give the world a song ♪

♪ Teach them all to sing ♪

♪ And we'll know where we belong ♪

♪ We can go where we are free ♪

♪ You and me, sweet melody ♪

♪ Dent your heart away ♪

♪ And trip the light fantastic ♪

♪ Live another day ♪

♪ And make the night fantastic ♪

♪ Oh ♪

♪ Yeah ♪

♪ Fantastic ♪