Moulin Rouge revives Lady Marmalade

A stunning new version of Lady Marmalade from the soundtrack of the motion picture Moulin Rouge is taking the hit charts by storm, thanks in part to a fantastic music video inspired by the picture. Performed by Christina Aguilera, Lil’ Kim, Mya and Pink, the single has been at the top of Billboard’s Hot 100 list these past nine weeks. The album is number 10 in the top 200 albums list. Word from Australia has it that the song and the album made number one last week alongside the local opening of the movie. The same is expected from other areas, which are scheduled to premiere the Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor starrer soon.

The song’s recent success comes as a surprise for many. Also known as Voulezvous coucher avec moi, Lady Marmalade was one of the earliest disco hits. It was first recorded and made into a number one seller by LaBelle in 1975. It was revived three years ago by the British group All Saints and once more became a hit. Doing another version so soon after would have deterred another producer but not director Baz Luhrmann, who decided to use the song in the Moulin Rouge soundtrack. His hunch was right. Lady Marmalade provides the public with the perfect introduction to the decadent delights that can be found in the movie.

A loose adaptation of the myth of Orpheus, the dazzling musical tells the story of Christian, a penniless poet who begins a doomed love affair with the beautiful courtesan and can-can dancer named Satine. Hailed as a musical Titanic, for its tragic romance and opulent production, Moulin Rouge is set in the most famous nightclub of 19th century Paris, where the story is played out with a series of musical numbers that celebrates many of the great pop songs of the 20th century.

Luhrmann, who also directed Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes in Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet, where if you remember, pop music plays a vital role, combines the period setting with contemporary music and uses rock, hip-hop, classical and other styles you can think of with absolute confidence. Do you know of anybody who would dare combine Kurt Cobain with Offenbach? Well, Luhrmann does. What about Jean Renoir and David Bowie? You will also find that in this soundtrack.

Playing an important role in the movie is the Nat "King" Cole standard Nature Boy. Its message, "The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return" aptly describes the story of Christian and Satine. The song is performed in the picture by John Leguizano, who plays the painter Toulouse-Lautrec, and in the soundtrack by David Bowie who opens the collection with a solo and then closes the package with the same song but with Massive Attack. Bowie also figures prominently in the movie with the revival of his hits Diamond Dogs and Heroes.

Kidman, who by the way, does her own singing in the movie, has the Sparkling Diamonds number where she combines Marilyn Monroe’s Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend and Madonna’s Material Girl. She has another medley in Waylon Jennings’ One Day I’ll Fly Away and Elton John’s Your Song. And she joins McGregor, Leguizamo, Anthony Weigh and would you believe even Placido Domingo in several mind-blowing medleys made of songs you never thought you’d hear in the soundtrack of a movie like Moulin Rouge.

Expect to hear bits and pieces of the following when you watch the picture: All You Need is Love, One More Night, Pride (In The Name Of Love), Don’t Leave Me This Way, Silly Love Songs, Up Where We Belong, I Will Always Love You, Like a Virgin, Roxanne, The Show Must Go On, Children of the Revolution, The Sound of Music, Rhythm of the Night, Smells Like Teen Spirit and other oldies, plus several new songs composed for the movie, like the lovers’ duet of Come What May, which was written by David Foster.

Not only that. Aside from the cast, Nicole and Ewan sing for the first time, plus Bowie, Aguilera, Lil’ Kim, Mya and Pink. Expect also to get short by certainly memorable performances by Domingo as the Man in the Moon, Marc Bolan, Kylie Minogue, Beck, Rufus Wainwright, Ozzy Osbourne, Bono, Jose Feliciano and others in the soundtrack.

Moulin Rouge is touted as a celebration of truth, beauty, freedom and love. It is everything excessive, glamorous and deliciously depraved. The soundtrack should be no different. I am sure you will enjoy this one.