Diane Keaton may be best known for The Godfather and Annie Hall, but little do folks know that she once had the ambition to become a singer. She’s played them in movies from time to time, but I don’t know if we should hold our breaths for an album of standards just yet. Instead, we can celebrate the Academy Award-winning charmer’s birthday in style with some clips of her most melodic performances. Happy Birthday, Diane Keaton!
“You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To” in Radio Days
She’s only in the film for a moment, but Keaton singing “You’d Be So Nice to come Home To” is one of my favorite parts of Woody Allen’s nostalgia drenched Radio Days. The song, originally written by Cole Porter for the 1943 film Something to Shout About, is imbued with the same warmth and tenderness that Allen’s film contains, with added winsomeness from Ms. Keaton.
Two from Annie Hall: “It Had to Be You” and “It Seems Like Old Times”
Woody Allen is not only a master of nostalgia, but a master of the romanticized romance, as both tracks seem to complement one another. Though the first song takes place amidst a nightclub with a rowdy audience, it’s only to Alvy Singer’s benefit to boost Annie’s ego afterwards. But long after they’ve broken up, the second of Keaton’s song plays over a montage of memories. It’s sweet, to be sure, but the self-reflexiveness seems to point at the reality of the situation in that Alvy has a penchant for idealizing. Which isn’t a bad thing, necessarily, but both songs come in at different points of the relationship. Nonetheless, Keaton’s voice is syrupy and has a roughhewn quality that makes Annie the most lovable lounge singer.
“You Don’t Own Me” in The First Wives Club
While it’s easy to point out that Bette Midler is best at belting, and Goldie Hawn can certainly hold her own, it’s Keaton that injects the song with a messiness that is as fun as the movie itself. The story of a trio of women who concoct plans against their husbands who left them for young women, capping off the film of female empowerment with such a song as “You Don’t Own Me”, originally recorded by Lesley Gore in 1963, makes it a home run. It is precisely Keaton’s lack of polish, and then the subsequent harmonizing between the three actresses, which adds a liveliness to it all.
