{"id":29949,"date":"2025-09-26T05:30:34","date_gmt":"2025-09-26T09:30:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=29949"},"modified":"2025-08-25T14:16:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-25T18:16:14","slug":"that-thing-you-didnt-do-part-2-of-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/26\/that-thing-you-didnt-do-part-2-of-2\/","title":{"rendered":"That Thing You (Didn\u2019t) Do, Part 2 of 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

The search for a movie\u2019s theme song: Director Tom Hanks\u2019 love letter to \u201860s rock drew upon top songwriters<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Continued from Part One<\/a>\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n

The Verve Pipe \u2013 \u201cThat Thing You Do\u201d<\/b>
\nIn 1995 Michigan alt-rockers The Verve Pipe were largely unknown; their breakthrough LP Villains<\/i> had not yet been released. Leader and guitarist Brian Vander Ark says that the band\u2019s manager let them know about Hanks\u2019 need for a song. \u201cThey wanted a \u201860s sounding thing, which is right up my alley,\u201d he says. \u201cThey sent me the script, and I jumped at the chance.\u201d He says that the song came easily to him. Vander Ark wonders aloud if he was one of the last songwriters to be invited to write a tune. \u201cMaybe they hadn\u2019t found \u2018the one\u2019 yet, and maybe I was on that C-list,\u201d he says with a chuckle.<\/p>\n

While a copy of Vander Ark\u2019s demo circulates among collectors, it has never seen official release. He raves enthusiastically about Hanks\u2019 ultimate choice. \u201cWhen I heard it, it was such a no-brainer,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s fun, it\u2019s poppy. It\u2019s perfect for the movie,\u201d he says with a smile. \u201cAdam\u2019s song was the best.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

They Might Be Giants \u2013 \u201cThat Thing You Do\u201d<\/b>
\nArt-pop duo They Might Be Giants wrote and submitted a proposed title track of their own. In an undated interview, the band\u2019s John Linnell noted that the request for a song referenced Richie Valens\u2019 \u201cLa Bamba\u201d and American garage rock, emphasizing that it should definitely not have a British flavor. Linnell later admitted in an interview that TMBG\u2019s submission was \u201cway too punk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dwight Twilley \u2013 \u201cThat Thing You Do\u201d<\/b>
\nA giant of rock\u2019s power pop subgenre, Dwight Twilley scored a pair of Top 40 singles nearly a decade apart. \u201cI\u2019m on Fire\u201d hit #16 in 1975, and in 1984 \u201cGirls\u201d charted at the same position. The Tulsa, Oklahoma musician was prolific, releasing dozens of albums in the years before his death in 2023.<\/p>\n

Twilley\u2019s widow Jan recalls that in 1995 she and Dwight heard about the opportunity from a friend, Harlan Goodman, Senior VP of Music at Paramount. \u201cBut he failed to mention that [they wanted something] \u2018based on a Beatles-y sound,\u2019\u201d Jan says. Twilley wrote and delivered his own \u201cThat Thing You Do,\u201d but apparently his moody, minor-key jangle didn\u2019t fit the film\u2019s vibe. Once he received word that the track wasn\u2019t chosen, Twilley included the recording on his 1996 compilation XXI<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Velvet Crush \u2013 \u201cThe Thing That You Do\u201d<\/b>
\nRhode Island-based Velvet Crush made one of the best alternarock albums with 1994\u2019s Teenage Symphonies to God<\/i>. Songwriter-guitarist Paul Chastain recalls that during sessions with producer Mitch Easter for their next record, 1998\u2019s Heavy Changes<\/i>, they learned of a \u201cnot-quite-open publishing call.\u201d Details were few. \u201cWe had the title and knew it was about a band in the \u201860s,\u201d he says. \u201cWe were like, \u2018Okay,\u2019 but we didn\u2019t have much time to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chastain, drummer Ric Menck and Easter worked quickly. \u201cWe wrote and recorded it in just one part of one day,\u201d he admits. \u201cEverything was done in a take or two.\u201d Easter had recently acquired a Paul Revere and the Raiders compilation, and the spirit of that music would exert a strong influence on Velvet Crush\u2019s \u201cThat Thing You Do\u201d entry. In fact it\u2019s a near-ringer for the proto-punk 1965 single \u201cJust Like Me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The muscular tune evokes the feel of \u201860s garage rock, but has a character quite different from the song that was ultimately chosen. \u201cOnce I saw the movie,\u201d Chastain says, \u201cI was like, \u2018Well, we really missed the mark on that one!\u2019 But the one they used was spot-on perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n

That Thing They Did<\/b>
\nOther era-evoking tunes on the album soundtrack were written variously by co-producers Hanks and Gary Goetzman with Mike Piccirillo, and by Scott Rogness and Rick Elias. Jazz singer-producer Steve Tyrell co-wrote the jazz instrumental \u201cTime to Blow,\u201d mimed in the movie by a trio including jazz fusion drummer Alphonse Mouzon. Gigolo Aunts submitted \u201cLittle Wild One,\u201d which would be performed by The Wonders in the film. And Hanks has a solo writing credit for \u201cLovin\u2019 You Lots and Lots,\u201d the on-target Mitch Miller and the Gang pastiche that features early in the film.<\/p>\n

But by all measures, the choice of Adam Schlesinger’s song \u2013 with vocals by Candy Butchers\u2019 Mike Viola \u2013 was the right choice for the title track. The soundtrack for That Thing You Do!<\/i> reached #21 on Billboard<\/i>\u2019s singles chart. Schlesinger\u2019s title track was nominated for an Academy Award and Golden Globe. In 2023, the soundtrack received a limited-edition vinyl reissue. The film\u2019s 30th<\/sup> anniversary comes in Fall 2026, which, if anyone at Hanks\u2019 Playtone Records is reading, would be a fine time to reissue the soundtrack with a bonus disc bringing together all of the tunes submitted \u2013 but ultimately not used \u2013 in Tom Hanks\u2019 celluloid love letter to 1960s garage rock.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The search for a movie\u2019s theme song: Director Tom Hanks\u2019 love letter to \u201860s rock drew upon top songwriters Continued from Part One\u2026 The Verve Pipe \u2013 \u201cThat Thing You […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29956,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,41,51,62,70],"tags":[735,1412,1719,2452,2137,5759,5760,2197,2806,2407],"class_list":["post-29949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-garage","category-interview","category-pop","category-rawk","category-soundtrack","tag-dwight-twilley","tag-marshall-crenshaw","tag-posies","tag-robyn-hitchcock","tag-that-thing-you-do","tag-the-verve-pipe","tag-the-wonders","tag-they-might-be-giants","tag-velvet-crush","tag-xtc","cat-33-id","cat-41-id","cat-51-id","cat-62-id","cat-70-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29949"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29949\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29957,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29949\/revisions\/29957"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}