Legal Commentary

Sunday Song Lyric

By Jonathan H. Adler

There are lots of songs about movie stars; even more that make reference to them.  But songs about somewhat-obscure movie characters? They?re fewer and farther between.  For this reason, ?Veronica Sawyer Smokes,? the title of a track on the new AFI album, Crash Love, caught my eye.  Veronica Sawyer, ?80s teen flick afficianados may recall, is Winona Ryder?s character in ?Heathers,? a somewhat dark, teen film from 1989 that mocked conventional sensibilities, in particular the contemporary obsession with teen suicide. (The top-charting song in the movie is Big Fun?s ?Teenage Suicide (Don?t Do It)?).  So what did AFI do with Veronica Sawyer?  Here?s a taste:

Oh I saw you every time I closed my eyes,
In the Hughes film I had scored, produced and starred in, in my mind.
I could recite you, well, I?d written every line . . .
But you strayed far from my flawless script on which I?d spent a lifetime

Appropriate stuff for a melancholy ?80s-retro, teen angst-oriented riff.  Does it matter Winona Ryder was never in a John Hughes film?  Anyhow, here?s the song, and a live performance.

Full post as published by The Volokh Conspiracy on December 06, 2009 (boomark / email).