The Star Wars Holiday Special

I'm a huge fan of Star Wars; both the films and the music. I even like the bad stuff to a certain degree. So when I stumbled upon a web site with music from the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special, I had to check it out. Broadcast only once on November 17th 1978, this travesty of modern television (even by 1978 standards) has been denounced by George Lucas since the day it aired. But I'm not here to debate the show's (lack of) merits, so on to the music:

Diahann Carroll as Mermeia - "This Minute"
Sure Diahann Carroll's voice sounds great, but the song itself sucks. The instruments sound like they are being played underwater and the context of why the song is in the show is creepy at best (I'll let you listen to it to figure out what I mean).

Jefferson Starship as the Holographic Band - "Light the Sky on Fire"
Whatever you think of the band, at least this is a straight forward rock song. I believe that this song wasn't written for the Holiday Special so it doesn't suffer from trying to create pop lyrics to squeeze into the Star Wars Universe.

Bea Arthur as Ackmena - "Goodnight But Not Goodbye"
This is almost the worst song here; it is a bastardization of the Cantina Band music from Star Wars with lyrics as Bea (owner of the cantina) tries to get here clientele to leave; I don't remember why. Shiver.

Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia - "A Day To Celebrate"
An utter travesty, a sedated Carrie Fisher "sings" words set to the Star Wars Main Title, which is one of the greatest pieces of orchestral music ever. It is horrific and, thankfully, short.

With the possible exception of the Jefferson Starship song, this music is terrible. However, like a bloody car accident, you just can't look away (or stop listening in this case).

Since these songs will probably never see the light of day in any official capacity, go to www.starwarsholidayspecial.com to download MP3 files and while you're there, immerse yourself in almost everything else this flaming train wreck has to offer.

Enjoy!

12/19/05 NOTE: Actually "Light the Sky on Fire" by Jefferson Starship is available officially, but it is a different version than the one featured in the program.