This movie came out when I was 7 and I remember loving The Wind Beneath My Wings so much that my mom bought me the cassette single (remember those?). The B-Side was Oh Industry and that quickly became and even more beloved song for me and it is to this day!
The artistry behind both of her shows that we only got one song out of each was just spectacular and left me wanting more! I will never tire of this song, even if I often don't have the heart to watch the movie.
“Certainly not the hand walking queer!” it refers to the time when they first met as children, Cici had an audition and lost the part to a girl with no other talent than walking on her hands, because the directors just thought she was “a beautiful child” ignoring Cici’s obvious and tremendous talent. Cici was distraught and Hilary said “honestly I think walking on your hands is kind of creepy” which made cici feel better and first cemented their unlikely friendship.
This is my favorite part of the movie, and I love that 30+ years later, many people have different interpretations of the song's meaning. I always got two different takes: for starters, the music is obviously evocative of a major industrial plant (very probably a steelworks), as evidenced by some of the lyrics and the fire in the stage play's background. The lyrics are from the point-of-view of the industrialist (seemingly an 1860-1900 robber baron) who created the plant, calling it his "shrine", "manor", and "wife". It seems he's likely at the end of his career/life and looking back on his legacy (mostly with sadness/regret) for causing pollution, pain, hunger, and his lack of faith, charity, etc. He's beginning to realize what his greed has done to the world around him. His company is still going strong , but the wind, the sky, the rivers, and the cities are polluted or in ruins. Now what will happen to him? What was it all worth in the end? It could be based on Andrew Carnegie, who built a steel empire, then sold it off and spent the rest of his life on philanthropy. Or it could also be Henry Clay Frick, chairman of Carnegie Steel and the "most hated man in America", due to his breaking the strikes of steel workers. Charles Schwab is another candidate, involved in the WWI effort, accused of profiteering, later squandered his huge fortune and died impoverished. My second take: she was singing about the Hollywood/entertainment industry. How someone who's reigned supreme over Hollywood for so long, is now having their downfall, whether it be because of age, illness, changing tastes or even death. I always felt like it was about the legacy they left behind, and wondering if it was really worth anything in the end. That artful, sudden self-awareness once our life's work is complete. Will I be forgotten? What's it all worth? I did what I thought was right, and maybe still do, as part of the larger machine. And how when you're just at the top, you'll eventually fall down.
Also, I was so little when this movie came out and watched it a million times and always fast forwarded through this part. Partly because it scared me and partly because it bored me as a child. But when I watched it again as a teenager maybe 18 I finally watched it and saw and heard something totally different to my ears than I remember as a child. It is amazing how taste buds change and so does our taste in music and art and lyrics. I love this scene now. It’s a great song.
I have no clue why this came on recommended to me lol. But I’ve been watching Hocus Pocus 2 a lot so maybe that’s why. And also I have never cried harder than when she sings The Wind Beneath My Wings as it shows the little girl at the funeral and it is raining and she’s crying on her bed and asked if she can bring her cat to live with her omg the entire montage of scenes put together during that song was absolute perfection if the idea was to rip your heart out.
