There is something of an unsung hero when this performance was preserved forever in _Wigstock: the Movie._ As many know, Leigh Bowery passed away before the film was released, but the filmmakers had the incredible foresight to get Leigh's signature on an agreement that may have otherwise left the entire sequence on the cutting room floor. As evidenced in this video, the performance was originally set to The Beatles classic record "All You Need is Love." This, however, was a problem as the film either wasn't given approval to use the song or, just as probable, the price to use it was prohibitively high. The filmmakers couldn't imagine the film without the moment that would become one of its most-talked about clips, so after obtaining Leigh's signature, work progressed to create an alternate close enough to the song's structure and lyrics. Though I'm unsure to whether the plan was to have Leigh himself record the new vocals, the filmmakers ultimately ended up utilizing Antony Hegarty (who would soon gain wordwide acclaim as the lead singer of Antony and the Johnsons). Thus, Leigh Bowery's truly legendary performance in _Wigstock: The Movie_ and the birth of the first baby born at Wigstock unspools on the screen to a song titled "Love Stands Tall and Free." To the untrained ear, one may be none the wiser. While the fabric mask Bowery wore made it difficult to note any errors in lip-syncing, Antony's voice recorded to replace the original audio is virtually indistinguishable when the scene ended with Bowery's actual voice from the original recording. Every note, beat, and inflection of the new composition worked perfectly.
leigh was just the best. fantastically creative and incredibally comedic in person - i used to see him in the nightclub the daisy chain, brixton and he was hilarious.
@lokust9ine The audio is on that clip, but whoever has the copyright for the music Leigh was using that day has made RU-vid block the sound. It's such a shame that the music industry doesn't want us to experience the distant past.
i have watched this many many times because it is just fucking brilliant and is something no and i do mean NO ONE would ever think of doing ...much less pull it off..Leigh Bowery was and always will be a fashionista before his time..how do you think GaGa got her many looks?
I'm guessing the sound has been taken off as Leigh was singing a Beatles song. The video in the Wigstock movie dubs over the song with an original composition.
I was there...the crowd was like.." Who T.F. does she think" ..until she layed down and POW SPLAT the birth happened and Everyone went Gasp and freaked the F out! What a great great and amazing artist Lee was! Lee definitely changed the face of Drag!
Mhmm, and when he died he begged that no one ever reveal his middle name and that everyone say he just went traveling to new zealand or somewhere remote. He performed his whole life, what a sacrifice.
no offense, but I don't see why you don't have any audio for this video. it almost seems like it defeats the purpose of making a vid of L.B. performing. But, I still like seeing images of Leigh Bowery on youtube, so right on.
The Beatles have been notoriously tight-fisted and hesitant to approve their music's presence on anything. It took years just to get them on iTunes. There is a full explanation as to the audio and how the filmmakers for _Wigstock the Movie_ surpassed it posted in the most recent comments.
@misterrichardson no doubt...I sorta understand the whole trying to stop people from getting free illegal downloads of actual albums, but c'mon! Stuff on youtube totally helps bands with promotion and finding an audience. Many of the record companies out there just use artists--the REAL TaLeNt---and get rich offa other people's work, and then they want to block us--the rank 'n' file--from hearing the audio on a movie clip??? FOOK OFF!!! :)
Terrible singing. So flat! However, I liked that little hommage to Divine by biting off the umbilical cord a la "Female Trouble." Leigh even borrowed "My little baby!" as when Dawn Davenport exclaimed, "My little Taffy!" upon giving birth.
The kind of people that think this is brilliant are the same kind of people that would watch a guy poop and call it art. WEIRD ARTSY FREAKS I'm going to pick my nose now and film the booger for 40 minutes and I'm going to call it Boogerwooger Art Show. lol whatever
No, but we do hold a film of another drag queen eating dogsh*t in high regard....but, to be fair, that film's now in the Library of Congress National Film Registry....
