Music That Matters (Top 50 Movie Symphonies: #20 "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want" by Dream Academy)

We’re getting down to the nitty gritty of the countdown. #20 is a beautiful synth-pop theme from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off which fans of the movie would instantly recognize as the Art Museum theme. The original song, titled Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want, was actually recorded by The Smiths in 1983. John Hughes, the genius director of Ferris Bueller, apparently was a huge fan of The Smiths and saw an opportunity to use one of their songs for his film. I’m not sure if he mistook the fact that The Smiths would not allow their song to be featured. So instead, 80’s pop band Dream Academy’s instrumental version recorded a year later in 1984 that holds true to the original was used. Of course, Dream Academy is best known for their 80's tunes, Life In A Northern Town, so having used an instrumental piece from theme was kind of strange.

As mentioned in the second sentence of the above paragraph, the song was brilliantly used during the scene in which Ferris, Sloan, and Cameron visit the Chicago Art Institute. From the moment the trio enter the museum by sneaking in via holding hands in unison with a group of student to the end of the montage where Cameron thinks he sees his dad’s Ferrari in a photo, we hear this beautiful piece of music play. Hughes must have had a large boner for art, as the montage features a good minute and half of painting and sculptures. The scene is kind of pointless in the overall scope of the movie, but the classic tune more than makes up for it.

For whatever reason, there never was a Ferris Bueller’s Day Off soundtrack ever produced. The version of Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want used in the movie was never released on a Dream Academy studio album. Although the song was finally made available in 2000 as an inclusion on the band’s greatest hits album. I associate this song with innocence and it seemed to really work during what the hell" art montage scene in the film. It's just a classic tune, both the original Smiths version and the instrumental version from Dream Academy. I am still kicking myself for not having used it for my wedding video during the sequence featuring all of the guests, but I sure would recommend it to be used for other people's wedding videos. Well, unless they are people who think outside the box!

Ladies and gentlemen... #20 Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want by Dream Academy