Songs Lyrics and YT- Youtube Music Videos

Michael Sembello - Maniac

Michael Sembello - Maniac Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Flashdance Soundtrack
Released: 1983

Maniac Lyrics

Just a steel town girl on a Saturday night
Looking for the fight of her life
In the real time world no one sees her at all
They all say she's crazy

Locking rhythm to the beat of her heart
Changing movement into light
She had danced into the danger zone
When the dancer becomes the dance

It can cut you like a knife
If the gift becomes the fire
On the wire between will and what will be

She's a Maniac, maniac on the floor
And she's dancing like she's never danced before

She's a maniac, maniac on the floor
And she's dancing like she's never danced before

On the ice blue line of insanity
Is a place most never see
It's a hard won place of mystery
Touch it but can't hold it

You work all your life, for that moment in time
It could come or pass you by
It's a push shove world
But there's always a chance
If the hunger stays the night

There's a cold connective heat
Struggling stretching for the peak
Never stopping with her head against the wind

She's a maniac, maniac I sure know
And she's dancing like she's never danced before

She's a maniac, maniac I sure know
And she's dancing like she's never danced before

It can cut you like a knife
If the fight becomes the fire
On the wire between will and what will be

She's a maniac, maniac I sure know
And she's dancing like she's never danced before

She's a maniac, maniac I sure know
And she's dancing like she's never danced before

Maniac, maniac I sure know

Writer/s: MATKOSKY, DENNIS / SEMBELLO, MICHAEL
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Maniac Song Chart

This was featured in the movie Flashdance, which starred Jennifer Beals as a welder by day, dancer by night. Phil Ramone, who was the music supervisor on the movie, produced the track. He also made another contribution to the movie: after seeing some kids breakdancing in New York City, he alerted the movie's producer, who shot footage of the dancers that was used in the film.

Sembello wrote this with his songwriting partner Dennis Matkosky, who got the idea when he saw the William Lustig movie Maniac, which is about a serial killer who stalks his victims in New York City. Sembello told us: "He came up with the original kernel of inspiration and to me with the basic idea and groove and I believe the temporary lyrics for the chorus he had were:
'He's a maniac, maniac that's for sure
He will kill your cat and nail him to the door'
That direction obviously wasn't going to work at which point the genius of Phil Ramone, producer of the soundtrack who had the vision to see the potential of the song, asked us to change it to the present concept of a girl possessed with the passion of a gift for dance. Without Phil it would not have happened."

Sembello added: "It was nominated for an academy award and was disqualified according to 'academy rules' because the song was changed from the original and was not originally written solely for the film, which pisses me off to this day." (Thanks for Michael Sembello for the info. To learn more, check out michaelsembello.com.)

This was accidentally included on a tape of Sembello's songs his wife sent to Paramount for consideration in Flashdance. The studio loved it and used it in the movie.

The dance scenes in the video (and the movie), were performed by body double Marine Jahan. It was a well-kept secret that Jennifer Beals did not dance in the movie.

The video was the first to use nothing but scenes from the movie. It started a movie/music cross-promotion trend (Pretty Woman, Dirty Dancing, etc.).

This was commonly used in aerobics classes, which was a big trend at the time.

In 2007, this was used in commercials for Kia cars, which show a Kia salesman doing a similar dance. The idea is that he's making great deals like a Maniac. (thanks, MusicianJohnPaul - Bay Area, CA)

Irene Cara - Flashdance... What a Feeling

Irene Cara - Flashdance... What a Feeling Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Flashdance Soundtrack
Released: 1983

Flashdance... What a Feeling Lyrics

First when there's nothing
But a slow glowing dream
That your fear seems to hide
Deep inside your mind

All alone I have cried
Silent tears full of pride
In a world made of steel
Made of stone

Well, I hear the music
Close my eyes, feel the rhythm
Wrap around
Take a hold of my heart

What a feeling
Bein's believin'
I can have it all
Now I'm dancing for my life

Take your passion
And make it happen
Pictures come alive
You can dance right through your life

Now I hear the music
Close my eyes, I am rhythm
In a flash
It takes hold of my heart

What a feeling
Bein's believin'
I can have it all
Now I'm dancing for my life

Take your passion
And make it happen
Pictures come alive
Now I'm dancing through my life
What a feeling

What a feeling
(I am music now)
Bein's believin'
(I am rhythm now)
Pictures come alive
You can dance right through your life

What a feeling
(You can really have it all)
What a feeling
(Pictures come alive when I call)
I can have it all
(I can really have it all)
Have it all
(Pictures come alive when I call)
(Call, call, call, call)

(What a feeling)
I can have it all
(Bein's believin')
Bein's believin'
(Take your passion)

(Make it happen)
Make it happen
(What a feeling)
What a feeling
(Bein's believin')
Take your passion

Writer/s: CARA, IRENE / MORODER, GIORGIO / FORSEY, KEITH
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Flashdance... What a Feeling Song Chart

This was the title song to the movie Flashdance, one of the first films not fitting into the "musical" category that was centered around the songs. As more people started watching MTV, it became easier and more acceptable to integrate pop songs into films, which led to movies like Footloose and Dirty Dancing.

Irene Cara wrote the lyrics with the songwriter Keith Forsey, and Giorgio Moroder composed the music. Moroder and Forsey wrote many songs that became hits when they were used in '80s movies: Moroder wrote "Danger Zone" and "Take My Breath Away" for Top Gun, while Forsey wrote "Shakedown" for Beverly Hills Cop II and "Don't You (Forget About Me)" for The Breakfast Club.

The word "Flashdance" never appears in the lyric, but the song still relates to the movie, as it's specifically about dancing. Irene Cara was an accomplished dancer who not only sang the title song to Fame, but also starred in the film as an aspiring dancer. Said Cara: "'What a feeling' was a metaphor about a dancer, how she's in control of her body when she dances and how she can be in control of her life."

The movie Flashdance was released on April 15, 1983. On May 28, this song hit #1 US, where it stayed for six weeks. On June 25, the soundtrack when to #1 and stayed for two weeks, interrupting the run of Michael Jackson's Thriller, which had been at the top spot for 17 weeks and would return for another 20 (eventually knocked off by the Footloose soundtrack).

On September 10, another song from Flashdance, Michael Sembello's "Maniac," also went to #1 US.

Irene Cara won the 1983 Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female, for her work on this song. She and her co-writers also were awarded the Oscar for Best Original Song, beating out two songs from Yentl, one from Tender Mercies, and another Flashdance tune: "Maniac."

The video featured the dance sequence to Flashdance, which was the primary driver of the leg warmers trend of the '80s.

According to Giorgio Moroder, he wrote this song with Irena Cara in mind to sing because he loved what she did with the theme song to Fame.

The dance scenes in the video (and the movie), were performed by body double Marine Jahan. It was a well kept secret that Jennifer Beals did not dance in the film.