Some Moments--Some Scenes--Stick with You

It's true, isn't it? Moments from movies and TV shows that never leave you? For me--Davy Crockett swinging his rifle in the Alamo at the end of his life. The final freeze-frame of Butch and Sundance. The bullet-riddled car in Bonnie & Clyde. The leap to hyperspace in the first Star Wars. A variety of moments from (the first) Blade Runner.

And this is a more recent one ...

On August 18, Joyce and I went to see Spike Lee's newest one--The BlacKkKlansman--based on a true story of a black Colorado Springs police officer (in the 1970s) impersonating a KKK member (over the phone, of course--Adam Driver, another cop, did the in-person stuff).

In the process of his investigation, he gets involved with a young woman (to whom he cannot reveal his identity), and there is just a wonderful scene at a party, where, it's very apparent, they are falling in love.

They dance together--and my memory is that the scene and the soundtrack include the entire song "Too Late to Turn Back Now" (1972) by the Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose. (Link to the song.) It's just a great scene--young people dancing all around the room, hope and love so thick in the air it seems to flow right out of the screen and into the hearts of the audience.

My heart, anyway.

And now whenever I hear that song, I find myself whirling back to that movie--and then to 1972, only a few years after our marriage (1969)--1972, the year our son was born, the year Joyce and I were finishing our graduate coursework, the year I was figuring out that, yes, I really did want to be a teacher for the rest of my working life. I loved it all.

I still do. And that song brings tears to my eyes now, every single time ...

***

Song Lyrics:

Too Late to Turn Back Now

Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose

My mama told me, she said, "Son, please beware"

"There's this thing called love and it's everywhere"

She told me, "It can break your heart and leave you in misery"

And since I met this little woman,

I feel it's happening to me, and I'm tellin' you

It's too late to turn back now

I believe, I believe, I believe I'm fallin' in love

It's too late to turn back now

I believe, I believe, I believe I'm falling in love

I found myself phoning her at least ten times a day

It's so unusual for me to carry on this way

I tell you ...

I can't sleep at night

Wanting to hold her tight

I've tried so hard to convince myself

That this feeling just can't be right, and I'm tellin' you

It's too late to turn back now

I believe, I believe, I believe I'm fallin' in love

It's too late to turn back now

I believe, I believe, I believe I'm falling in love

It's too late to turn back now

I believe, I believe, I believe I'm falling in love

It's too late, Baby....

Whoa-oh

I wouldn't mind it if I knew she really loved me too

But I hate to think that I'm in love alone and there's nothing that I can do

Whoa

It's too late to turn back now

I believe, I believe, I believe I'm fallin' in love

It's too late to turn back now

I believe, I believe, I believe I'm falling in love

It's too late to turn back now

I believe, I believe, I believe I'm falling in love

It's too late

Songwriters: Eddie Cornileus

Too Late to Turn Back Now lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC