Whether I’m right or whether I’m wrong
Whether I find a place in this world or never belong
I gotta be me, I’ve gotta be me
What else can I be but what I am
I want to live, not merely survive
And I won’t give up this dream
Of life that keeps me alive
I gotta be me, I gotta be me
The dream that I see makes me what I am
That far away prize, a world of success
Is waiting for me if I heed the call
I won’t settle down, won’t settle for less
As long as there’s a chance that I can have it all
I’ll go it alone, that’s how it must be
I can’t be right for somebody else
If I’m not right for me
I’ve Gotta Be Me – Sammy Davis Jr.
In case your keeping track, there are now six different actors that have portrayed Batman (not including Adam West), in 16 different movies. Four different Spidermen in eight Spiderman movies. Not to mention all the different Hulks and Supermans (men?). Hollywood is a sea of reboots, sequels, prequels, sequels of the prequels, a preponderance of superhero movies, and a clear lack of creativity. Classic songs are covered and re-covered. TV shows are rebooted (Magnum PI, CSI, Fantasy Island) and it appears Rob Zombie is rebooting The Munsters. THE MUNSTERS???? That was an old show in reruns when I was a kid!!
It appears very little is original anymore. In fact, Yesterday (which we examined in an earlier post) is the MOST covered song in history.
It’s hard to be original in a sea of sameness.
But sometimes a sequel or reboot works.
When Sammy Davis Jr. released, I’ve Gotta Be Me in 1968, he wasn’t the first to have sung it. It was part of the Broadway play Golden Rainbow. Larry Davis, who sang it as a character in the play first released it a year before and had no success with it.
Davis took a shot at it the next year, slightly altering the title. It was a success despite Golden Rainbow not being a popular play. The song remained in the Top 40 for 11 weeks. It was Davis’ signature song.
In a world of copycats, it takes courage to be original. In the song lyrics, Davis appears to say he wants to be fully him, without influence of anyone else. Ironic since this is a cover of someone else’s song.
But in his version, the title is different. He’s putting himself and his creativity and passion into it. He owns it. And that’s why it became his best-known song (aside from The Candy Man which isn’t quite so inspirational…).
So, the moral of the story is: be original if you can. If you can’t, then at least be creative in your cover. Just be true to who YOU really are.
I’ll go it alone, that’s how it must be
I can’t be right for somebody else
If I’m not right for me
I gotta be free, I just gotta be free
Daring to try, to do it or die
I gotta be me