Old Boyfriends

In the 1979 film Old Boyfriends, Talia Shire plays Dianne, a psychologist who hops in her car and drives back through a series of past romances in the soul-searching wake of a suicide attempt. Dianne flits through each of her "old boyfriends" lives like chapters in her diary, searching for answers to the romantic and existential questions that plague her. David Shire composed music for each of these chapters, as if they were their own musical movements.

The score starts with a bang—a brassy declaration of Shire's main theme churned by a rhythm on spin cycle. From there Shire crafts a lyrical theme for each of Dianne's resurrected relationships, culminating in a grand, old-fashioned love theme for viola that became a staple in Shire's concerts. "It's one of my favorite things I've ever written," Shire says of the melody assigned to Dianne and Wayne and adopted as the score's main theme. Shire scores the relationship between Dianne and Jeff with warm and mature rekindling, interlaced with a secondary idea for clarinet and then piano. For Dianne's high school boyfriend, Eric (Belushi)—who is trapped in time playing in a band at proms and renting formal wear to prom-goers—Shire assigns a melancholic, pop-flavored tune for piano, orchestra and rock rhythm section.

A soundtrack for Old Boyfriends had been planned at the time the film's release, but due to the film's poor performance the album was cancelled. However, an LP had already been assembled and pressed, with some copies released for promotional purposes. The album was quite rare. The music elements were safely stored by Sony Music for several decades before Intrada pursued this release, now making David Shire's beautiful and important score available for all who want it.