Life lessons learned from “The Babysitting Blues” — Guest blog by Steve!
Editor’s note: My friend Steve, who I’ve known since the 7th grade, has always been “that movie guy,” ready with trivia to excitedly spout at any prompt. He presently works in publicity for a big movie studio in NYC, but has not forgotten his roots, as you’ll see in his guest blog.
Growing up, there were several movies I watched repeatedly, almost obsessively. I knew every word, plot twist, and nuance, and it made great family fodder to watch me buzz around the living room portraying both Slimer and Dr. Peter Venkman at once. My family actually retired one film in particular, hoping I would stop repeating the scene:
Gangster: “Don’t fuck with the lords of hell.”
Chris Parker: “Don’t fuck with the babysitter!”
That movie is 1987’s Adventures in Babysitting, and needless to say my parents were not happy with an 8 year-old repeating this heated exchange. But how could you not have loved the mishaps of Chris Parker (played by Elisabeth Shue; can you believe Jodie Foster and Justine Bateman turned the role down?) in the suburbs of Chicago, babysitting a hooligan gang of misfits? It’s a fantastic and funny film, but there is one scene that defines it: “the Babysitting Blues.”
In it, not only do four white suburban kids stumble into a crowded African-American blues club, but they bust on stage during the end of a performance by blues great Albert Collins. These kids don’t even have rhythm, nevermind the blues. What are they to do? Improv a song about the struggles of white, middle-class suburbia, of course!
No one in the club is impressed when Chris meekly introduces everyone, mentions they’re on the run from bad guys, and whines about her boyfriend canceling their anniversary dinner. She then adds — to the room full of historically oppressed people — “It’s so hard, babysitting these guys.”
Unfortunately, Chris and company don’t have very good voices or dance moves. But damn it, they have heart. So much heart, in fact, the audience warms up to them because they can relate to her. They see that Chris wishes she could walk in somebody else’s shoes, and don’t we all? Isn’t the grass always greener on the other side? Wouldn’t life be better if we could break into songs about our troubles of missing the subway in the morning, or getting passed over for a promotion? The “I Burnt the Rooftop of my Mouth with this Damned Coffee Blues” is better than just complaining about it. She turned her troubles into a bluesy ballad about the perils of life, and it worked.
The truth is, if we look at our troubles with a positive outlook and a song (hey, it works for Disney) maybe they won’t seem so bad after all. I always thought your outlook determines your fate. We can all choose gloom and doom, but sometimes, you have to ask yourself, would I rather sulk over my troubles, or get up on stage and sing about them? Sometimes being blue ain’t that bad if you have a guitar and band to back you up occasionally.
(On a side note, I had “The Babysitting Blues” on cassette as a kid, and forced my dad to play it in his car. At first he was resistant, but little by little he warmed up to it. Eventually it got to the point where I would be Chris Parker and he would be Albert and we’d gloriously harmonize to the Babysitting Blues while driving along the mean streets of western Massachusetts.)
You can e-mail Steve at Cm5268@aol.com.
