# Songwriter Joseph Brooks a suicide at age 73 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 23, 2011, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriter-joseph-brooks-a-suicide-at-age-73/582891 "2011-05-23T13:33:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriter-joseph-brooks-a-suicide-at-age-73/582891/1 "2011-05-23T13:33:35Z")
[Story here](http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/you-light-up-my-life-songwriter-brooks-facing-sex-charges-apparently-kills-himself-in-nyc/2011/05/22/AF5rBF9G_story.html) Brooks, best known for composing the Oscar winning song “You Light Up My Life” was facing a slew of sex crime charges. In related news, his son is going on trial for murdering his girlfriend. I, I took my own life. I had not hope, couldn’t carry on. I took my life with helium And now I sing THIS HIGH PITCHED SONG. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriter-joseph-brooks-a-suicide-at-age-73/582891/2 "2011-05-23T14:35:18Z")
Will I go to hell for thinking if he’d changed his mind at the last minute it would have been the most hilarious 911 call ever? ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriter-joseph-brooks-a-suicide-at-age-73/582891/3 "2011-05-23T14:35:39Z")
Given everything he is accused of - and all of the evidence against him - it seems like “songwriter” is the lesser of descriptors that should be used…perhaps in favor of “loser slimeball sexual abuser”… I wish no ill will on anyone - this just seems like he streamlined the bureaucracy. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriter-joseph-brooks-a-suicide-at-age-73/582891/4 "2011-05-23T14:50:13Z")
Prison at his age would be a death sentence anyway. Glad he saved the taxpayers money for a trial and incarceration. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriter-joseph-brooks-a-suicide-at-age-73/582891/5 "2011-05-23T17:28:59Z")
> [@Bill\_Door](#): > > Will I go to hell for thinking if he’d changed his mind at the last minute it would have been the most hilarious 911 call ever? Hey, at least he went out on a high note! ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriter-joseph-brooks-a-suicide-at-age-73/582891/6 "2011-05-23T17:36:59Z")
Brooks was awaiting trial and sentencing for at least a [dozen rapes](http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/9184597-academy-award-winner-joseph-brooks-facing-rape-charges-dies). Sounds like a swell sort all around. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriter-joseph-brooks-a-suicide-at-age-73/582891/7 "2011-05-23T17:39:25Z")
But, if it weren’t for him, we wouldn’t have had [this moment](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPdB4dZfyII). ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriter-joseph-brooks-a-suicide-at-age-73/582891/8 "2011-05-23T20:48:34Z")
Holy crap! And wasn’t _You Light Up My Life_ about God? Or rumored to be about God? ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriter-joseph-brooks-a-suicide-at-age-73/582891/9 "2011-05-23T21:28:48Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > Holy crap! And wasn’t _You Light Up My Life_ about God? Or rumored to be about God? I believe that’s what Debbie Boone thought the song was about. In any case, that sappy ditty set a record by spending 10 weeks at the top of the American charts in late 1977. (It’s since been topped.) However, it was one of those hugely popular songs that quickly disappeared from the airwaves once it fell off the charts and were rarely heard ever again. I don’t even hear it played on oldies stations. ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriter-joseph-brooks-a-suicide-at-age-73/582891/10 "2011-05-23T21:31:59Z")
So writing that song wasn’t his worst crime? He really had to be a villain to top that. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriter-joseph-brooks-a-suicide-at-age-73/582891/11 "2011-05-23T23:08:04Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Hey, at least he went out on a high note! That is the winningest win that ever won. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriter-joseph-brooks-a-suicide-at-age-73/582891/12 "2011-05-23T23:52:32Z")
According to the singer/songwriter of [this song](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRfS10Ae46o) the unidentified actress lip-synching the female portions of the song was married to Brooks at the time (@1979). ETA: Other than that, I got nuthin’. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2011, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriter-joseph-brooks-a-suicide-at-age-73/582891/13 "2011-05-24T00:10:50Z")
YLUML was a slamdunk for the Best Song Oscar in 1977 (the year all the _Saturday Night Live_ songs were snubbed), and was performed famously by Boone, accompanied by a group of deaf children who were signing the lyrics, during the Oscar ceremony. Except the kids weren’t actually deaf and it turns out the “signing” was a bunch of mumbo jumbo. ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2011, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriter-joseph-brooks-a-suicide-at-age-73/582891/14 "2011-05-24T00:15:17Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > Except the kids weren’t actually deaf and it turns out the “signing” was a bunch of mumbo jumbo. For some sicko reason, this may be the single funniest thing I have read all week long. Did they actually think that no one would notice that the “signing” was rot? ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2011, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriter-joseph-brooks-a-suicide-at-age-73/582891/15 "2011-05-24T00:21:57Z")
> [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](#): > > For some sicko reason, this may be the single funniest thing I have read all week long. > > Did they actually think that no one would notice that the “signing” was rot? They probably just wrote it off as “choreography” and back then? The ceremonies weren’t under anywhere the same kind of scrutiny, and it probably wouldn’t have occurred to most media outlets to check. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2011, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriter-joseph-brooks-a-suicide-at-age-73/582891/16 "2011-05-24T02:48:07Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > In any case, that sappy ditty set a record by spending 10 weeks at the top of the American charts in late 1977. (It’s since been topped.) However, it was one of those hugely popular songs that quickly disappeared from the airwaves once it fell off the charts and were rarely heard ever again. I don’t even hear it played on oldies stations. It may have been a sappy ditty when Debbie Boone sang it, but when [Patti Smith sang it on a kid’s show](http://youtu.be/Agl4IvNnQPo) it turned into a very emotional anthem even when she forgets the words (as a bonus, accompanied by none other than Joe Brooks himself). Edit to add there’s an intro with kids asking questions. The song itself is introduced just past the 3 minute mark. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2011, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriter-joseph-brooks-a-suicide-at-age-73/582891/17 "2011-05-24T03:33:08Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > YLUML was a slamdunk for the Best Song Oscar in 1977 (the year all the _Saturday Night Live_ songs were snubbed), and was performed famously by Boone, accompanied by a group of deaf children who were signing the lyrics, during the Oscar ceremony. > > Except the kids weren’t actually deaf and it turns out the “signing” was a bunch of mumbo jumbo. don’t you mean ‘Saturday Night Fever’ songs? ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2011, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriter-joseph-brooks-a-suicide-at-age-73/582891/18 "2011-05-24T04:13:51Z")
I was in fifth grade when this song was a big hit. I remember there was a truly maudlin, sappy movie made about it starring Didi Conn. Actually what I remember most about the song was the take-off of the song that we (meaning juvenile, pre-adolescent punks) sang on the playground: "So many nights, I sat on my toilet Trying so hard to take a shit. So long I sat there, until you unblocked me By ramming my ass with your big fat dick Now IIIII, I took a big dump…" That’s all I remember. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2011, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriter-joseph-brooks-a-suicide-at-age-73/582891/19 "2011-05-24T06:14:13Z")
I heard YLUML at the dentist’s office two weeks ago. Score another one for the cosmic unconsciousness. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2011, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriter-joseph-brooks-a-suicide-at-age-73/582891/20 "2011-05-24T09:58:17Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > don’t you mean ‘Saturday Night Fever’ songs? :smack: Yes, of course. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriter-joseph-brooks-a-suicide-at-age-73/582891.md?page=2)