# Who deserves a Jukebox Musical?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-deserves-a-jukebox-musical/838056
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [August 2, 2019, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-deserves-a-jukebox-musical/838056 "2019-08-02T13:13:15Z")
**Posts on this page:** 17
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2019, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-deserves-a-jukebox-musical/838056/41 "2019-09-26T00:22:41Z")
In the spirit of Ken Burns, Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, George Jones and/or Tammy Wynette.
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### Author:  [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2019, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-deserves-a-jukebox-musical/838056/42 "2019-09-26T09:10:12Z")
> [@blondebear](#):
>
> It would sort of require a reconciliation and new album (for a happy ending), but I think you could make a decent musical of The Kinks’ story. Lots of great tunes and no shortage of drama, that’s for sure.
There’s already a [Kinks jukebox musical](https://sunnyafternoonthemusical.com/) about them as a band (presumably heavily fictionalized - I haven’t seen it).
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### Author:  [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2019, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-deserves-a-jukebox-musical/838056/43 "2019-09-26T13:32:14Z")
American Pie! The musical. Though I doubt Don McLean would let it be done.
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### Author:  [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2019, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-deserves-a-jukebox-musical/838056/44 "2019-09-26T14:20:45Z")
> [@Personal](#):
>
> I’ll play.
>
> Styx
>
> Angry Young Man turns Renegade then meets Lorelei and settles down with his Lady, gets restless so leaves his Babe, ends up with Too Much Time on [His] Hands and returns to Come Sail Away with his Lady happily ever after in the Best of Times.
Until the AI uprising, thank you very much Mr. Roboto.
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### Author:  [@Anamorphic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anamorphic)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2019, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-deserves-a-jukebox-musical/838056/45 "2019-09-26T15:34:35Z")
At one point (maybe still?), David Simon, the creator of The Wire, was working on a [musical based on the music of the Pogues](https://www.joe.ie/movies-tv/theres-going-musical-pogues-incredibly-powerful-story-626856). I think that could actually work very well.
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### Author:  [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2019, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-deserves-a-jukebox-musical/838056/46 "2019-09-26T15:47:41Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#):
>
> Too much of boring prison time and labor camps ;-).
If you’re going to do that, go right to the source: Leadbelly.
> [@pmwgreen](#):
>
> Louis Jordon. Tells the story of Louis Jordon.
[Five Guys Named Moe.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Guys_Named_Moe)
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### Author:  [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2019, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-deserves-a-jukebox-musical/838056/47 "2019-09-26T18:09:52Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#):
>
> In the spirit of Ken Burns, Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, George Jones and/or Tammy Wynette.
From the linked Wiki page, it looks like both Patsy and Hank have had Jukebox musicals (as well as mediocre to just plain bad biopics).
George Jones and Tammy Wynette would make a great Jukebox musical since most of their songs were about their turbulent relationship. And they haven’t had a biopic yet, either (and just like Cash/Carter in Ring of Fire, they have the perfect movie title among their songs: “Stand By Your Man”)
But sticking with the Ken Burns theme, let’s sub in Emmylou Harris for Patsy and Jimmy Rodgers for Hank.
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### Author:  [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2019, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-deserves-a-jukebox-musical/838056/48 "2019-09-26T19:30:00Z")
It appears [Billy Joel](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/billy-joel-anthology-tv-series-works-1242935) is doing one.
Could be interesting. Scenes From and Italian Restaurant, Piano Man, etc.
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### Author:  [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2019, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-deserves-a-jukebox-musical/838056/49 "2019-09-26T19:59:23Z")
> [@peccavi](#):
>
> But sticking with the Ken Burns theme, let’s sub in Emmylou Harris for Patsy and Jimmy Rodgers for Hank.
Which leads to the question, do we want a musical with a happy ending, or a sad one?
Happy ending - Dolly Parton, Marty Stuart, Emmylou Harris, Reba McEntire
Sad ending - Jimmie Rogers, Jim Reeves, Mindy McReady, Dottie West, Roger Miller
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### Author:  [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2019, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-deserves-a-jukebox-musical/838056/50 "2019-09-26T20:50:18Z")
Tom Waits. Story told as your Average Joe in latter half of the 20th century.
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### Author:  [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)
#### Post date: [September 27, 2019, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-deserves-a-jukebox-musical/838056/51 "2019-09-27T01:51:26Z")
I’d love to see one for [the Collins Kids](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CflFhAox2RQ). They’re not as well-known as they should be, and this would raise their profile.
I’m surprised there isn’t one for Jim Croce.
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### Author:  [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)
#### Post date: [September 27, 2019, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-deserves-a-jukebox-musical/838056/52 "2019-09-27T02:04:51Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#):
>
> I’m surprised there isn’t one for Jim Croce.
Or Harry Chapin, but he could use a few more uptempo songs. Many of his songs are complete stand alone stories, so they might not fit into a bigger arc. But
[ul]
[li]Cats in the Cradle[/li][li]Taxi[/li][li]W_O_L\*D[/li][li]Better Place to Be[/li][li]Mr Tanner[/li][li]30,000 Pounds of Bananas[/li][li]I Want to Learn a Love Song[/li][li]Circle[/li][/ul]
have a lot to sink your teeth into.
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### Author:  [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)
#### Post date: [September 27, 2019, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-deserves-a-jukebox-musical/838056/53 "2019-09-27T18:04:46Z")
I see someone tried using their songs for a _Desperately Seeking Susan_ musical, but I think a Blondie musical using just their violence-tinged songs (e.g., War Child, Rifle Range, Youth Nabbed as Sniper) could be interesting.
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### Author:  [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2019, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-deserves-a-jukebox-musical/838056/54 "2019-09-28T06:42:21Z")
> [@Telemark](#):
>
> Or Harry Chapin, but he could use a few more uptempo songs. Many of his songs are complete stand alone stories, so they might not fit into a bigger arc. But
> [ul]
> [li]Cats in the Cradle[/li][li]Taxi[/li][li]W_O_L\*D[/li][li]Better Place to Be[/li][li]Mr Tanner[/li][li]30,000 Pounds of Bananas[/li][li]I Want to Learn a Love Song[/li][li]Circle[/li][/ul]
> have a lot to sink your teeth into.
There was an off-Broadway show around 1980 called _One Mo’ Time_. It focused on a specific type of “dirty” blues, rather than a specific musician or songwriter. It was directed by Vernel Bagneris, and was intended as a raunchy counterpoint to the then-running _Ain’t Misbehaving_. Maybe some Chapin songs could be folded into a show with two or three other similar artists (Croce, Cat Stevens, maybe James Taylor)?
Paul Simon sure deserves a jukebox musical. So do REM and the Roches.
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### Author:  [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2019, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-deserves-a-jukebox-musical/838056/55 "2019-09-28T08:06:59Z")
> [@Telemark](#):
>
> Or Harry Chapin, but he could use a few more uptempo songs. Many of his songs are complete stand alone stories, so they might not fit into a bigger arc. But
> [ul]
> [li]Cats in the Cradle[/li][li]Taxi[/li][li]W_O_L\*D[/li][li]Better Place to Be[/li][li]Mr Tanner[/li][li]30,000 Pounds of Bananas[/li][li]I Want to Learn a Love Song[/li][li]Circle[/li][/ul]
> have a lot to sink your teeth into.
I can see “Better Place To Be” as the overarching story of such a musical. The Little Man (let’s call him “Harry”) sits at the bar and tells the Waitress his story:
Harry feels he is a failure, having never found what he is looking for (which, for now, is undefined). He is an ordinary working guy, who has had a variety of jobs: taxi driver (“Taxi”), dry cleaner (who knew “Mr. Tanner”), and truck driver (who listened to “WOLD” when driving and who knew the guy who drove “30,000 Pounds of Bananas”). He’s not very successful in life, and is estranged from his kids (“Cat’s in the Cradle”). We don’t know much about his wife, except that he doesn’t seem to have one any more, which is why, when he’s the midnight watchman at Miller’s Tool and Die, he takes up with the girl who doesn’t mind the dark (“She Is Always Seventeen”). When she leaves when he’s gone for food, he hits bottom, and heads off to the early-morning barroom to pour gin down his throat, and to pour out his troubles to the Waitress.
The theme plays throughout the musical–that little guitar noodling that intros “Better Place.” We wrap things up with Harry feeling like a failure, but realizing that he’s never done anybody wrong, and it’s the people he’s met–Sue, Mr. Tanner, radio hosts, truck drivers, his kids, and the girl who doesn’t mind the dark–who have made him the gentle and kind man that he is today, and that he’s not really a failure after all. He’s a little surprised when, after hearing his story, the Waitress propositions him, and Harry realizes that his story tells others that whatever their experiences, they are not failures either, and sometimes, what you are looking for is right in front of you.
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### Author:  [@CelticKnot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CelticKnot)
#### Post date: [September 29, 2019, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-deserves-a-jukebox-musical/838056/56 "2019-09-29T00:44:23Z")
> [@Personal](#):
>
> I’ll play.
>
> Styx
>
> Angry Young Man turns Renegade then meets Lorelei and settles down with his Lady, gets restless so leaves his Babe, ends up with Too Much Time on [His] Hands and returns to Come Sail Away with his Lady happily ever after in the Best of Times.
> [@Ike\_Witt](#):
>
> Until the AI uprising, thank you very much Mr. Roboto.
I’ll say it again: Kilroy Was Here, the Musical. It already has the plot and the songs; it just needs dialogue and stage directions.
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### Author:  [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)
#### Post date: [September 30, 2019, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-deserves-a-jukebox-musical/838056/57 "2019-09-30T13:41:43Z")
I think that The Manilow Musical could work. Start off with I Write The Songs, and point out that he did not write that song.
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