# Who sang the Strange Fruit songs in "Still Crazy"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 25, 2010, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-sang-the-strange-fruit-songs-in-still-crazy/555040 "2010-09-25T21:33:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-sang-the-strange-fruit-songs-in-still-crazy/555040/1 "2010-09-25T21:33:18Z")
“Still Crazy” is a favourite movie of mine, especially Bill Nighy’s performance as a used up hard rock screecher in the style of Robert Plant. I was impressed how they were able to come up with original songs that were plausible for second-tier works of the appropriate genre and time period. But did Nighy actually sing those parts? I’d be mighty impressed if he had. If not, whose voice did he lip synch to? ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-sang-the-strange-fruit-songs-in-still-crazy/555040/2 "2010-09-25T21:46:24Z")
Looking through the [IMDB listings](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0149151/fullcredits), as far as I can tell, it was Bill doing his own vocals. Music Department Mark Bishop … score recording engineer John Bundrick … musician: Hammond organ (as Rabbit) Paul Carrack … musician: hammond organ Billy Connolly … composer: song “Stealin’” Steve Dagger … music supervisor Steve Donnelly … band musician Steve Donnelly … musician: bass Tim Dorney … musician: drum programmer Alan Dunn … musician: accordion Dina Eaton … music editor Mike Fewtrell … band musician Tarquin Gotch … music supervisor Matt Gregory … music recording engineer Brian Gulland … musician: tuba Simon Hale … music arranger: songs Kim Halliday … music programmer Martin Hughes … musician: drums Chris Johnson … musician: drums Clive Langer … music arranger: songs Clive Langer … musician: guitar Michael Lee … band musician Bob Loveday … musician: mandolin and violin Ralph McTell … musician: guitar Steve Nieve … musician: keyboards Charlie Palmer … musician: bass Guy Pratt … band musician Some really great players there, like Steve Nieve of The Attractions (Elvis Costello’s band) Paul Carrack (too damn many bands and great songs to list), John Bundrick of The Who and apparently Billy Connolly wrote one of the songs as well. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-sang-the-strange-fruit-songs-in-still-crazy/555040/3 "2010-09-25T21:49:07Z")
That’s impressive. Does Nighy have a background in singing? ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-sang-the-strange-fruit-songs-in-still-crazy/555040/4 "2010-09-25T22:13:44Z")
Doing some more searching, the name Jimmy Nail keeps popping up. [The Wikipedia page for the soundtrack album](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Still_Crazy_%28soundtrack_album%29) lists three songs as “Strange Fruit with Jimmy Nail”, so Nighy might have been lip-syncing Nail. It has been a very long time since I’ve seen the film, but I think Nail’s your man. He has [one of those effortlessly soulful voices like Paul Carrack](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVBMEhrhKeo&NR=1). Also, Chris Difford of Squeeze appears to have been one of the songwriters. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-sang-the-strange-fruit-songs-in-still-crazy/555040/5 "2010-09-25T22:26:58Z")
I know which songs on the soundtrack are credited to Jimmy Nail and the voice sound totally different. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-sang-the-strange-fruit-songs-in-still-crazy/555040/6 "2010-09-25T22:33:05Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > I know which songs on the soundtrack are credited to Jimmy Nail and the voice sound totally different. Which songs? Bill Nighy [did his own singing in _Love, Actually_](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fk_43e8KXzc&feature=related), although he was playing a rock singer well past his prime trying for one last success. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-sang-the-strange-fruit-songs-in-still-crazy/555040/7 "2010-09-25T22:41:31Z")
Turns out I’ve been mis-pronouncing his name. It’s “nye”, and appears to be pronounced the same as Bill Nye the Science Guy. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-sang-the-strange-fruit-songs-in-still-crazy/555040/8 "2010-09-25T22:51:35Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > > [@acsenray](#): > > > > I know which songs on the soundtrack are credited to Jimmy Nail and the voice sound totally different. > > Which songs? . The Jimmy Nail songs are “The Flame Still Burns” “What Might Have Been” “Bird on a Wire” The Billy Connolly song is “Stealin’”. His voice s unmistakeable. The ones I’m wondering about are “All Over the World” “Dirty Town” “Black Moon” “Scream Freedom” “Dangerous Things” Also I now recall seeing an American movie with a very similar plot only set in L.A. about an old band getting back together and experiencing hjinks, only not as funny as “Still Crazy.”. Anyone remember what that movie was? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-sang-the-strange-fruit-songs-in-still-crazy/555040/9 "2010-09-25T22:52:56Z")
Having listened to them again I’m starting to gunk that Gaffa’s right and it is actually Nighy’s own voice on those songs. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-sang-the-strange-fruit-songs-in-still-crazy/555040/10 "2010-09-25T23:15:55Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > > [@gaffa](#): > > > > Which songs? . > > Also I now recall seeing an American movie with a very similar plot only set in L.A. about an old band getting back together and experiencing hjinks, only not as funny as “Still Crazy.”. Anyone remember what that movie was? I think you’re thinking of [The Rocker](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1031969/) ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-sang-the-strange-fruit-songs-in-still-crazy/555040/11 "2010-09-25T23:59:46Z")
No, definitely not that one. It’s several years older than that and not a comedy. I remember one of the characters was English and he was always going out with girls in their 20s. At the end, he finally gets together with a woman his own age (the band’s publicist, I think) and is surprised to find that he enjoys that situation. Another character is constantly being hit on by a female singer who wants him in her touring band and at the end he decides to protect his marriage by dropping out of the tour. Another character is surprised when a teen-ager shows up at his door claiming to be his son by a groupie. ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2010, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-sang-the-strange-fruit-songs-in-still-crazy/555040/12 "2010-09-26T04:26:35Z")
Just popped in to say I think Still Crazy is an underappreciated gem, and the soundtrack really does manage to sound plausible for the period.