For some reason, this song popped into my head a couple of nights ago, and I bookmarked it for future reference. I don’t know if somebody mentioned it, or if it just popped in through one of the many holes in my mind, but here it is and it won’t likely leave until I share it!
Written by Terry Britten and Graham Lyle, this is the theme song to the film Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome. The third installment of the post-apocalyptic Mad Max series finds star Mel Gibson at the mercy of a nefarious leader named Aunty Entity, played by Tina Turner, who is determined to secure her power over Australia’s Bartertown. Now, I have never seen a movie by the title of Mad Max, nor am I likely to in this lifetime, much as I do love Tina Turner, her voice, her persona, and her music.
It was Turner’s first film role in over a decade, the previous being The Acid Queen in the Who’s 1975 rock opera Tommy. But the glamorous ruler, clad in a chain-mail gown, wasn’t quite what Turner had in mind for her big-screen comeback.
“Aunty Entity was not as fierce as I wanted her to be. I wanted her to go back into the trunk and pull out the clothes that she was wearing when she built that city, because she built herself up from nothing and she definitely wasn’t wearing that chain dress and those high-heeled shoes.”
Okay … um … whatever, I guess.
On the heels of Turner’s multiplatinum album Private Dancer, the song was released as a 7″ single, an extended version was released as a 12″ single and on the film’s soundtrack album. In the UK, a shaped picture disc was also released.
The power ballad received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song and a Grammy nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 1986. As songwriters, Lyle and Britten received the 1985 Ivor Novello award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically.
This song charted at #1 in Canada, #2 in the U.S., and #3 in the UK … not half bad, yes?
We Don’t Need Another Hero
Tina Turner
Out of the ruins
Out from the wreckage
Can’t make the same mistake this time
We are the children
The last generation (the last generation)
We are the ones they left behind
And I wonder when we
Are ever gonna change, change
Living under the fear
‘Til nothing else remains
We don’t need another hero
We don’t need to know the way home
All we want is life beyond the Thunderdome
Looking for something
We can rely on
There’s gotta be something better out there
Love and compassion
Their day is coming (coming)
All else are castles built in the air
And I wonder when we
Are ever gonna change, change
Living under the fear
‘Til nothing else remains
All the children say
We don’t need another hero
We don’t need to know the way home
All we want is life beyond the Thunderdome
So, what do we do with our lives?
We leave only a mark
Will our story shine like a light
Or end in the dark
Is it all or nothing?
We don’t need another hero
We don’t need to know the way home
All we want is life beyond Thunderdome
All the children say
(We don’t need another hero)
We don’t need another hero
(We don’t need to know the way home)
(All we want is life beyond the Thunderdome)
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Lyle Graham Hamilton / Britten Terence Ernest
We Don’t Need Another Hero lyrics © Wb Music Corp., Goodsingle Ltd., Hornall Brothers Music Limited
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