Music Monday Tribute: Don't You Forget About Me:: RIP John Hughes

"You see us as you want to see us, in the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. But what we found out is that each one of us is a brain... and an athlete... and a basket case... a princess..."

I read with great sadness that writer-director-producer John Hughes had died this past week at age 59 of a heart attack while walking in Manhattan. With his 1980s "Brat Pack" movies -- "The Breakfast Club," "Sixteen Candles," "Pretty in Pink," "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and "She's Having a Baby" as we grew into our twenties -- he captured a piece of my heart, a piece of my childhood, a piece of my teenage years.

Born in Michigan, Hughes used his high school town of suburban Northbrook, Illinois, as a location for many of his films. He got his start as an advertising copywriter in Chicago and started selling jokes to performers such as Rodney Dangerfield and Joan Rivers. Hired by National Lampoon magazine after submitting his short story "Vacation '58," he wrote his first screenplay, "Class Reunion," while on staff at the magazine, and it became his first produced script in 1982. His next, "National Lampoon's Vacation," based on his short story, became his first big hit and spawned several sequels.

Hughes' first film as a director was 1984's "Sixteen Candles," starring Anthony Michael Hall, John Cusack and Molly Ringwald. The teen romance introduced several of the actors who would come to be known as the Brat Pack. In 1985, "The Breakfast Club" became the era's iconic and influential high school film. It starred Ringwald, Emilio Estevez, Ally Sheedy, Hall and Judd Nelson as teens who must learn to get along when thrown together during Saturday detention.

Hughes wrote and exec produced "Pretty in Pink" featuring Molly Ringwald and "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," starring Matthew Broderick. He also wrote "Some Kind of Wonderful" and "She's Having a Baby," heartfelt adolescent/young adult stories that both bore his stamp.

He branched out with 1987's more grown-up "Planes, Trains and Automobiles," starring Steve Martin and John Candy, then directed just two more films, "Uncle Buck" and "Curly Sue," his eighth and final film as director. Hughes turned primarily to writing and producing, seeing his greatest success with 1990's "Home Alone," which he wrote and produced. It spawned three sequels.

"He understood young people in a way few filmmakers ever have. He tapped into the feelings of teenagers and literally changed the face of the '80s. The film industry has lost a giant -- a gentle, wonderful giant," said "Home Alone" actor Devin Ratray in a statement.

While no longer active in Hollywood, he more recently provided the stories for films including "Maid in Manhattan" and "Drillbit Taylor" using the pseudonym Edmond Dantes.

He is survived by his wife of 39 years, Nancy; two sons, John, a musician, and James, a writer; and four grandchildren.




Won't you come see about me?
I'll be alone, dancing you know it baby

Tell me your troubles and doubts
Giving me everything inside and out and
Love's strange so real in the dark
Think of the tender things that we were working on

Slow change may pull us apart
When the light gets into your heart, baby

Don't You Forget About Me
Don't Don't Don't Don't
Don't You Forget About Me

Will you stand above me?
Look my way, never love me
Rain keeps falling, rain keeps falling
Down, down, down

Will you recognise me?
Call my name or walk on by
Rain keeps falling, rain keeps falling
Down, down, down, down

Hey, hey, hey, hey
Ohhhh.....

Don't you try to pretend
It's my feeling we'll win in the end
I won't harm you or touch your defenses
Vanity and security

Don't you forget about me
I'll be alone, dancing you know it baby
Going to take you apart
I'll put us back together at heart, baby

Don't You Forget About Me
Don't Don't Don't Don't
Don't You Forget About Me

As you walk on by
Will you call my name?
As you walk on by
Will you call my name?
When you walk away

Or will you walk away?
Will you walk on by?
Come on - call my name
Will you all my name?

Rest in peace, John Hughes.

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