Already a member?
Sign in
Welcome! Wikis are websites that everyone can build together. It's easy!
Listen
"Listen" is a song performed by American R&B singer-songwriter Beyoncé Knowles in the 2006 film Dreamgirls. It was released as the first single from the film's soundtrack album on December 5, 2006 in the United States and on was released in the United Kingdom on February 19, 2007. The song can also be found as a hidden track on international editions of the singer's second solo studio album, B’Day (2006).
The music for "Listen" was written by Henry Krieger, the composer of the original 1981 Broadway musical version of Dreamgirls, along with Scott Cutler and Knowles. Anne Preven composed the song's lyrics. "Listen" was nominated for both the 2007 Golden Globe Award and the 2007 Academy Award for Best Original Song. The song is one of four new compositions written especially for the film version of Dreamgirls, and is not present in the original 1981 Broadway production.
It was released as a single on January 29, 2007 and was recorded in the Underlab in Los Angeles.
In the film version of Dreamgirls, Beyoncé Knowles portrays the character of Deena Jones, a pop singer heavily inspired by Motown star Diana Ross. Deena has no solo number in the broadway version of Dreamgirls, although she sings lead on the Dreams' hit songs as depicted in the story. In addition, the play's best known song, the dramatic number "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going", is sung by the character Effie White (portrayed in the film by Jennifer Hudson) at the play's halfway point. Therefore, "Listen" was composed and introduced into the film to both give Deena a solo and to balance the second act with a ballad on the level of "And I Am Telling You" (the two sequences exist in the film as parallels of each other).
In the context of the film, "Listen" is a song being recorded by Deena Jones in the Rainbow Record studio in 1975. Her husband and employer, Curtis Taylor, Jr. (Jamie Foxx), is the producer on the track, and is supervising the recording session. Several days earlier, Curtis and Deena got into an argument at dinner over Deena's desire to make her film debut in a gritty urban film instead of the Cleopatra prequel Curtis is producing. An angry Curtis asserts his creative and psychological control over his wife, informing Deena that he won't let anyone else "handle" her, because, in his words, "no one knows you the way I do".
The rebuffed Deena decides to get back at Curtis the best way she knows how: by attempting to destroy his Rainbow Records empire. She finds evidence of the payola schemes Curtis has used over the years to keep Rainbows releases at the top of the charts, including evidence that one of Deena's own songs, "One Night Only", was stolen from her old Dreams bandmate Effie. Deena calls Effie, and Effie comes to the Rainbow offices in L.A. with her brother C.C., her manager Marty, and a lawyer, ready to speak with Curtis.
These scenes are intercut as a montage with Deena's recording of "Listen". During the dinner argument. Curtis had informed Deena that her voice "had no personality. No depth. Except for what (he) put in there." In response to those remarks, Deena delivers a forceful, emotional vocal performance beyond the level of anything she has sung before, underscoring the lyrics of the song, which express her desire to break free from Curtis and find her own personality and her own soul.
"Listen"
Listen,
To the song here in my heart
A melody I've start
But can't complete
Listen, to the sound from deep within
It's only beginning
To find release
Oh,
the time has come
for my dreams to be heard
They will not be pushed aside and turned
Into your own
all cause you won't
Listen....
[Chorus]
Listen,
I am alone at a crossroads
I'm not at home, in my own home
And I tried and tried
To say whats on my mind
You should have known
Oh,
Now I'm done believing you
You don't know what I'm feeling
I'm more than what, you made of me
I followed the voice
you gave to me
But now I gotta find, my own..
You should have listened
There is someone here inside
Someone I'd thought had died
So long ago
Oh I'm screaming out, for my dreams to be heard
They will not be pushed aside or worse
Into your own
All cause you won't
Listen...
[Chorus]
I don't know where I belong
But I'll be moving on
If you don't....
If you won't....
LISTEN!!!...
To the song here in my heart
A melody I've start
But I will complete
Oh,
Now I'm done believing you
You don't know what I'm feeling
I'm more than what, you made of me
I followed the voice, you think you gave to me
But now I gotta find, my own..
my ownn...
Latest page update: made by dbzfan_29
, Sep 4 2007, 1:00 AM EDT
(about this update
About This Update
Edited by dbzfan_29
view changes
- complete history)
Edited by dbzfan_29
view changes
- complete history)
Keyword tags:
None
More Info: links to this page