Singing seniors, stayin' alive

MOVIES | Elderly chorus rocks on in new documentary

The music of the Greatest Generation is characterized by evocative lyricists such as Ira Gerswhin, Jerome Kern and Cole Porter. The depth of their clarity stays with you.

Rhythmic wordplay had yet to be explored. The Allen Toussaint R&B classic "Yes We Can, Can," popularized in 1973 by the Pointer Sisters, goes something like this: "Oh yes, we can, I know we can can. Yes we can can. Why can't we, if we wanna get yes we can...."

The Young @ Heart Chorus began in 1982 in an elderly housing project in Northampton, Mass. No one in the 24-voice chorus is under 72. Choral Director Bob Cilman came up with the idea of having his elder singers cover songs by the Clash, Coldplay, Prince and others. This was around the same time the Duplex Planet magazine was born out of a nursing home in Boston. And no, Young @ Heart cannot get their voices around "Yes We Can, Can." The word "can" appears in that song no less than 71 times.

The choral group's honest approach to enunciation and words fuels the new film "Young @ Heart," opening Friday. It's the most stirring documentary I've seen since "Hoop Dreams." It met with critical acclaim at Sundance and at the South by Southwest music conference.

British filmmakers Sally George and Stephen Walker spent seven weeks following Cilman and the chorus as they learn Bob Dylan's "Forever Young" and bring new life to the Ramones' "I Wanna Be Sedated." They struggle with James Brown's "I Feel Good" and "Schizophrenia" by Sonic Youth (also from Northampton). The Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive"? The full-length Young @ Heart version has more than 25,000 hits on YouTube.

"When you come to the music from these guys you really hear the lyrics," Cilman said during a Chicago stopover with director Walker and choral member Dora Morrow, 85. "That's the tradition they bring. They are interested in what the songs are about. When I was a kid playing in rock bands [like the Self-Righteous Brothers], I mumbled the words. I was more interested in melody, rhythm and energy -- all those things that make up rock. These guys look for the poetry in music."

For Young @ Heart, the turn of a phrase is a turn in life's page. It'll be difficult for me to hear Coldplay's "Fix It" in any other texture after seeing Young @ Heart member Fred Knittle soldier on after his duet partner died during the making of the documentary. Singing while suffering from congestive heart failure, you can hear Knittle's breathing machine keep a measured beat to the ballad.

Bu don't overlook the Young @ Heart band, led by drummer Billy Arnold of South Bend, Ind. He began his career with Junior Walker and the All Stars in the mid-1960s, and Morrow is his mother-in-law. The Young @ Heart Chorus has collaborated with the Pioneer Valley Gay Men's Chorus and David Byrne, who incuded Young @ Heart in his list of "Best Music of 2007."

Walker, 46, taps into the group's strong commitment. Old people get lonely. The Young @ Heart rehearsal time creates an essential sense of place. The chorus sings with a collective purpose. "The power is that they have to make this art," Cilman explained. "There's a lot of frustration and tension in that. It's not just a good time. They love the challenge and they take it seriously."

Throughout the 107-minute documentary, Morrow and her singing partner have trouble with "I Feel Good." Morrow joined the group six years ago on the recommendation of her son-in-law. "I wondered how they would get us to sing rock 'n' roll," said Morrow, who has 15 children. "Some in the group used to sing with swing bands. I sang spiritual music. I liked James Brown but I never thought I would be singing his songs. I told Bob I couldn't do it. He said, 'Yes you can.' "

Walker and George saw Young @ Heart in London in 2005. War bride Eileen Hall was scorching the lead on the Clash's "Should I Stay or Should I Go?" The predominantly young audience responded by shouting out "STAY!"

"I was moved," Walker recalled. "She was 93 years old, came up to the microphone and screamed [as she does at the beginning of the documentary]. It was obvious she was singing about life and death. I thought we could do a movie about old age that you've never seen before -- through rock music."

Cilman, 53, and his non-profit group were not interested in a traditional documentary approach. "We had one done on us that we didn't like that much and another one we did like on Belgian TV but it wasn't about the music," he said. "I wanted it to be about how we take music from the beginning and get it somewhere."

Walker's music videos of "Stayin' Alive," "I Wanna Be Sedated," Talking Heads' "Road to Nowhere" and others serve as breezy connective threads. "I loved movies like 'Moulin Rouge,'" he said, "and the [English 1990s] Dennis Potter 'Singing Detective,' where you move from reality. Those inspirations are what we tried to do with the music videos." Walker then wrapped his narrative around the Young @ Heart visits to a local high school and medium security Hampshire County Jail, culminating in a concert appearance at the sold-out 800-seat Academy of Music Theatre in Northampton.

At the prison, Young@Heart delivers a version of Bob Dylan's "Forever Young" only hours after learning that passionate member Bob Salvini has died. "Just to witness the transformation of the prisoners thinking, 'What the hell is going on?' into people who melt was extraordinary," Walker said. "When you look at it on the screen it seems so simple to stick a song in and get a reaction. But it took a long time to distill the essence of a concert that lasted over an hour into one and a half songs that gives you that moment. And how you build up to it from Bob's death.

"For me, one of the most powerful shots in the film is just before they perform in the jail. I shot a 93-year-old face in the harsh neon light of the prison. It was a face of a million wrinkles, the wisdom of the ages. And I held that shot for a long time."

Just as you will hold this film close to your heart.