Music played a critical role in Harold & Maude<\/em> throughout its development. In the earliest drafts of the script, writer Colin Higgins had included music cues for Chopin piano concertos and early 20th<\/sup> century folk music. Paramount executive Mildred Lewis bought the screenplay and put it into production with director Hal Ashby at the helm. Ashby was a fan of British rock bands like the Rolling Stones, which meant that Higgins\u2019 more genteel musical choices would be replaced with something that better reflected the rebellious tone of the film. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The success of The Graduate<\/em> had led to the release of several small-scale, character-driven films that pointedly used music by distinctive singer\/songwriters to comment on the story without directly engaging with the characters. In keeping with this trend, Ashby and producer Charles Mulvehill reached out to Elton John about writing some original songs and appearing in the film as Harold. When Ashby decided John was \u201ctoo English\u201d to play Harold, he cast up-and-coming actor Bud Cort in the role and gave the song-score duties to one of Elton John\u2019s peers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI was turned on to Cat Stevens before I ever started shooting, and I started to listen to a lot of his music,\u201d Ashby is quoted as saying in the liner notes to the 2006 Harold & Maude<\/em> soundtrack. \u201cWhat I always used to tell the guys\u2026 anything that was sent down that was silent, just grab a track\u2014any track of Cat\u2019s\u2014get all of his albums transferred and grab anything and put with it. So if I\u2019m watching dailies and it\u2019s three or four minutes silent, at least it will be with music, it\u2019ll bring it to life and it\u2019ll be a turn on, I\u2019ll just get ideas from it.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n At his best, Stevens put aching, vulnerable lyrics to jaunty melodies, and the surprising, detailed arrangements and straightforward production of his early 1970s albums had a disarmingly poignant effect on listeners. Stevens\u2019 music gives the episodic structure of the opening scenes a sense of consistency, and his open-hearted lyrical perspective contrasts compellingly with the broad satire and unnerving visuals in those scenes. Harold doesn\u2019t have a lot of substantial dialogue; the use of \u201cOn the Road to Find Out\u201dunder a scene where Harold buys his first hearse and drives it home mirrors what we know of his mindset and where he is in his life. (Ashby and editors William A. Sawyer and Edward Warschilka wisely faded the song before the fire and brimstone imagery of the last verse.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n For Stevens\u2019 part, Harold & Maude<\/em> gave him the opportunity to complete some of his unfinished songs and give them a home. \u201c(\u2018If You Want to Sing Out\u2019) wasn\u2019t quite good enough, I thought, to go on one of the albums,\u201d Stevens said in the liner notes to the 2006 soundtrack release. \u201cWhen Hal needed something, I said I can do this.\u201d While he characterized the lyrics as \u201cflippant\u201d, the song worked well in the context of the film<\/a>. We first hear Maude (Ruth Gordon) play the song after telling Harold about her youthful experiences at \u201cpicket lines and rallies,\u201d and the studio version of the song is reprised over a scene where Harold gets a glimpse of a concentration camp tattoo on her forearm. Knowing that Maude has been arrested\u2014and worse\u2014for her protests makes the simple lyrics seem unbearably poignant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In the winter of 1971, Paramount launched a no-frills marketing plan for Harold & Maude<\/em>. The studio didn\u2019t know how to sell a macabre, anti-establishment romantic comedy to a mass audience, and after the film received a scathing review in Variety<\/em>, the studio more or less abandoned the film. Thanks to enthusiastic theater owners in college towns, Harold & Maude<\/em> became a cult hit with college students and other young people, and it had a long second life as a midnight movie. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Harold & Maude<\/em> was still screening at revival houses when Cat Stevens changed his name to Yusuf Islam and converted to Islam. He retired from the music business in 1980 and mostly stayed out of the public eye in the following years. The film he scored in the previous decade frequently appeared on pay cable schedules, keeping his legend alive when he wasn\u2019t recording music for secular audiences. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Islam became a lightning rod for controversy at the tail end of the 1980s by publicly supporting the fatwa against Salman Rushdie for Rushdie\u2019s depiction of Muhammad in his book The Satanic Verses<\/em>. While the singer would later claim he was \u201cinnocently drawn into the whole controversy<\/a>\u201d, his words played a role in Rushdie\u2019s decision to go into hiding. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Though radio stations pulled Islam\u2019s music from their playlist and destroyed his albums, Harold & Maude<\/em> remained a staple on TV schedules and midnight screenings. The film has remained popular with filmmakers and general audiences alike because it speaks to a need to be understood and accepted. Islam\u2019s later statements contradicted his work on Harold & Maude<\/em>, but the film\u2019s message was powerful enough to reach later generations and inspire them to \u201csing out\u201d. “Harold and Maude” was just re-issued on Blu-ray<\/a> from the “Paramount Plus” line. It is also streaming on Kanopy<\/a> and available<\/a> for digital rental or purchase.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/harold2-1024x752.jpg\")
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