Remembering Adam Schlesinger: Five Songs that Demonstrated His Greatness
Noah Golden
On April 1, 2020, singer-songwriter Adam Schlesinger passed away from complications from COVID-19, the novel form of Coronavirus. He was 52. Although Schlesinger first gained notoriety as a member of the band Fountains of Wayne, his career largely took him away from pop music and into TV and movies. He wrote the title track for the Tom Hanks film “That Thing You Do” and contributed songs to “Josie and the Pussycats,” “Music & Lyrics” and “There’s Something About Mary.” He co-wrote the score to “Cry-Baby,” which played on Broadway in 2008. His latest stage work, an adaptation of comedian Sarah Silverman’s memoir, “The Bedwetter,” was set to premiere later this year. Schlesinger penned many memorable songs for the Tony Awards and the Emmy Awards, including “If I Had Time,” which itself won an Emmy for Outstanding Music And Lyrics. His TV credits also include “Sesame Street,” “The Colbert Report” and “Saturday Night Live.”
His biggest contribution was to television, however, as the principal songwriter and music producer for “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.” During the four seasons of Rachel Bloom’s musical dramedy, Schlesinger wrote or co-wrote over a hundred original songs that mined from every genre imaginable from rock to rap to ragtime. For his work on “Girlfriend” and beyond, Schlesinger was nominated for an Academy Award, Grammy, Golden Globe, and Tony Award. He won multiple Emmy Awards in 2012, 2013 and 2019.
I, along with everyone at OnStage Blog, send our deepest condolences to Adam Schlesinger’s family, his two children as well as his many friends and collaborators.
In his honor, here are five of Adam Schlesinger’s songs to remember him by.
“Stacy’s Mom”
Any ‘90s kid knows “Stacy’s Mom.” Even if you don’t think you know “Stacy’s Mom,” you do. And you probably know all the lyrics too. It was ubiquitous in 2003 and was an early hit for Schlesinger and his band, Fountains of Wayne. While FoW frontman Chris Collingwood sings lead on the track (Schlesinger plays bass and co-wrote) his stamp is all over the song and it’s an early showcase of his knack for crafting memorable melodies and tongue-in-cheek lyrics. It’s just a great piece of pop songwriting and an earworm that will stick with you for days. The original is posted below, but my favorite version might be Postmodern Jukebox’s jazzy take on the song, which always puts a smile on my face.
“That Thing You Do“
Schlesinger was nominated for an Oscar in 1996 for the title track on the “That Thing You Do” soundtrack. The film, written, directed and starring Tom Hanks, is a fun, nostalgic take on the rise to fame of a Beatles-esque 1960s pop group called The Wonders. To buy the movie, you have to believe “That Thing You Do” would be a number one hit in the days of “I Want To Hold Your Hand,” “I Get Around” and “Oh, Pretty Woman.” Schlesinger pulls it off. It’s a perfect pastiche that pays homage to the great ‘60s bands and would, no doubt, have been a hit back then. It’s just so much fun to listen to. You can also watch Schlesinger perform the song himself here.
“It's Not Just For Gays Anymore”
“Not Just For Gays,” written for the 2011 Tony Awards with David Javerbaum and sung by Neil Patrick Harris, is one of my favorite award show openers ever. It’s hilarious and memorable and bouncy in all the right ways. The lyrics to the patter section would do G&S (or Lin-Manuel) proud. Schlesinger’s music perfectly supports and amplifies the hysterical words with a jaunty melody and big chorus line finish.
“Screw Loose”
I haven’t seen “Cry-Baby,” the Tony-nominated musical Schlesinger co-wrote with Javerbaum (with a book by Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan) based on the John Waters film. While it, unfortunately, seemed to wither in “Hairspray’s” shadow and never even had a cast album, the song “Screw Loose” lives on in cabarets and concerts. And for good reason. This Patsy Cline homage is both very witty and somehow endearingly charming. It’s also a killer audition number.
“A Diagnosis/Anti-Depressants Are So Not A Big Deal”
How to pick a song from the mammoth “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” catalogue? I can’t. There’s too many. (If you’re interested, Vulture tried ranking them, an unenviable job). Should I pick the torch song, “You Stupid Bitch?” The Cole Porter-like, “Settle For Me?” The 80s-tastic, “Getting Bi?” The Billy Joel parody, “What’ll It Be?” The Jewish mother anthem, “Where’s The Bathroom?” I simply can’t. Schlesinger’s songs, often written with Rachel Bloom and Jack Dolgen, are all so whip-smart, funny, musically sound and hummable. Every one. Schlesinger was able to flawless move from genre to genre – a Disney princess song here, a “Gypsy” parody there – many of them direct tributes to songs from shows like “Rent,” “Mamma Mia,” “Les Miserable,” “The Music Man,” “Chicago” and “Jersey Boys”” For this, I picked a mashup of “A Diagnosis” and “Anti-Depressants Are So Not A Big Deal” from the live “Crazy Ex Girlfriend” concert that aired after the finale. First, I did this because “Anti-Depressants” nagged Schlesinger his last Emmy but also because these two songs summed up what he did best. They’re both style parody (“Anti-Depressants” is a “LaLa Land” homage while “A Diagnosis” is a nod to contemporary musical theater songs like “Waving Through A Window), that capture a genre without being a direct parody. They’re both are really great songs in their own right with quirky lyrics and inventive melodies.
They’re also both songs that use pop tropes to say something important. In his career, and especially on “Crazy,” Schlesinger used songs to tell stories that could make you laugh and cry at the same time. He tackled mental illness, self-esteem, love, sexuality, religion, lost and suicide. He could write a great song about anything.