Melissa Manchester & Al Jarreau: The Music of Goodbye

"The Music by Goodbye" is an amazinhly beautiful song by composer John Barry made for the epic romance film "Out of Africa", which had a soundtrack clip with scenes from the picture starring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford along with the duet performed by Melissa Manchester and Al Jarreau yet the song does not play in the film at all. And that's the tragedy. Technically, the song is there in an instrumental motif by Barry but all that viewers remember from his score is the majestic "I Had a Farm in Africa", which is one the most memorable film scores of all time. Had the song being featured in the movie I think it could have beaten "Say You, Say Me" from "White Nights" at the Oscars - but director Sydney Pollack probably thought that an 1980's style song wouldn't fit a costume period drama.

Manchester and Jarreau perform the song on separate sets that seems to recreate the environment from the Streep and Redford characters; she's all dressed up as a society's lady inside her room while he stays isolated in some cave like the hunter character played by Redford. When they're absent off screen, there are countless sequences of the film's main couple sharing romantic moments. The typical soundtrack video from the period which serves to sell the soundtrack album and invite viewers to see the movie (but they'll be disappointed because the song's not there at all). Nevermind the issue, the song is very inspired, classy and beautiful to listen to it, words and melody, and that's why it gets a strong and special note from me. 9/10.