My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion is one of the most iconic songs in pop culture history. It is about continuing to love someone even after they die and proves that love is stronger than death.
The record was the second-best-selling single by a woman in music history and became one of the best-selling singles of all time.
No doubt, the movie (Titanic) has a lot to do with its popularity, but the song itself is enough to describe its worth. The shocking fact is that the song almost wasn’t in the film because of some internal reasons.
Celine Dion Initially Didn’t Want to Record My Heart Will Go On
The singer of My Heart Will Go On confesses on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen that she first hated the song and did not want to record it. She said:
“It didn’t appeal to me. I was probably very tired that day. I don’t know, very tired.”
According to Billboard’s oral history of the song, Dion revealed:
“I was mad! I don’t feel good. I had belly pains. My girly days are starting to happen.”
So, how did she get ready to sing the song? The credit goes to her husband and manager (at that time), René Angélil, who arranged for her to record a demo, which was completed in one take. The song was so good that it left the entire room in tears.
James Cameron Thought It Would Be Inappropriate to Add the Song at the End of the Tragic Drama
When everything got sorted from Dion’s side, another important person behind Titanic did not want the song to be in his film. The person was writer and director James Cameron.
He was completely against the idea and feared the song would be too commercialized. Billboard reported him saying:
“My movie is big enough, I don’t need something bigger, I don’t need any singer.”
The director felt that it would be wrong to keep the song at the end of the movie because it was a tragic historical drama. He compared the movie to Steven Spielberg’s movie and asked:
“Would you put a song at the end of ‘Schindler’s List’?”
On the other hand, he was also facing pressure from the studio to find another marketing tool. So, only Celine Dion could solve this problem by boosting soundtrack sales and uplifting the movie’s overall performance.
Later, Cameron was moved by Dion’s performance and greenlit the song for Titanic. The song’s Co-producer Simon Franglen said:
“He (Cameron) felt like it gave a resonance to the rest of the movie.”
No doubt, there’s something about the song that touches everyone.
Source: Billboard
