27th August, 2024 in Biography & Memoir, Entertainment, Women in History

The music behind ‘Where Madness Lies’

By Lyndsy Spence

Author of Where Madness Lies Lyndsy Spence, has provided the soundtrack to the fascinating, but also tragic, life of film star Vivien Leigh. The complete playlist is available on Spotify below. Happy listening…

Track 1: Il cielo in una stanza by Mina

The dreamy orchestration evokes Vivien’s first glimpse of Ceylon in 1953, where she would film Elephant Walk. During that time, she also had an affair with Peter Finch. It also made me think of Vivien’s earlier trip to Capri in 1936, when driven by lust, she embarked on the island to surprise her lover, Laurence Olivier, who was holidaying with his wife, Jill Esmond. The beauty of those 2 island paradises, with the tropical flowers, crystallised waters, and exotic scents was intoxicating for Vivien, but her actions were far from dazzling. The contrast reminded me of this song, which, despite sounding romantic (as Italian lyrics always do!) is actually about a brothel.

Track 2: Loco Amor by Pedrito Martinez

The passionate chants of ‘Loco Amor’ (Spanish for ‘crazy love’) bring to mind the long days and nights Vivien spent with Peter in Ceylon, as well as her time with Larry. During the early days of each affair, she was swept up in the intensity of her feelings and only had tunnel vision for the man (or men) she loved. I purposely chose classic songs in Italian, Spanish and French to represent Vivien’s worldliness but also to keep the listener lost in translation, symbolising the secret world in which Vivien and Larry (more so than Peter) existed during those hedonistic days of clandestine meetings in nondescript places and stolen moments on the film set.

Track 3: Good Luck, Babe by Chappell Roan

‘Stop the world to stop the feeling’ summarises the desperation Vivien felt in 1953, when she knew something was a miss, but she was at a loss to understand it. This perfectly sums up the heightened feelings of falling for Peter and the damage it caused, and the tragic aftermath when her mental health collapsed and she was hospitalised for several weeks. Vivien would often wish the world could stop many times throughout her life. It also suggests the loss of Vivien’s support from Larry, as he moved on and had affairs with younger women. Powerless was how Vivien felt, but she also knew nobody could match the intensity of her love.

Track 4: Wake Up Alone by Amy Winehouse

The consequence of Vivien’s illness meant that she drove people away and those she loved bore the brunt of the violence which often came with a manic depressive episode. This song reflects the loneliness of being mentally ill and misunderstood, and the longing she felt to put things right. Sadly, her relationships were fractured beyond repair and the men in her life eventually left her.

Track 5: Young and Beautiful by Lana del Rey

After Vivien awoke from her coma at the hospital, following her mental breakdown, Larry did not recognise her. The woman he loved was a stranger to him and he was afraid. In his memoirs, he wrote, ‘I loved her that much less.’ Having weathered several storms throughout their affair and, then, marriage, the lack of familiarity startled him and he realised it was the beginning of the end. Vivien must have realised it too, but her obsession for Larry would keep her bound to him, at whatever cost to her sanity. The idyllic image he held of her was shattered forever and she was always trying to go back to a happier time, but failed in her mission.

Track 6: Eternal Source of Light Divine by G.F. Handel

The pomp and splendour perfectly sum up the Oliviers when they are at their greatest: on the world’s stage and adored by their legions of fans. Onstage, they were invincible – the King and Queen of the theatre, and the audience forming their court of devoted subjects.

Track 7: You Belong To Me by Patsy Cline

The sentimentality of Vivien and Larry’s marriage, as well as the 1940s and early 50s, when they were the golden couple and seemingly untouchable, are conveyed in the lyrics. It’s all about the past, where Vivien remained stuck for much of the 50s and 60s. She longed for Larry, after he left her, and held onto the happier memories, even if much of it was a figment of her imagination. This much was true, when, in 1962, Vivien went on a lengthy tour of Australasia, retracing the steps she took with Larry in 1948, but, to her sadness, everything had changed. She looked for him everywhere and spoke of him in interviews, as if he was lingering in the next room.

Track 8: Cherry by Lana del Rey

The toxicity of Vivien’s affair with Peter and her failing marriage to Larry was a running conflict throughout her life in the 1950s. In 1955, Vivien and Larry did a season at Stratford but as soon as Peter entered the scene, she discarded Larry for her lover. ‘I fall to pieces when I’m with you’ could have easily translated to Vivien’s question, when she asked her husband and lover, ‘Which one of you is coming to bed with me?’

Track 9: tolerate it by Taylor Swift

Several parts of this song are reflective of Vivien and the men in her life, not only Peter and Larry, but her first husband Leigh Holman, whose love she only ever tolerated. Likewise, Vivien felt neglected by Leigh during their brief marriage and failed to connect on a romantic level with him and his love for her grew after she abandoned him for Larry. And, as Vivien’s marriage to Larry was coming to an end, she often felt he tolerated her and it broke her heart and shattered her confidence.

Track 10: I’d Rather Go Blind by Etta James

In 1960, Vivien attended the divorce hearing alone and wept openly as her marriage to Larry was dissolved. She was distraught, as she always hoped he would call the divorce off. Likewise, when she discovered, from the paparazzi, that he had married Joan Plowright, she was shocked but hid it for the sake of keeping up appearances – those feelings of sadness and regret were also apparent when Larry had children with his new wife. The song reminds me of Vivien’s remark: ‘I’d rather live a short life with Larry than a long life without him.’

Track 11: Please, Please, Please, Let me Get What I Want by She and Him

In middle age, Vivien was desperately trying to navigate her personal life and the lull in her career. She was also beginning a new relationship with Jack Merivale and trying to repair her bond with her only child from her first marriage, whom she abandoned for Larry. I think she was trying to repair her karma and her self-worth by doing good deeds. But her mental illness would cast a dark shadow over her plans and derail her progress. Nevertheless, it was a battle she continued to fight.

Track 12: Je ne sais plus by Dalida

In English, the song is ‘You Don’t Own Me’. Despite the challenges Vivien faced, it was important, as her biographer, to restore her sense of power. She’s an empowering woman who lived by her own set of rules, for better or worse, and was governed by her soul’s journey, instead of society’s rules. She was open about her illness and she was authentic in her passion for living.

Track 13: All Too Well (Ten Minute Version) by Taylor Swift

The greatest battles in Vivien’s life were her mental illness and her (finally) agreeing to give Larry a divorce so he could remarry. She romanticised their life together and carried a torch for him always, seemingly forgetting the horrific times they shared and the infidelity on both sides. Unfortunately, for Vivien, Larry moved on and started a family with his new wife. In Vivien’s dream world, she and Larry would remain friends and be in each other’s lives, but he kept her at arm’s length. To her, their marriage, even when it was over, was sacred. I feel, she was always hoping Larry would romanticise her, as she did him – she remembered it ‘all too well’.