You Light Up My Courtroom

I can, honestly, say I never, ever, liked this song.

It goes way beyond mere schmaltziness ...

Actually, schmaltz would be tolerable, preferable, a giant leap of mankind, over this drivel.

And, I won't burden, or inflict you with, what would only be pure evil, as to posting a YouTube of it (just check out some of those who recorded it - Lee Greenwood, Robert Goulet, Perry Como, Steve Lawrence - and you can see why just some plain, ol' schmaltz would be just fine).

About the only thing that could make this worse, is if John Denver sung this song (for others, it might be Billy Joel)

We speak, of course, about "You Light Up My Life", or, more specifically, the songs' mickey-slipping-rapist writer, Joseph Brooks.



Oscar-Winning Songwriter Is Charged in Sex Assaults

A 71-year-old Oscar-winning songwriter and director was arrested and charged on Tuesday with raping and sexually assaulting 11 women he lured from the Pacific Northwest to his East Side Manhattan apartment from 2005 to 2008 using Craigslist and a talent Web site, the Manhattan district attorney announced.

The songwriter, Joseph Brooks, whose hit, “You Light Up My Life,” won the Academy Award in 1978, surrendered early Tuesday and appeared later in State Supreme Court on a 91-count indictment.

[snip]

He said that Mr. Brooks was charged with using Craigslist to advertise for aspiring actresses in the Seattle and Portland areas, paying for their air fares to New York. Once they got to his apartment at 130 East 63rd Street, Mr. Morgenthau said, “they were forced to drink a large glass of wine” and assaulted. The wine may have been drugged, he said.

Two of them later complained to rape counselors. The others were tracked down after investigators seized Mr. Brooks’s computer, the district attorney said.

Jumpin' Jesus! ... 91 counts!

More like "You Light Up The Monster In Me!"

If they can't make any of the charges stick, just play the song to the jury ...

Bonus Links

Daily Mail: Oscar-winning composer, 71, 'raped 11 women using Craigslist to lure victims with promise of film role'

Steve Huff: Joseph Brooks: Accused of Rape, Guilty of Really, Really Bad 70s Cinema