She's Gotta Have It - Nola's Birthday

[kalimanblack]

Excellent Movie.... Excellent Song...... I love the DANCERS

[topmodel5k]

Just saw this film for the first time at the New Orleans Afrikan Film Festival. What WONDERFUL movie! I loved it :-)

[alex1vid]

Not a huge Spike Lee fan - but he's had some good movies. And he usually has outstanding soundtracks. This song was probably the best IMO. Beautifully done, a wonderful song. And the singer - Spike's father! :) It really is a magical song.

Gilles Peterson did a movie mix about two years ago that had this song on it as well. You can probably track down the songs, though it'll take some effort. This, Mo Betta Blues, School Daze... great soundtracks.

[danh5150]

I absolutely love that song.

As someone else previously stated, they need to re-release the soundtrack!

[westphillyamma]

they kill it from 2:50-3:25....favorite part.

[silkaem]

KNOW she fine!

[oliverh666]

Mr. Bill Lee was an amazing Jazz composer..Mmmm..Jazz..

[DreamsCumTrue469]

Aug 1986. I had just moved to NYC and went to see this fresh new film. I will never forget this scene...my first reaction was how much it reminded me of Jackie Paris' "Paris in Blue" with Charles Mingus. No coincidence the composer, Spike's Dad bassist Bill Lee, was a modern jazz contemporary of Mingus.

[Apsu72]

I love this part

[abstractpoetic65]

love this scene

[therealraybaby]

@abstractpoetic65 I do 2! Spike Lee was brilliant doing this like he did especially back in  those days, like back in 86' ,with the limited resources he had!

[monie86]

Nola looks like Kelly Rowland

[westphillyamma]

I watched this last night...bought the VHS from Amazon a month ago. Perfect. Watching it again tonight...She's gotta have it!

[deadgameful]

what is the name of this song?

[MykeGT]

"Nola (Vocals)"

[dbeefy]

Thanks for this! I'm nowhere near Brooklyn but a a filmmaker/fan from Wales, and I wore out both the VHS and old cassette tape of the soundtrack back in the 80s. Beautiful.

[oldskool0035]

My favorite part of the movie. Loved this song for years

[jkrush]

absolutely genius I got this on VHS the "R" rated version and remember when the "uncut" version was shown on Cinemax late night. thanks for sharing now I gotta watch it!

[Keezie27]

I love the soundtrack to this film. Wonderful.

[rarenature]

There is one part of the film where Jamie Overstreet was catching the train to Nola Darling's apartment. Instead of filming Jamie actually riding the train, Spike Lee used a series of blurred high contrast still frames of with jazz in the background. It was brilliant.

[MykeGT]

It was very brilliant indeed.

[termanology85]

just saw this film earlier tonight, its pretty good. And the sistah who played Nola Darling is beautiful fareal.

[trinnieROCKS]

I'm 18 years old, and this is absolutely my favorite movie of all time. I love its message. The soundtrack is beautiful, I searched high and low for it! Glad it was free...I put it on my iPod with the quickness! haha :) the Lee's are geniuses.

[westphillyamma]

The sdtrk is VERY expensive-VERY!!!

[sirjedward]

For Those Who Didn't Know, The Vocalist On This Beautiful Selection Is No Other Than ,The Late Great MR. RONNIE DYSON. His Last Recording Before His Passing......Great job Bill and Spike Lee!!

[B00tyfu77]

meowsefer is such a hater... No one is forcing you too watch it.. if you hate it so much.. dnt watch this

GREAT FILM...ONE OF MY FAVE

[MykeGT]

I second this.

[superchick76]

I agree this is a great film and was Spike Lee's fiirst film. I think meowsefer needs a hug...LMAO

[ZigZagWoman]

Does anyone know if there was ever a soundtrack/score for this movie? That's one thing I love about Spike, he always has BANGING music in his films!!

[MykeGT]

Yes there is

[LucreFam]

im guessin tht's not a bill evans trio song then =/

[meowsefer]

God damn this movie is pretentious. It's interesting because, Lee's character Mars is the only saving grace of the film, but at the same time Lee's actor directing ruins it all. Nola is a dumb character, and it's hard to find one likable thing about her. The acting is literally on par with Clerks. I'm glad Spike Lee has progressed.

[LakersDynasty42]

I don't find this movie to be pretentious at all. If you didn't like the acting then why did you bother watching this video? Obviously the characters had their flaws but they weren't unrealistic.

[meowsefer]

They were very unrealistic. And annoying. The movie was acted out by untalented film students who tried so hard to come off as powerful and developed characters that they lost any realistic or natural qualities that Lee might have wanted for them. I understand what he was going for by creating juxtaposing characters but it really didn't work. The actors were far too bad.

[MykeGT]

Maybe the acting wasn't all that good, but this movie, in my humble opinion spoke volumes about relationship problems. I once dated a woman who had Nola's hang-ups and you can just imagine that didn't last long.

[valambiguous]

So romantic. Beautiful choreography! Thank you passjay for this share:D Great post to the host!

[sagasaga76]

this was good

[KingGerard21]

Y cant anyone of our youtube community upload this film. can anyone answer please.

[rkjazzfan]

PS, the song was originally an instrumental called "Ye Little Ol Folks Chillin Concert Waltz". Spike liked the melody so it was included in the movie with the new title.

[rkjazzfan]

I'm forunate enough to have the soundtrack on LP. The name of the song is "Nola-Vocals". There were 2 other versions of the song on the album, both instrumentals. The song and all of the music was composed by Spike's father, Bill Lee, who was a Jazz bassist and composer. The singer is Ronnie Dyson.

[darlingdannie]

Awesome, I love this part of the movie!

[TheAremo]

As a young Black Man it was the 1st Film I saw with a whole black cast with a storyline not being about being Black but about issues any race or country's men and women could relate to. It was simply showing black people as we are normal but to a wider audience. Previous any film about black people was about being Black. For me Spike Lee has not surpassed his this film.

[deckard97]

The black and white Photography actually keeps the film from looking too 1985/1986.

[SirNextLevel]

Agreed. Beautiful, soulful movie.

[blastmasterbiz]

Love this movie, my favorite! I was 12 when I first saw it, I fell in love with Nola. This song is so beautiful!

[Lilmusicman13]

what's the name of the song and artist?

[SonOfByfordBroOfAL]

too bad the rest of the movie is in black and white because spike couldn't afford color

[thecollector89]

Thank You!!!!!!!!!! Great music. I know I've seen that cassette somewhere....

[marszthevillain]

THEY NEED TO RE-RELEASE THIS SOUNDTRACK ON CD AND ON iTunes!!! IT'S NOWHERE TO BE FOUND!!!

[d1thundergod]

true.

[kindell1]

Can you post the movie?

[simontreves]

I have the soundtrack somewhere - on cassette - very short, I remember, but v beautiful. Composed by Bill Lee, who is/was Spike's father (I think).

[MykeGT]

That soundtrack is extremely difficult to find and if you do find it, expect to pay an arm and a leg for it.

[ccjrm]

I agree...but I found it for 10 bucks ;-)

[MykeGT]

From where???? wanna make a deal for a copy???

[d1thundergod]

ibid.

[Gunnarsas]

I bought it on Vinyl - unused a few years ago. I play it alot. I am so not going to sell it.

[AchaunteDyon]

omg, i think you're right about her being in new jack city!!!!

[RafiqaS]

That's her she went M.I.A. after that haven't seen her in anything else

[L92185]

thats bro... spike lee is the best whatever happened to her fine self i dont see her in any more movies!!

[guru713]

Sha was the girl in red lingerie in New Jack City that was dancing with G-money

[L92185]

is there a website i can watch this on

[MykeGT]

I doubt it. Wal-Mart has it for $9, a good buy in my opinion.

[L92185]

i wish this be put on tv

[MykeGT]

It was aired nearly two years ago, but you know it was edited for television.

[Newbaby76]

You can see it uncut on IFC

[mascarasnake21]

The mediocre acting in this movie was completely overshadowed by how great the directing and soundtrack were.

What's the name of this song? I'm trying to see if there's any sheet music available for it (or if there's any way I can get in contact with Bill Lee to get a transcript)

[MykeGT]

IT's called "Nola (Vocals)" and the original movie soundtrack costs about an arm and a leg

[jazzquartetman]

great movie...i was three years into my college career when this came out, and back THEN black folks in college, when we wanted to be grown, got into jazz/jazz fusion. this and independent filmakers like spike lee gave us an air of sophistication and 'hipness'. LOL.

spike had a winner with this film and this scene.

ronnie dyson's voice on this song is SOLID.  a shame he didnt get the acclaim and record sales that lesser folks did.

[midsummergirl]

Thanks for posting this clip. I love this film. Spike Lee is brilliant as Mars - repeating quite a few of his sentences. The soundtrack is good too.

[jazzybee1]

This was a very good movie. I like the fact that it was in black and white made it more dramatic. I remember reading somewhere where they had a limited budget to film with and he saved the soda cans during lunch breaks and turned them in for cash. This was the vehicle that made Spike Lee what he is today.

I like this movie because it proves that women can string people along just like men have been known to do for years. Classic.

[SaudaFeyikemi]

Im glad this came out on dvd I looked for it for a long time still I enjoy this movie

[dscorp45]

I love this movie too. Wish we could here from Tracy Camilla Johns. Sadly she didn't stay in acting. She was sexy indeed.

[o0xst]

Always liked this scene!

[khoury1600]

This movie literally changed my life. I was 16yrs old, read a review in an independent newspaper, it sounding "interesting" so a friend and i went. all i knew is that it had a "sexual" plot i had no idea movie was in black & white, knew nothing about Spike Lee, nor did i know it was an african american cast...along with Public Enemy this movie opened my eyes. i've been a Spike Lee fan ever since.

[Jquuest]

Thank god this finally came out on dvd.

[affectivity]

I just saw it again on cable. I always remembered how much I loved the dance sequence, and the song that was playing, even though after 22 years, I had forgotten the melody :)

Thanks!

[monilu2k]

ooh my god... i love this clip.. thank you MykeGT

[MykeGT]

You're quite welcome!

[affectivity]

MykeGT, do you know who the dancers are? They're so good - they have those beautiful dancers' bodies, all long lines. Just lovely.

In any event, thanks for posting this sequence :)

[JazKrimes]

The male dancer is my uncle Aaron Dugger from Brooklyn. He was part of the Alvin Ailey dance company. He died of AIDS in 1990, I believe, I was only 6 at the time.

[ChadMedellin]

Guess he was a fag,huh?

[dramaticjazz]

This is my favorite dance piece of all time. So beautiful!

[kindell1]

please post the whole movie

[dreaded06]

Who's better than Spike when he is playing the artist? This, to date, is my favorite of his movies.

Can anyone confirm or deny that Joe Williams is doing the lyrics on the song?

[Newbaby76]

I want to see the full movie. It came out the year I was born.

[MicJones]

I absolutely adore this film. Easily one of my Top 5 favs of all-time. I've waited for three long years for it to be released to DVD. I just had a pause-play viewing of this with a good friend about a month ago. Beautiful scene. Check out Jose James rendition of this song ("Nola"). Find it on Imeem or other such sites.

[Newbaby76]

I listened to it and liked it.

[Robmorgan144]

I Love this movie. It give you a good feeling.

This was Spike's first college film at Morehouse

[thatkoolkatal]

not quite rob. From what I understand he didn't start making films until he was at NYU, and his thesis was Joe's Barbershop, we cut heads.

[Taajj23]

The love was overflowing for tracy camilla johns...

[mcroff3904]

could u perhaps post the whole movie?

[yeluac]

Beautiful. This movie blew my mind when I was a kid.

[toldpain]

Damn this movie and scene was sweet 1986 university jazz and meeting my wife -Respect to Spike and all the gang lets keep keeping on.Ike A