I am always interested in the back stories of songs, movies, people’s careers, and well, anything that may have a back story, and I thought my readers would be interested in the back story of Swing Time III: Blame it on the Boogie.

I always wanted to write the sequel to the movie, Saturday Night Fever, or I should say the good sequel. Stayin’ Alive was terrible and if you’re sitting there saying to yourself, “What’s Stayin’ Alive?” my point is demonstrated: Few people remember that WAS the sequel to its famous predecessor. I wanted to jump ahead 30 or 40 years to examine what might have become of Tony Manero and his buddies. I could have told that story, but Robert Stigwood didn’t ask me to and since he owns the rights to those characters, I abandoned that idea.

The notion of writing a Saturday Night Fever sequel has been floating around in my head for some time and after creating the Swing Time series, I had a natural vehicle to write, not about the movie characters, but about the people who would have attended that movie and been mesmerized by it. Did they still feel the beat? And if they did, how did it affect them? I didn’t care what they did, I cared about what they felt.

Still, something has to happen or the characters’—and the readers’—feelings would never get provoked otherwise. I needed a plot for Swing Time III: Blame it on the Boogie and I relied on the guidance of Woody Allen who said, “If you’re going to steal, steal from the very best,” which brings me to Thornton Wilder’s play Our Town, one of the greatest works of literature. Ever. In it, the main character Emily dies at a young age, but her spirit is shown all the little things in life that she failed to appreciate and thus, she—and we—learn a valuable lesson.

What if my main character whom I named “Emily Wilder” (see what I did there?) failed to learn the key part of the lesson learned in Our Town? Moments must be appreciated, not because they are wonderful or beautiful or fun, but because they will pass no matter how tightly you try to hold on to them.

As for the songs that I referenced in the story, I tried to use them at points when the title or the lyrics highlighted a character’s feelings at any given moment. After all, it would be really cool if we could go through life with a sound track so that everyone would know what we were all about at that moment. Kind of like Tony Manero when he carries that paint can down the street during the opening of Saturday Night Fever. The paint can shows that he’s just a schlub working in a hardware store, but the attitude lets us know that he’s the King of the Disco. And he is, but Kings of such Realms can never reign for long. Could he make the transition and become King of the Hardware Store? District Manager for Home Depot? Could he relinquish his throne, as sooner or later he must? What happens when you refuse and held onto that throne—or your youth—so tightly that your hands are cramped, making it impossible to let go without some help? Ask Emily Wilder.

Her story, Swing Time III: Blame it on the Boogie is available through Amazon in both Kindle and paperback formats. (Click on the link to order.) Songs mentioned in the former are linked to YouTube videos so you’ll hear Emily’s soundtrack. Here’s one of those songs, whose existence I had forgotten all about, but as soon as I hit play, the memories came alive. Hope you enjoy Emily’s story.