If you don’t remember the 1981 film Chariots of Fire (based on the true story of two British athletes competing in the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris) then you at least remember the theme song.
Written by Greek composer Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou — who goes by the artist name Vangelis and who also wrote the score for the movie Blade Runner – the theme song for Chariots of Fire held on to the number-one slot on the Billboard Hot 100 for a week in May 1982, and to date remains the only song by a Greek artist to top the U.S. Charts.
Chariots of Fire is often used for slow-motion sequences and parodies of the sports genre. According to its Wikipedia entry, the song was used in the soundtrack of National Lampoon’s Vacation and Mr. Mom (both 1983 and both written by John Hughes), Happy Gilmore (1996), Good Burger (1997), Bruce Almighty (2003), and Madagascar (2005, also included in the soundtrack album), in all cases in parodic slow-motion sequences.
Just about wherever it is played, Chariots of Fire is recognized as the sound of inspiration. And now, finally, someone has put together a video featuring chickens running and jumping in slow motion to the inspirational rythyms of the song.
Now go do some laps around the office.
