Maniac (Michael Sembello song)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"Maniac" is a pop song performed by Michael Sembello.
Song information
The song was used in the 1983 film Flashdance and was inspired by the 1980 horror film Maniac. The film Maniac was about a serial killer who stalks his victims in New York City. The song's performer and co-writer Michael Sembello recalls that an early version of the chorus was:
- He's a maniac, maniac that's for sure,
- He will kill your cat and nail him to the door.
At the suggestion of the record's producer Phil Ramone, the lyrics were rewritten to describe a girl with a passion for dancing. The lyrics became:
- She's a maniac, maniac on the floor
- And she's dancing like she's never danced before.
"Maniac" appears during an early scene in Flashdance and is used as the backing track of a montage sequence showing Alex (Jennifer Beals) training strenuously in her converted warehouse.
The song was included in Flashdance after Sembello's wife sent a tape to executives at Paramount Pictures who were looking for music to use in the film.
