Ordinary People (song)

"Ordinary People" is a song by American recording artist John Legend. It was written and produced by Legend and will.i.am for his debut album Get Lifted (2004). It was released as the album's second single and later certified gold by the RIAA. Critics were positive towards the song, praising it for its raw emotion and simplicity. "Ordinary People" won the Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance.

The video for "Ordinary People" features Legend playing a grand piano in an all-white space, while couples and families fight and reconcile around and in front of the piano. For the final minute of the video, Legend is joined by a string section and (audibly) a harmonica. Legend walks to and from the piano with a glass of water, as a short bookending to the video proper.

Composition

Ordinary People

Ordinary People is a 1980 American drama film that marked the directorial debut of actor Robert Redford. It stars Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, Judd Hirsch and Timothy Hutton.

The story concerns the disintegration of an upper-middle class family in Lake Forest, Illinois, following the death of one of their sons in a boating accident. The screenplay by Alvin Sargent was based upon the 1976 novel Ordinary People by Judith Guest.

The film received six Academy Award nominations and won four: the Academy Award for Best Picture, the Best Director for Redford, the Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay) for Sargent, and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Hutton. In addition, it won five Golden Globes: Best Motion Picture – Drama, Golden Globe Award for Best Director (Redford), Best Actress in a Drama (Tyler Moore), Best Supporting Actor (Hutton), and Best Screenplay (Sargent).

Plot

The Jarretts are an upper-middle-class family in suburban Chicago trying to return to normal life after the death of one teenage son and the attempted suicide of their surviving son, Conrad (Timothy Hutton). Conrad has recently returned home from a four-month stay in a psychiatric hospital. He feels alienated from his friends and family and begins seeing a psychiatrist, Dr. Berger (Judd Hirsch). Berger learns that Conrad was involved in a sailing accident in which his older brother, Buck, whom everyone idolized, died. Conrad now deals with post-traumatic stress disorder and survivor's guilt.

Ordinary People (novel)

Ordinary People is Judith Guest's first novel. Published in 1976, it tells the story of a year in the life of the Jarretts, an affluent suburban family trying to cope with the aftermath of two traumatic events.

Although it won critical praise and awards upon its release, it is best remembered today as the basis for the 1980 film version, which won four Academy Awards including Best Picture. It is also assigned in many American secondary school English classes.

Title

Plot summary

The novel begins as life is seemingly returning to normal for the Jarretts of Lake Forest, Illinois, in September 1975. It is slightly more than a year since their elder son "Buck" was killed when a sudden storm came up while he and their other son Conrad were sailing on Lake Michigan. Six months later, a severely depressed Conrad attempted suicide by slashing his wrists with a razor in the bathroom. His parents committed him to a psychiatric hospital from which he has only recently returned after four months of treatment. He is attending school and trying to resume his life, but knows he still has unresolved issues, particularly with his mother, Beth, who has never really recovered from Buck's death and keeps an almost maniacally perfect household and family.

Ordinary People (Clay Walker song)

"Ordinary People is a song written by Ed Hill and Craig Wiseman, and recorded by American country music singer Clay Walker. It was released in May 1998 as the first single from his Greatest Hits album.

The song is Walker's sixteenth single release, as well as his sixteenth Top forty hit on the Billboard country singles charts. However, it was his lowest charting single at the time of its release as well as his first single to miss the top twenty.

Content

The song describes how "ordinary people have extraordinary love." The narrator compares ordinary people to famous people.

Reception

Larry Flick of Billboard gave the song a positive rating "Cynics might be quick too dismiss the lyrics as being to syrupy. However, it's a sentiment that country music's core audience can relate to. Walker teams with James Stroud for production that is understated, while Walker turns in a plaintive, heartfelt performance."

Chart positions

"Ordinary People" is Walker's sixteenth Top 40 single on the Billboard country singles charts. The song spent nineteen weeks on the charts, peaking at number 35 on the chart week of July 4. It also peaked at number 22 on the RPM Country Tracks charts in Canada.