Franke Previte, co-songwriter

I had a hundred bucks in my bank account. The label my band Franke and the Knockouts had been with had closed and I was trying to get another deal. I was selling cars out of my driveway, living on a prayer. Then I got a call from Jimmy Ienner, president of my old label. “I’ve got this little movie I’d like you to write a song for,” he said. “Jimmy,” I replied, “I don’t have time.” He goes: “Make time, because it’s gonna change your life. The film’s called Dirty Dancing.” So my hand hits my forehead and I go: “Ah, poor Jimmy’s doing porn.” But he said: “No, it’s boy meets girl. It’s a good little movie. The bad news is, the song’s got to be seven minutes long.” So I’m thinking: “There’s no chance of this becoming a single.”

I called [co-songwriter] John DeNicola and said: “We have a chance to write a song for this movie. Start it up front with the chorus in half-time, then when we hit the verse, double-time it so it creates a dance groove.” John sent me the instrumental track. I had a recording session booked that day, so I got in the car and put the cassette on. And as I’m paying the toll at exit 140 of the Garden State Parkway in New Jersey, I’m singing: “I’ve had the time of my life.” What the hell was I saying? I didn’t know – but I scribbled it down on an envelope. The song was really written by the man upstairs, because I had no idea what the movie was about.

I met Patrick Swayze, who played the lead, when the song won the Academy Award in 1988. He told me they’d turned down 149 songs – our demo was the 150th. “To tell you the truth,” he said, “we all hated the movie. We filmed the final dance scene first, but we didn’t have a song then. So we were like, ‘Let’s just get this piece of shit over with.’ But when we heard your song, it changed everything about the movie – and how we reacted to our scenes. It just created this vibe.” They actually reshot that dance scene using my demo, which wasn’t too far off the final version recorded by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes.

I hear it in the supermarket, in elevators, on commercials constantly. It gives me chills every time. That so many people know a song that little Franke Previte from New Jersey wrote, who didn’t know how he was going to pay his next phone bill.

Jennifer Warnes, co-vocalist

The company making Dirty Dancing asked me to consider doing a duet with Bill Medley. I listened to the demo – and was unimpressed. But my boyfriend at the time said: “Hmmm. Are they paying you well?” I said: “Yes.” And he said: “Well, do it, because it’ll be fun to sing with Bill Medley – and probably no one will hear the song anyway.”

Bill had sung with Bobby Hatfield in the Righteous Brothers for so long there was nothing about duet-singing he found uncomfortable. The lowness of his voice and the highness of mine – we didn’t have to stretch. We were facing each other during the recording and, off to the side, I’d asked to have Dirty Dancing running, so I could time some crescendos to Patrick Swayze’s lift and so forth. My performance was pure instinct. The song is full of joy, celebration and gratitude – very easy emotions to feel.

We did it in under an hour. Did we realise we’d recorded a classic? Not at all. Does a tightrope-walker think about the audience? Never. If they do, they’ll fall. Patrick came backstage when I was performing with Roy Orbison in 1987, picked me up in the air and said: “You’re gonna win an Oscar!’ The ceremony was unforgettable. A few yards away, in the front row, I’m looking at Gregory Peck, and Audrey Hepburn in a red feathered hat.

That song split my career down the middle, giving me two fanbases. I’d put out Famous Blue Raincoat, an album of Leonard Cohen covers, just a year prior and it couldn’t have been more dense, poetic, symphonic, full of triple meanings. Then I come out with this joyous pop thing done on synthesisers. I don’t think my two fan groups have ever met.

When people tell me that song is important to them, it’s usually something to do with a lover or a big social event. And, if a song isn’t helping people get along in life, then what are we doing this for? But (I’ve Had) The Time of My Life is in the past tense, so you shouldn’t really be using it at a wedding.

• Jennifer Warnes’ Another Time, Another Place is out now on BMG. Franke and the Knockouts’ Complete Collection is out now on Friday Music.