[Miscellany]

Movie soundtracks are such a rich source of random music. So often I've stayed until the end of the credits just so I can write down the name and artist of a song I particularly loved. Then I skip off to the music store to buy it immediately. I have many, many favourite film soundtracks. Some of them are film scores (The Virgin Suicides, Interview with the Vampire, The Fog of War) but the ones that I take with me everywhere are the ones that contain a combination of music that you wouldn't find as a colleciton anywhere else. Some of my favourites include Dazed and Confused, Pulp Fiction, The Virgin Suicides (not film score), Cherish, Strictly Ballroom, Garden State, Blow, Coffee and Cigarettes, Trainspotting, Suburbia .. and the list goes on and on. I like different soundtracks for different reasons but mostly when I listen to them I replay parts of the movie in my head. There are certain songs I cannot listen to without thinking of the movie.

One soundtrack which is never far from my side is The Royal Tenenbaums. I remember falling head over heels in love with the movie and buying the soundtrack straight afterwards. I heard that Elliot Smith song in the scene where Richie is going to attempt suicide and I was a goner.

The soundtrack itself is just beautiful from start to finish. It's melancholy, stitched through with threads of punk - and just like the movie, a little unpredictable and quirky. It has one of my favourite Ramones' songs (they need their own post) on it (Judy is a Punk) as well as Nico's mesmerising These Days (I defy anyone to hate this song). Plus it has the added bonus of Maurice Ravel's classical String Quartet - Second Movement and original music my Mark Mothersbaugh. God love Wes Anderson and Randall Poster for coming up with such a beautiful combination of songs. For months and months after seeing the movie I hardly spent a night without listening to it two, three times. That probably says a lot about my state of mind at the time but I assure you, it's more than that. I think you should all go out and buy the soundtrack. You won't regret it.

The song I picked today (and it could have been any of them, really) is Needle in the Hay by Elliot Smith, I picked it for that awesome contemplative moment in the movie where it comes from and also because after today - spending a day in the classroom for a change - I've realised how much I've really, really missed it - and now I feel well and truly lost and well..just sad. As for Elliot himself, of course he ended up committing suicide, which I think we all knew he was going down that path - so well worn by tortured artists. But the song, ah - well it's not one to play while you're getting ready to go out clubbing. It's probably not one to play much at all if you're into good moods - but it's lovely - just lovely.

Labels: musical monday

posted by M at 4:58 pm 11 comments