The art of making soundtracks...

I feel like Rich and I discovered something when we started this project. That is that it is possible to be totally inspired by music and lyrics telling you a story. I know this sounds obvious but I'll try to describe what I mean that is perhaps not so obvious. The very first night I heard one of these was in 1999 when Rich had just given me MEMORY MOTEL. He had prefaced the soundtrack by telling me that it was a love story between a rock star and an unknown singer and that it was told in a dialogue where every other song was by a man or a woman. So for example the first song is "Out of the Blue" by Brian Ferry and the second song is "Hold A Candle To This" by the Pretenders (sung by a woman Chrissie Hynde). This sets up the dialogue that continues throughout the soundtrack. The third song "Technicolor Lover" is where I really started to get blown away. While at the time The New Radicals were all over the radio with "You Get What You Give" I totally didn't recognize the music but when I heard the lyrics: She came from a world that is so far out Roller skating into my life I never had no doubt She asked where to get that velvet colored hair I said I got lot's more somewhere If you touch my big And she said I come from a world that is so far out And I said so do I I could totally see the Rock Star of the story saying this! I was kind of stunned. Back up for a sec - when I went over to Rich's house to pick this soundtrack up he was totally excited and made me listen to parts of a couple of the songs. One of the songs is "Fake Ophelia" by Gato Barbieri. In the background of this song are these kind of moaning/howling sounds. I was, like, that's the lead characters when they make love for the first time. So when I heard this song in context in the soundtrack and then heard the next song "You Go To My Head" by Billie Holiday I totally saw that as the next morning when they wake up together. Another moment when I was just blown away was when we get to "Coney Island" by Van Morrison. I had grown up listening to Van Morrison and thought I was familiar with his work but this song was different than anything I'd ever heard. So was surprised on so many levels. And again as with "Technicolor Lover" I could see/hear the lead character saying these words: Coming down from downpatrick Stopping off at st. john’s point Out all day birdwatching And the craic was good Stopped off at strangford lough Early in the morning Drove through shrigley taking pictures And on to killyleagh Stopped off for sunday papers at the Lecale district, just before coney island On and on, over the hill to ardglass In the jamjar, autumn sunshine, magnificent And all shining through Stop off at ardglass for a couple of jars of Mussels and some potted herrings in case We get famished before dinner On and on, over the hill and the craic is good Heading towards coney island I look at the side of your face as the sunlight comes Streaming through the window in the autumn sunshine And all the time going to coney island I’m thinking, Wouldn’t it be great if it was like this all the time. And when I heard the last line of the song "Wouldn't it be great if it was like this all the time" all the emotion and experience of the main character was driven home to me. Also, it felt like foreshadowing in that it felt like oh-oh, it won't be like this all the time. This song is also noteworthy in that it is such a trip. The voice is at once alien and yet familiar. By that I mean that in this song, Van Morrison is talking about places in England but Coney Island is also a place in New York. So I really feel like I'm in someone else's head. All of this is a round-about way of getting to my point which is that making these soundtracks quickly becomes an art of subtleties. For me the starting point is often the lyrics (I actually don't know how Rich conceptualizes his soundtracks). I try to find songs that seem to mean something to the context of the story and also can work in service of the story. I'm learning a lot working on THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE WICKED. I'm finding songs that are really evocative of the mood I'm trying to convey but at the same time it's proving to be very hard to develop the arc of the story and which songs are most appropriate. to be continued....