A few days ago, I used to the song of the day feature to highlight the Crystal Method’s Trip Like I Do. And in that post, I mentioned that Trip Like I Do makes me drive too fast. Well, there’s another song off of the Crystal Method’s Vegas CD that I always make it a point to listen to while driving and that is High Roller. If Trip Like I Do makes me slam down on the accelerator, High Roller makes me slow down and watch the world collapse around me.
(Clicking on the video below will redirect you to YouTube and the acual song. I apologize for that — usually, I hate elitist, communistic bullshit like that but I really like this song.)
It’s St. Patrick Day! Now, I can’t speak for everyone but for me, this is the only holiday that matters. For one thing, it gives me a convenient excuse to show off some of my Irish Folk Dance moves. For another, it gives me an excuse to say things like, “I’m just a good Irish girl,” in the closest I can come to an Irish accent. (Admittedly, that’s not very close. My own accent tends to be kinda twangy and country.)
Oh! And there’s another great thing about St. Patrick’s Day. It gives me an excuse to wear green and I look really good in green. Today, I’m green from my eyeshadow to my underwear.
Anyway, with all that mind, it was pretty easy to pick today’s song of the day. One of my favorite films of 2007 was a wonderfully romantic and charmingly low-key Irish film called Once. The film’s soundtrack, which I’ve been listening to all day today, is one of my all-time favorites.
One of my favorite songs on that soundtrack — and my pick for song of the day — is When Your Mind’s Made Up, performed by the film’s stars Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova. As actors, performers, and as a real-life couple (awwwwwww!)*, Hansard and Irglova have this amazing chemistry and it’s on display in the video posted below.
(By the way, can I be like really, really sappy here without everyone rolling their eyes and getting all “Gaggggggg!” on me? Sometimes, if I’m feeling really sentimental and silly, I think about how Jeff is like Glen Hansard and I’m like Marketa Irglova. And then I start singing another song from the movie — the Oscar-winning Falling Slowly. Or at least I sing a version of it because I have a hard time remembering lyrics.)
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
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*According to Wikipedia, Hansard and Irglova are apparently no longer a couple. 😦
Today’s song of the day is the original version of the Crystal Method’s Trip Like I Do. I love driving to this song even though it’s been responsible for me getting pulled over a few times for speeding. (Luckily, I’m a girl and I know how to make myself cry.) This is also the song that, over the past few hours, has inspired me to leave a dozen or so “Oh my god, this is the best…” messages on my friend Evelyn’s voicemail.
The latest “song of the day” is chosen as I continue working on a particular film review about an alien invasion and war. I’ve chosen a particular favorite piece of film music from 14 years ago to be the latest song of the day.
“Klendathu Drop” is from the film soundtrack for the scifi/war/propaganda film Starship Troopers. This film wasn’t well-received when it first came out and it’s film score by Basil Poleduris was similarly dismissed. In the intervening years since the film’s release more and more people have begun to appreciate both film and soundtrack. Basil Poledouris’ soundtrack for this film has become a fan favorite of not just his soundtrack work, but of just fans of film soundtracks and scores.
Just listening to this particular track is quite invigorating and really does a good job into making one think about doing very heroic things. Poledouris’ really makes great use of both the brass and percussion section of his orchestra. The percussion giving the whole song a militaristic, martial tempo while the brass (once again an inordinate amount of French horns as Poledouris is fond of using) helps give it a swelling, patriotic melody. Halfway through the song we get the addition of strings to signify a calm to the storm that’s about to be unleashed (the song is used in the first planetside landing where the Mobile Infantry get its ass kicked every way til Sunday).
Even if you’re not a fan of the film this song at the very least makes for great listening.
Hearing “The Hand That Feeds” playing in the background of the trailer for Red Riding Hood inspired me to go to my CD collection and dig out Nine Inch Nails’ Without Teeth (released in 2005 but not purchased by tone-deaf little me until 2007). Originally, I was thinking of doing a post about “The Hand That Feeds” but as I listened, I rediscovered my favorite song from Without Teeth, “Every Day Is Exactly The Same.”
Every time I listen to this song, I feel as if I’m back in 2007 and I’m hit by deluge of bittersweet memories. I was still in college but I had reached the point where, for the first time, I realized that I would soon be graduating and I would actually have to start living the life that all of this education was supposedly preparing me to live. In the back of my mind, I was slowly starting to understand that everything I had always assumed would forever be in the future was now sneaking up on me. I can remember driving to and from school, listening to this song in my car and promising myself that I would never let every day be exactly the same. A part of me laughs when I think about how naive and innocent that sounds today. It’s hard to believe that it was actually little less than four years ago.
I guess I should also admit that listening to this song inspired me to break up with my then-boyfriend because, as I told him, “It’s just that every day with you is exactly the same.” Yes, for some reason, I thought that he would see my point if I phrased it that way.
Suspiria is one of my favorite films for many reasons: the pre-Black Swan combination of horror and ballet, Dario Argento’s pop art-influenced direction, the infamous close-up of that beating heart, the “s is for snakes” conversation, and Alida Valli’s ferocious performance as the instructor from Hell. (That said, I would have gladly taken lessons from her because I think she would have inspired me to be more disciplined about dancing.)
And, of course, I love the music. As many critics have pointed out, the film’s soundtrack (composed by Goblin) provides this film with a structure that it might otherwise lack. Plus, it’s one of the few film soundtracks that’s actually scary if you listen to it around 3 in the morning with all the lights turned out. I speak from personal experience.
So, in honor of one of my favorite films of all time, today’s song of the day is Goblin’s brilliant Suspiria.
(The Suspiria soundtrack is apparently out-of-print in the U.S. However, it’s included in Anchor Bay’s 3-disc, 25th anniversary DVD. The DVD also comes with a featurette about the making of the soundtrack. It’s actually pretty interesting. Goblin’s Claudio Simonetti proves to be a charming and interesting interview subject.)
My latest “Song of the Day” was chosen because this week also saw the release of one of the g ames which shall be ruling my life for the forseeable future: Dragon Age II. The song I chose is from the first game in the series, Dragon Age: Origins, and was sung in the game by one of the characters in the game once a certain relationship level has been reached between the main character and the bard who sings the song, Leliana.
The soundtrack to this game was composed by Israeli-born composer Inon Zur and his work on the score captures the fantasy-theme of the game. In the soundtrack the song is called “Lelianna’s Song” (a misprint by the soundtrack publisher) but in the game the song is properly titled, “In Uthenera” and is sung by the singer, Aubrey Ashburn. I chose this song because of all the tracks in the soundtrack this is the one that stuck with me the most.
The thing about role-playing game soundtracks, especially those set in a fantasy setting, is that the music goes a long way in creating the world of the game. The game could be great but if the music sucks it ruins much of the game’s enjoyment. Luckily, Inon Zur didn’t fail in his task thus he made Dragon Age: Origins such a joy to play despite its flaws.
“Lelianna’s Song” just sounds so ethereal. I can hear late-medieval and early-Rennaisance bard influences in the music not to mention Irish ballad in how the lyrics were sung. This song I could listen to over and over. Below, right before the lyrics is the video of the scene in the game where Leliana sings the song to the group at rest in their camp.
Lelianna’s Song
Elven:
Hahren na melana sahlin
Emma ir abelas
Souver’inan isala hamin
Vhenan him dor’felas
In Uthenera na revas
Vir sulahn’nehn
Vir dirthera
Vir samahl la numin
Vir lath sa’vunin
Translation:
Elder your time is come
Now I am filled with sorrow
Weary eyes need resting
Heart has become grey and slow
In waking sleep is freedom
We sing, rejoice
We tell the tales
We laugh and cry
We love one more day
So, last night, me and Jeff were at the AMC Valley View to see The Adjustment Bureau (which I’ll be reviewing here either later tonight or tomorrow). We ended up arriving for the movie a little bit late because, while in route to the theater, we got stuck behind the dumbfug toadsucker who was driving one of those goddamn box-like Smart Cars and, of course, he was so smart that apparently, he couldn’t bring himself to risk going over 30 mph. on a three-lane street. So, we were stuck behind him like forever and then Jeff and I ended up getting into an argument about whether the driver was a woman (as Jeff claimed) or just some old hippie with long hair (as I claimed). The driver also had decorated his car with a lot of political bumper stickers — “Obama in ’08,” “Impeach Bush,” “White For Governor,” “Jesus Was A Community Organizer,” “Jesus Was Not A Republican,” “Socialist And Proud,” “Trees Make the Air We Breathe,” and those are just a few of them.
(Personally, I would never put any bumper stickers on my car because, quite frankly, they’re a little bit too permanent for my taste. I guess I’m too commitment-phobic to turn my car into a propaganda machine. However, I was once tempted to at least order an “I’m Another Person Not Reading Your Crazy, Left-Wing Blog” bumper sticker and to place it on a life-sized poster of me extending my middle finger which I would have then sent to an ex-boyfriend.)
Anyway, we were stuck behind this guy for-freaking-ever and by the time we finally got around him, since both me and Jeff understand that it’s actually more dangerous to go under the speed limit than to go over it, neither one of us had any sympathy for any of the political causes that the driver was trying to sell us on. In fact, that driver came close to turning us into Sarah and Todd Palin. (Don’t worry, we’re over it now.) The lesson here, I think, is that if you’re going to turn your car into a moving advertisement for your political beliefs, make sure you can actually know how to drive.
Anyway, by the time we got in the theater, we were still kinda all like “RAWR!” about getting stuck behind that Smart Car but then we saw a trailer that soothed our nerves and calmed us down. That trailer was for the upcoming Russell Brand film, Arthur.
Now, don’t get me wrong. The trailer looks awful and, having seen it, I now understand why so many people apparently can not stand Russell Brand. (I liked him in Get Him To The Greek.) Seriously, if not for one redeeming feature, the trailer for Arthur would hace to be the worst trailer since the trailer for Sanctum.
Playing in the background throughout the entire trailer was an old song from David Bowie and Queen, Under Pressure. As long as we simply ignored Russell Brand and Geraldine James and just listened to the music, the Arthur trailer was not only bearable but actually enjoyable. If nothing else, this song soothes our souls and brought both Jeff and me back onto the path of relative sanity.
Anyway, with all that in mind, how could I not devote a post to David Bowie and Queen’s Under Pressure?
These Boots Are Made For Walkin’ is one of my favorite songs, one of those that is perfect for making either an entrance or an exit. There’s probably not a day that passes without this song playing somewhere in the back of my head.
Written by Lee Hazelwood, this song has been recorded by everyone from Jessica Simpson to Megadeth but I prefer the version that made it famous, Nancy Sinatra’s.
Plus, the video for Nancy’s version cracks me up because, if you look real closely, one the dancers has got a run in her hose. *
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*Actually, as I sit here typing this on my lunch break, so do I.
To me, one of the most iconic sequences in 21st century cinema comes towards the end of Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill, Volume One. I’m talking about the scene in which Tokyo crime boss O-ren (played by Lucy Liu) walks through the House of Blue Leaves, flanked on either side by her bubble gum-chewing bodyguards. While there’s a lot that makes this scene memorable (the slow-mo staging, Liu’s regal yet fierce persona), what I always remember first when I think about this scene is the song playing on the soundtrack.
Of course, I’m talking about Tomoyasu Hotei’s Battle Without Honor or Humanity. Though the song was not originally written for Kill Bill, it seem to almost perfectly epitomize volume one of Tarantino’s masterpiece. Yes, it’s over-the-top and shamelessly excessive. Yet, much like the best of the grindhouse films that inspired Tarantino, it’s performed with such an undeniable artistry that it’s impossible not to get drawn into it.
Whenever I’m out grocery shopping or walking to my office at the start of my workday, I always imagine that this is the song playing in the background. It definitely brings a little stride to my step.
(The song has other uses as well. A month ago, I wanted to perform a little impromptu dance for a friend of mine. This is the song that I ended up dancing to because I knew that, with this song backing you up, it’s impossible not to look good doing whatever you might happen to be doing.)
Through the Shattered Lens 