Friday, January 16, 2009

If they made a movie about you, what would you want on the soundtrack?

...songs (and by whom?), only a film score (and by whom?), a mix of musical cues and styles? Sing out in the comments.

46 comments:

Glenn said...

I don't think I'd be able to have a song soundtrack because I would just DIE if they put indie music on it. I WOULD JUST DIE! I really don't like that twee indie music that is so popular (think Juno, Feist, etc). I'd want stuff like Girls Aloud and Madonna, so I don't think that's going to happen.

lawyer tony fernando said...

Madonna´s catalogue, all the way baby!

AND NAT, I know that I´m gone but I broke my two arms and it was impossible to type!

NATHANIEL R said...

you broke BOTH arms? my god... i'm glad you're better now.

David Giancarlo said...

OMG, lots of French shit! Yves Montand, Maurice Chevalier, Jean Gabin, Édith Piaf, Mistinguett...

Anonymous said...

Probably a film score by Thomas Newman... (everyone roles their eyes). I really do like him.

Anonymous said...

Oh, this is too cool! Let’s see…

For the score of “my movie”, I’d go with THOMAS NEWMAN all the way (but he would have to show the creativity he exhibited more in the 90’s)!

For songs, I’d find a way to fit all these personal treasures in:

“This Time It’s Goodbye”- Perry Blake
“Fable”- Robert Miles
“Devorzhum”- Dead Can Dance
“Baba O’Riley”- The Who
“New Zealand”- Tiago Benzinho
“I Grieve”- Peter Gabriel
“Caribbean Blue”- Enya
“How Soon Is Now”- The Smiths
“The Mummers’ Dance”- Loreena McKennitt
“Spiritual”- Charlie Haden, Pat Metheny

Also, I would hire Scott Millan and Drew Kunin to take care of the sound mixing and Johnny Caruso and Jay B. Richardson to be the music editors.

NATHANIEL R said...

omg... that is very thought out.

i like Newman but i gotta say: his REV RD score made me crazy.

Anonymous said...

Style Council, my ever changing moods
Big Tymers, Still fly

Leah P. said...

Mark Mothersbaugh would score my every pulse throughout my epic quest to pass 10th grade and save latin. And then we woul insert some ass-kicking melodies that would help my snag Bill Murray as my BFF.

Anonymous said...

Nathaniel:

I actually loathed his REV. ROAD score. I consider Newman about as overdue for an Oscar as Ms. Winslet (both have contributed real magic to the cinema) but even I couldn’t put a check next that score on a ballot. Now WALL-E on the other hand...

But again, I think his best work was done in the mid to late 90's. Although let us not forget that indelible SIX FEET UNDER theme. :)

Anonymous said...

Ah, I think for me, it'd be a blend of russian folks songs, a touch twee indie music :), some Edith Piaf, lots of woody guthry/dylan, johnny cash, and soulful blues-y buddy guy tunes.
Basically, it'll be "I'm Not There to Walk the Line in my Vie en Rose". But better... somehow. :)

And of course lots of Johnny Greenwood's "TWBB" score. Y'know, for the scene where I find out I'm lactose intolerent (already happened, with a certain milk beverage...), as well as the scene where Paul Dano and I roll around in mudd (not yet occured).

Glendon said...

My soundtrack would be a mix of the soundtrack from The Insider, Broken Social Scene, and somber reflections by Good Old Boys era Randy Newman.

Aaron said...

I'd prefer a mixture of song and score - Michael Penn can do the score, and he can cowrite the songs with his wife, Aimee Mann

J.D. said...

Lots of Duffy. Especially "Distant Dreamer" - which is, like, my anthem.

And Joe Hisaishi does the score. Booyah.

gabrieloak said...

A movie about me would either be all sung like Umbrellas of Cherbourg or would use the music of Georges Delerue to underscore the intense romantic scenes.

Anonymous said...

Carla Bruni, all Carla Bruni.

Ani Di said...

Brazilian folcloric music (instrumental and vocal) for sure, brazilian pop music - axé and country - mixed with Nina Simone and Sarah Vaughan, propably Madonna, the cliche "ray of light".

Lots of percussion, seven-string guitar and choro...i think.

Anonymous said...

sorry i'm going classical. it must have rachmaninov's 3rd piano concerto (preferably the 3rd movement since i'm listening to it right now and the first movement was used quite extensively in 'Shine'). BTW, you gotta check out that movie. If you do, you'll find in it one of the most superlative performances you'll ever see in a movie: Amin Mueller Stahl.

Marcello Talone said...

i would ask tarantino to choose the songs...

The Pretentious Know it All said...

Totally ripping off "Point of No Return," but my biopic soundtrack would be Nina Simone songs.

elgringo said...

Two songs on repeat:
Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give You Up
Whitesnake's Is This Love?

Anonymous said...

Xanadu

James Colon said...

This is too hard to think of officially, but certainly:

"Sweet Black Angel", The Rolling Stones
"Kooks", David Bowie
"Keep The Customer Satisfied", Simon & Garfunkal
"Karma Police", Radiohead
and a load of songs by The Beatles

and the weird thing is, I'm not even English.

Anonymous said...

Despite your irrational hatred, I would choose John Williams

Anonymous said...

"Diamonds and Rust" Joan Baez

"Mr Brightside" by The Killers

"I have nothing" by Whitney Houston

"A piece of sky" by Barbra Streisand


Jim

Emma said...

Love Affair (Regina Spektor)
Chasing Pavements (Adele)
Heartbreaker (Little Boots, cover of Will.i.am & Cheryl Cole)
Racey Lacey (Girls Aloud)
Blackbird (The Beatles)
99 Problems (Jay-Z)
Brandy Alexander (Feist)
Your Song (The Streets, to maintain the chavvy element of my character)
Rain on Your Parade (Duffy)
Good Girl Gone Bad (Rihanna)
Love Lockdown (Kanye West)
Don’t Stop Me Now (Queen)
London Calling (The Clash)
Pennies in my Pocket (Emilio Estefan)
Teenage Dirtbag (Girls Aloud)
Mushaboom (Feist)
I Put a Spell on You (Nina Simone)

and, over the credits,
Homecoming (Kanye West)

And the original score by Thomas Newman.

Mikadzuki said...

Jon Brion can score anything, so he could probably sum up my life in a tragicomic heartbeat.

I'm tempted to say Richard Wagner too, but... uh... I don't really know what parts of my life could be accurately described as "Wagnerian".

NATHANIEL R said...

mikadzuki -- I think that's a good thing! count your blessings

anon 3:06 --i don't hate John Williams, i just hate the fawning over him. Score away! it's your life ;)

sphinx --i would go classical too. It's not my favorite type of music but it IS my favorite type of film score. They never feel dated as compared to modern film scores which often do with the passage of time.

Anonymous said...

Man this takes a lot of thinking. One thing I do know is that Bob Dylans When the Ship Comes In have to play over the end credtis :-D

Anonymous said...

yo la tengo (my favorite band evah)


i love how subtle can become the films they score (ex: junebug). also, they have songs for any kind of situation i could imagine.

actually, yo la tengo are my life's soundtrack since high school.

Keelay! said...

I would probably just have to go with a score and skip the songs. My taste in music is SOOOOO scattered, that it'd be really hard to narrow it down.

But Danny Elfman is probably my favorite (definitely top three) composers, I LOVE him and he's more than welcome to set the mood for my life story anytime. Be ready Danny, this guy's had a crazy ride! ;)

Anonymous said...

I would use central services/ The office by Micheal Karmen. It's on the Wall e trailer. I love that song.

Film Knower said...

bah there's so many. it'd probably end up being a soundtrack made up of 'the cure', but I'd try and fit in some nina simone, blondie (RAPTURE BABY!), hole, bjork, lady gaga (sue me), terry reid, lynyrd skynyrd, and for the closing credits throw some regina spektor in there.

Michael Parsons said...

It would so be Madonna. Mainly album tracks, but a few good singles thrown in.
I have a 'sad time in life' montage with 'X-Static Process'

Anonymous said...

I'd want my film to be full of Elliott Smith songs. Because even if the film was subperfect, the songs would take it on a higher level, by making it seem better than it actually was. Think of "Good Will Hunting", which I really like, but probably only because the songs fit so well.

Catherine said...

Steve Reich could score it. Not sure his music would necessarily adapt wonderfully to the medium of film, but hell, he's my absolute favourite. I'd have to have Faure's Requiem played at some point, too.

Notas Sobre Creación Cultural e Imaginarios Sociales said...

I'd hire Sofia Coppola, Pedro Almodóvar and Quentin Tarantino to make three different versions with the music they chose.
Then I'd go all Stanley Kubrick on their Alex North asses and use Sebastién Tellier, Gustavo Cerati and Madonna for the closing credits.

Evan said...

I'd want Clint Eastwood to write the score. Him singing would be a bonus.

Evan said...

Just kidding with that last comment.

Anonymous said...

The Smiths' "There is a Light That Never Goes Out"...pretty much over and over again. And Fleetwood Mac's "Gypsy." And Madonna's "Oh Father." And John Mayer's "Homelife." And Ben Folds' "Landed." That's it.

darkthirty said...

Glenn, most indie music isn't twee, and I agree Feist is nauseating.

My soundtrack, in the dramatic bits, would be, say, from Frankfurt, the young so-called post rock band Daturah - whose Ghost Track (which uses Hollow Men from Apocalypse Now, a Scientology lecture, and something else I can't identify in the first minutes of the song) has just the right moodiness and political undertones. For the quieter times, I'd love something like The Innocence Mission and their lovely One for Sorrow, Two for Joy, say. For high energy, full-bodied intense intellectual times, give me De Staat by Louis Andriessen, my favourite single piece of music from the 20th century.

Anonymous said...

How about another John Williams?
("Catch Me If You Can" Williams, not "Star Wars" Williams.)

Bernardo said...

My score would definetely be composed by Jon Brion.

I would have songs by Death Cab for Cutie, Broken Social Scene, Frou Frou, Nelly Furtado (pre-hip hop) and... completely off-topic Mika!

NATHANIEL R said...

evan -ha!

bernardo -ooh, jon brion. Maybe that's who I'd go with if i wasn't going traditional/classical

Chris Na Taraja said...

"Within you, Without you"The beatles (george harrison)
"Mink Coats" Patty Larkin
"Hyper-Balled" Bjork
"Bittersweet Symphony" the Verve
anything from Dark Side of the Moon
"So Real" Jeff Buckly
"Good Morning" from Singing in the Rain
"13 Men and Me the Only Gal in Town" Ann Margret
"Sister" from The Color Purple
"The Story" Brandi Carlile
Anything form Jonatha Brooks group The Story (In the Gloaming, Angel in the House, etc)
"Stretched on your Grave" and "Troy" Sinead O'Conner
"Grace Kelly" Mika

Wow, my movie is soooooo gay!

Chris Na Taraja said...

Oh and some sufjon Stevens too.