The Last Drive In (October)

Hi everyone! I'm late, but I am sending packages out tomorrow (really, they are sitting here addressed and sealed) and I still managed to beat the end of the month!

Spoiler alert: If you're into movies like I am, this mix might be like listening to a trivia game so don't read the tracklist below (and when you receive it) if you want to play. Liner notes below:

October Eleventilicious—The Last Drive In

When I was selecting last year’s mix, I didn’t realize until afterward how many songs were from movies. I probably love movies and music equally, so I thought it would be fun to make a movie-inspired mix. First I thought about picking only songs from really amazing opening sequences, but I realized that a lot of memorable opening sequences are set to scored music, songs that are a little too overplayed to be in Eleventilicious (e.g. “The Times They Are a Changin’” for the beginning of Watchmen), or songs that I wouldn’t necessarily want to listen to again and again, even if they fit the movie well (“Peaches” by The Stranglers for Sexy Beast). One song I would have loved to include is “Strangers” by The Kinks (from The Darjeeling Limited Indian funeral scene), but Chuck had that on his mix last year! I will say this: Wes Anderson and Sofia Coppola own this category. I could have easily made an album just from their memorable movie scenes/songs. Martin Scorsese also uses music well, but he tends to use well-known songs that none of us really need an extra copy of.

So I just decided to settle for songs that are strongly associated to movies for me. Some of these are legendary movie-music associations (like the first song), or will be one day, I predict (like the second song). Some of them are more low-profile, but they stuck in my head and I wanted to include them.

If you’re a movie fan, it might be fun to listen to this album without looking at the tracklist to see how many of the movies you can name. The cover photo and title of the album are from a picture I took when I went to my first (and last?) drive-in movie theater, in rural Texas. I hope you enjoy listening!

Angela

1. “She Caught the Katy and Left Me a Mule to Ride” by Taj Mahal, from (what else??) Blues Brothers. I downloaded both the original Taj Mahal version and the soundtrack version sung by John Belushi. Although I wish I could have used the Belushi version for maximum nostalgia, it sounded a bit too overproduced and crisp for my taste.

2. “Nightcall” by Kavinsky, from Drive. This was probably my favorite movie from 2011 and I loved the entire esthetic of the film, including the retro-ish music. This song plays over the opening credits and I still think of L.A.-driving-at-night when I hear it. Also, it makes me feel like a badass.

3. “I’ll Try Anything Once” by Julian Casablancas/The Strokes, from Somewhere. This Sofia Coppola movie had a trailer using this song, and the song’s wistful tone really suits the movie’s tone. Honestly, I can’t remember if it was actually in the movie but the trailer created a strong association for me anyway. I had a tough time finding a recording of this song, as the Somewhere soundtrack seems to be unavailable and this song is actually a demo version of “You Only Live Once,” a Strokes song. I recommend checking out that song too if you’ve never heard it—it has completely different lyrics, key, and everything!

4. “Across 110th Street” by Bobby Womack, from Jackie Brown. I think this is an underrated movie and Pam Grier is awesome as a sexy, past-her-career-prime flight attendant trying to make a living. This song plays over the opening credits as she stands still on the airport’s moving sidewalk, then runs to the gate to work her flight.

5. “Here Comes Your Man” by The Pixies, from (500) Days of Summer. I have a huge crush on Joseph Gordon-Levitt for a few reasons: he’s an incredible actor who almost always chooses intelligent, challenging scripts; he has sex appeal that seems to come from his personality as much as his looks; and he is involved in a lot of cool artistic projects through his website, HitRecord.org. This movie was decent (not great), but the scene where JGL’s character drunkenly karaokes this song is probably the most endearing of the movie, for me.

6. “Playground Love” by Air, from Virgin Suicides. Another Coppola movie, and Air did the entire soundtrack. This languid, young-lust song really has an eerie tinge to it because of the movie’s plot.

7. “A Real Hero” by College, from Drive. I included a second song from Drive because I liked it that much. This is the love theme from the movie, although the lyrics were apparently inspired by something else entirely (you can find the story online, but sometimes my enjoyment of a song is affected when I hear the back-story, so I won’t explain it here).

8. “Glass, Concrete and Stone” by David Byrne, from In Good Company. This was a not-that-popular romcom starring Scarlett Johansson, Topher Grace, and Dennis Quaid. I like it because it wasn’t really a romcom so much as a story about the latter two’s characters: young versus old, technology versus human contact, wealth versus family, quarter-life crisis versus mid-life crisis. This song accompanies the opening scenes.

9. “Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien” by Edith Piaf, from Inception. The “kick” song…and supposedly the deep squawking boom of the Inception score (the part that kept getting parodied and mocked) is actually this song’s horn parts slowed down. You know, like dream-time.

10. “The Beginning is the End is the Beginning” by Smashing Pumpkins, from Watchmen. I am almost certain this song was only used in the trailer and not the actual movie. However, what a trailer! I saw it several times that summer and each time, I was captivated by the music and the visuals. I couldn’t wait to see this movie! Anyway, this song is originally from another soundtrack, Batman and Robin. I was in high school when it came out and I remember watching the music video for this song’s faster, harder counterpart (“The End is the Beginning is the End”) on MTV. I knew this other song existed but I didn’t realize how dark and atmospheric and great it was until seeing the Watchmen trailer.

11. “Where Do You Go To My Lovely?” by Peter Saarstedt, from Hotel Chevalier/The Darjeeling Limited. Hotel Chevalier was a 13-minute short that played before The Darjeeling Limited during its theater run. Jason Schwartzmann’s character self-consciously plays this song as a forced soundtrack to his encounter with his ex, Natalie Portman, in a hotel room in Paris. The song plays a few times in the short and once in The Darjeeling Limited as a bit of character continuity. Also, the lyrics, with all their name-checking, are like a 1960s rich hipster version of “We Didn’t Start the Fire”…very informative Wikipedia page on this song.

12. “I’m Your Man” by Leonard Cohen, from Secretary. Secretary is one of my favorite movies, and this song plays over a montage of bondage and dominance/submission scenes when Lee (Maggie Gyllenhaal) and Mr. Grey (James Spader) finally give into their erotic desires. Leonard Cohen sounds mischievous and sultry and knowing in this song.

13. “Oh! Sweet Nuthin’” by The Velvet Underground, from High Fidelity/Away We Go/Zombieland. Yes, this song has been in three of my favorite movies. Each scene is poignant, too: in High Fidelity, Rob is devastated when he finds out that his ex has finally slept with someone new, and in Zombieland, Columbus is about the leave the group when he realizes that they’re the only family he has, and decides to stay. But the scene from Away We Go is absolutely heart-wrenching: a young woman (a secondary character) who’s just had her fifth miscarriage performs a forlorn, haunting, fully-clothed pole dance to this song during an open mic night. It is an incredibly moving, mysterious, and compelling scene.

14. “Wait” by Alexi Murdoch, from Away We Go. This song plays over the final scene and closing credits of Away We Go. The scene usually makes me cry, even though it’s a happy ending.