Soundtracks #6 – Natural Born Killers in Three Sentences
[You know when you haven't explained yourself properly then there's a mixup and then you end up thinking, 'ah, fuck it'. That is this post. When I invited the Readers of Toad to contribute posts for this series on soundtracks I meant entire posts - you know a couple of hundred words, a little story or a bit of a rant. When John sent me his email on why he loved the soundtrack for Natural Born Killers I thought 'Oh for fuck's sake, I've ballsed this up. I really haven't been very clear have I.'
Then I looked at the post he'd sent through and, although it crossed my mind that I should email him back and explain that I kind of had a little more writing in mind, that really wasn't necessary. I mean, what he says is coherent, makes sense and is a single, complete thought neatly expressed and in need of no further elaboration.
The other reason I wanted to post it is because John is entirely new to me. He's never left a comment and this is the first time I knew he read my blog. I get this sometimes with people who say hello on Last.fm or Facebook. This blog gets over a thousand hits a day and maybe thirty people leave comments on a regular basis. Now I am not complaining about this at all, but it means I write this stuff, throw it out there and have little idea who is out there either enjoying it, hating it or just downloading the mp3s and fucking off, never to be seen again.
So it seemed sort of fitting that the first time John took the time to say hello I should just take him at face value, post what he wrote, include the rather excellent song choices and let you all meet him too. So, without any further ado, Natural Born Killers...]
My first soundtrack love was the Natural Born Killers disc produced by Trent Reznor. Like the movie, some people say it’s too jumbled and too ecclectic, but I say it works. Even the softer tracks like Patsy Cline’s ‘Back In Baby’s Arms’ take on a sinister edge.
Leonard Cohen – Waiting for the Miracle
Patsy Cline – Back in Baby’s Arms
Patti Smith – Rock & Roll Nigger
Posts in this series:
- Crash Calloway from Pretending Life is Like a Song writes about The Commitments.
- Nate, who plays viola in The Young Republic explains why some terrible films have excellent scores.
- My dearest darling Mrs. Toad sings the praises of the High School Movie.
- DC, presenter of The Waiting Room, goes on a truly interminable ramble about the great Tom Waits and One From the Heart.
- Brother of Toad talks about how the context of music can interfere with its use in a movie.
- John sums up Natural Born Killers in three sentences.
- I have a go myself by writing about the art of referencing films in your song lyrics and what it lets you do.
- Tim from The Daily Growl digs away at the sensual texture of In the Mood For Love.
- Matt from Draped in Velvet might never forgive the false start of the world of rap-rock.
- Ian from Broken Records delivers the rant that started this all off: why soundtracks just don’t work!
Just wanted to let you know I read you. I take your mp3s, but I do read your posts too. You’re a funny mother fucker.
Anyway, cheers to you and Mrs. Toad.
Back in the day when this movie first came out (1995 or so?) I was in the Army and I used to listen to the soundtrack front to back over, and over, and over.
I can’t stand to listen to it now, but at one point in time and space, this soundtrack defined my world.
Hi Susan – oh you’re welcome to come and pinch mp3s – that’s what they’re there for. I was just making the point that for the most part I actually have no idea who actually reads this site.
Now I know John, and you. It’s interesting actually, because most of the friend requests I get on Last.fm or Facebook are people who never leave comments. They just say hello in a different way, which is really nice. I was musing, more than anything.
Vance – why is it that you can’t listen to it now? Overplayed, actually gone off the music or is it just way too associated with one particular time in your life?
Hi there, thanks for posting. I’m not exactly verbose, am I? In your defence, you clearly asked for a little more. In mine, I’m a lazy fool who misread it the first time and just thought you’d be taking snippets from everyone and throwing them all into a single post.
Btw, I did leave a comment here once before…
Did you? Arse, sorry about that. Actually it kind of works if you ask me. Shows the rest of us up a little for taking hundreds too many words to express something inherently simple!
Damn Matthew, 1000 hits a day! I feel like a shmuck now. I think I’m averaging about 400 :-/ Ah well, I will admit your blog is more fun than mine, that’s for sure.
Harry at the moment I am posting a lot, and that makes a big difference. It gets three front page Hype moments a week, which is all it takes. Vampire Weekend was quite big, as was British Sea Power. And the likes of Dylan and Waits are always popular. This post, actually, was massive for Hype love.
lol. Ahh, I guess I understand that. I wish I still had it in me to post as much as I did when I first started :-p. And Hopefully my BSP post will help me out when I post it on Monday (Released 2-12-08 here in the States). Surprisingly my Moleskine Reviews generate a good amount of hits for whatever reason. as far as Hype front page listings I guess that’s where you get the benefit of being across the pond. I write my posts at around 10PM EST, which means they get picked up by Hype at around 3AM, thus not too much traffic happening for me. Ah well, I doubt any magazine editor will send me an unsolicited email from reading my blog offering me a job or anything, so the fact that I’m writing pretty regularly will help.
I think I’m lucky in that respect. Even if I post really late, most of America is up and about, so I tend to be okay. It’s only the really early ones that don’t have the viewers, so I tend to just delay anything I write early until at least lunchtime.
I can’t imagine anyone reading this and offering me a job really. Unless that job was scaring children at a birthday party.
I don’t think editors are imaginative enough to imagine me writing without the swearing and abuse and I don’t think I’m keen enough to cut it out.
The Natural Born Killers soundtrack was my first introduction to the bizarrely awesome (and not a little frightening) Diamanda Galas. I usually don’t like mashups, but I love the soundtrack’s blend of Diamanda’s “I Put A Spell On You” cover with Jane’s Addiction’s “Ted Just Admit It” in “Sex Is Violent”. The Cowboy Junkies rendition of “Sweet Jane” is pretty great, too.
I thought Tarantino did a great job of mixing the brutal with the surreal with that amazing scene in True Romance with all the feathers flying. It’s a superb combination.