Have you ever been walking through a supermarket (or an office building, or the mall) and heard a song come over the speaker system that immediately transported you into a scene in a movie? This happens to me all of the time. I have an A/V memory. This kind of stuff sticks in my head. But, even if you don't have an A/V memory like me, it has probably happened that a piece of music has evoked a memory of a film. This is especially true of theme songs. The theme from
The Godfather, for instance, is instantly recognizable to most people and will usually elicit a vision of the Corleone family. The Bernard Herrman score for
Psycho, or John Williams' score for
Jaws have been so popular and recognizable that they have become metaphors, used in popular movies and TV shows to signify insanity or impending doom. You are not likely to hear these in a supermarket or mall though.
What I am trying to get you to think about is popular songs that are likely (or maybe unlikely, but possible) to be heard in a supermarket, on the radio, in a bar, etc., that can be truly identified with a single movie. Many songs, such as the entire 1960s songbook used in movies like
Forrest Gump,
The Big Chill,
Platoon, and many others, can be identified with many movies. What that song might evoke for you is different from what it would evoke for me. But certain popular songs have been used very effectively in a single movie and can quickly transport a listener to a specific scene in that movie (that is not to say that the song was never used in any other movie, just not an effective use). This can be good or bad: a good song and a good scene can produce a great result and a great memory, but a good song used in a bad movie can ruin the song forever for someone with an A/V memory. Here are some examples that are particularly evocative for me:
This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)/ Wall Street
While I
love the Talking Heads performance of this song in
Stop Making Sense,
This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody) always makes me think of
Wall Street. Charlie Sheen and Daryl Hannah, dancing, cooking, big hair, '80s decor and clothes...all at a point of the movie where you really start to care about Sheen's character, Bud Fox, and hope for his success. Unfortunately for Bud Fox, this is his high point and it is all down hill after this as his relationship and career crumble. But this scene is a light, bright, and fun moment in a movie that is otherwise ominous and often dark.
Me and Julio Down By the School Yard/The Royal Tenenbaums
Gene Hackman's character, Royal Tenenbaum, is lovable, irascible, fun, rascally, and (in the words of Danny Glover's character Henry Sherman, a son-of-a-bitch), and the montage where he teaches his two young grandchildren to be a little reckless and carefree is an absolutely perfect use of this fun but rascally Paul Simon song. Hearing it always makes me think of go-cart racing, running and jumping in pools, throwing water balloons at taxis, and riding on the back of garbage trucks.
The Royal Tenenbaums actually has several scenes that make terrific use of songs, but this one is my favorite.
Stuck In the Middle With You/Reservoir Dogs
While this might be an obvious choice, I include it because it is both a fantastic use of the song, and
Reservoir Dogs ruined the song for me. The catchy rockabilly-influenced pop of Stealer's Wheels was a perfect counterpoint to the tension of the scene, but I cannot hear the song without thinking of crazy, sadistic Michael Madsen torturing a police officer. The first time I saw this movie I wasn't sure if this scene was brilliant or horrible or both, but it made a lasting impression on me. I only saw the movie one time, about 15 years ago, and Michael Madsen and his razor are still indelibly etched in my brain. (Um, if you really want to see it, go here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLTqecGbdCc .)
In the Court of the Crimson King/Children of Men
Let me first say, I am not the world's biggest fan of
Children of Men. I thought it was a good, but not great movie that had some fantastic movie-making in it, but didn't quite live up to its full potential. Maybe it was a little
too melancholy for me. But, if you are making a dramatic and melancholy film, you can't go wrong with King Crimson. I have always felt that
In the Court of the Crimson King would be a terrific song to use in a movie, and the scene it came in on in
Children of Men was note-perfect. The Rolls Royce ride through ruined and decaying London to the giant building right off of the cover of Pink Floyd's
Animals, interspersed with shots of Clive Owen's hangdog face, was a perfect backdrop for this song. (I know, you are not very likely to hear this song on the radio, except on an alternative college station, but the scene is so intertwined with the song in my mind that I felt compelled to include it.) Try this youtube link if you want to see it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEvRk2tL82U .
Brothers In Arms/The West Wing (Two Cathedrals)
I know, this is not a movie, but I stray into TV in this one instance because it is such a perfect use of a song. Most TV shows make throwaway usage of popular songs, and most do not have the production values to do them justice even when an effort is made. This is not the case with this Dire Straits song at the end of the finale for season two of
The West Wing (arguably the high-point for the show). The show centers around President Bartlett's (Martin Sheen) decision whether to seek reelection at a point where he is having much personal turmoil and is being accused of fraud. There is a storm brewing. You would have to see the whole season for this long series of scenes to resonate fully, but it is a marvelous use of a foreboding and moody song in a perfect circumstance. Whenever I hear this song I think of Leo (the late, great John Spencer) turning toward the camera and saying, "watch this". Here is a link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaUPDYXQUtw .
Those are some of my favorite A/V memories. I have hundreds more. Runners up include The Pixies'
Where is My Mind (
Fight Club), The Doors'
The End (
Apocalypse Now), Bob Dylan's
Not Dark Yet (
Wonder Boys), The Stereophonics'
Maybe Tomorrow (
Crash), The Beatles'
Twist & Shout (
Ferris Bueller's Day Off), almost any Rolling Stones song in almost any Scorsese movie, and many others that I am at the moment forgetting about.
What are some of your favorites? I would love to hear them!
