Vintage Blasts from the Past

 

These clips have two main things in common: They all happened a long time ago (in media years); and I think each is one of the best things of its kind.  In roughly chronological order:

 

Billie Holiday: “I’ll be seeing You”

Like almost everything Holiday did, this will rip your heart out.  But why did this song suddenly find itself back on the charts in 2019?  NASA played it as the final sign-off to Opportunity.  The rover went silent on Mars after exceeding its original 90-day mission by 14 years.  They say many on the team reacted as though they had lost a child. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDlKb2cBAqU

Lester Young and Coleman Hawkins

This is one of the cooler artifacts of the Golden Age of jazz.  The two great tenor saxes, book-ending an ebullient jam session.  It’s an all-star band and almost everyone gets a solo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DmtPvFa_W8

 

Santo and Johnny:  Sleep Walk

You’ve heard this a thousand times, in soundtracks and in the background of various movie scenes, usually set in exotic locales.  Imagine, though, how unusual this TV spot was at a time when Italians were still a suspect minority.  What a bittersweet experience it must have been. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rwfqsjimRM

 

 

Noir Classic:  Harlem Nocturne

This was originally a big-band standard, written by Earle Hagen in 1939.  The Viscounts slowed it down, put the saxophone front and center, added reverb, and ended up with a masterpiece.   Rainy nights, dark alleys, femmes fatales, Guy Noir, all that.  You’ve probably heard it a million times, and may have wondered what it was.  Well, now you know.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eR9sekKfXLw

 

What makes a movie score great?  Is it there to support the rest of the movie, without being obtrusive?  Or does it take on a life of its own?  Ennio Morricone’s score for “Once Upon a Time in the West” (which I think is even better than his score for “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”) manages to do both, because it is actually a major character  in the film.

 

Morricone gives each actor a musical theme that plays when they are on screen.  The soundtrack weaves together these individual themes, with variations that convey the characters’ emotional states, creating a mood for the scene.  (My guess is Morricone was inspired by Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf - does anyone know?)  Even when you are not conscious of it, the music is an integral part of the scene, not just an accompaniment.

 

The movie has got everything:  A classic plot; Henry Fonda cast against type as the villain; Charles Bronson, also cast against type, as the good guy; Claudia Cardinale as the widow trying to make a new start; Jason Robards as the bandit.  The loving portraits and profiles of the actors’ faces, especially Bronson’s and Cardinale’s, are some of the best ever filmed, IMHO.  As a bonus, the movie portrays Native Americans and Mexicans in a sympathetic light, which was unusual, to say the least.

 

The clip itself is a montage of scenes from the ending, set to Edda dell’Orso’s immortal rendition of the main theme song.  I’m also attaching a clip of the penultimate scene, the gunfight between Bronson and Fonda, which has engendered reams of scholarly analysis for its staging and pacing.

 

What is your favorite movie score?  Leave a comment!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mMd6D1Gw1g

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdK0jaLuJL8

 

Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin: “Je T'aime,...Moi Non Plus”

Serge Gainsbourg was a chain-smoker and looked like a large bug, but he numbered Jane Birkin and Brigitte Bardot among his lovers.  This song, featuring Birkin (she couldn’t actually sing, but do you care?) was banned in many places including several entire countries.  The best comment:  “This would not work in English.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3Fa4lOQfbA