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Soundtrack Scuttlebutt

May 11, 2007 by Tim Riley

CATEGORY: CAR AD SOUNDTRACK WITH “CELEBRITY”
Elvis Costello playing air guitar to Beethoven’s Ninth in his Lexus ad beats out his wife Diana Krall raving on about Oscar Peterson in hers. (Who hogs the remote in that ride?) But would anybody buy a car from Elvis? Seems telling that neither of these are posted yet on youtube. We’re still waiting for Paul and Yoko to Dance with the Stars.
CATEGORY: GREAT USE OF GOOD SONG BY GREAT ARTIST IN DECENT FLICK
“Bring on the Lucie” by John Lennon, from Mind Games, closing credits to Children of Men. This soundtrack had hints of intelligence early on when it framed the elitist art baron’s scene with Greg Lake’s bloviating “Court of the Crimson King.” There was little irony. But that was just semi-respectable use of a bad song for a bad scene in a very good film. At the end, after watching a black baby humble a fierce battle and Clive Owen slump over dead in the rowboat (no Christ ID!), Lennon’s throwaway took on added resonance, as if he’d composed it with Iraq in mind. Anyway, it was both a shock and a pleasure, and sent us away grinning. Honorary mention: Michael Caine’s air guitar noise.
Homework: has anybody come up with a definitive list of good/bad use of Beatle tracks in movies?

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Tim Riley

NPR critic, Author, Emerson College Journalist and Campus Speaker Tim Riley contributes to HERE AND NOW out of WBUR Boston. Read More…

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