music in the background

[nakymaton]

goadra just brought up the lyrics to "I'm Always on a Mountain When I Fall" by Merle Haggard, which is playing in the background while Ennis is eating pie in the Greyhound station. She mentioned how they reflect Ennis's mood at the time, and it struck me that a lot of the background music seems to have been very, very carefully chosen to fit the scene.

Here are the lyrics.

Most of my life, I've almost been a winner.
I've come so close but never really won.
Just when I thought I finally made it,
I found myself back where I started from.
I hate to say I'm giving up but I believe,
Losin's just become a way of life for me.
Losin' wouldn't be so bad at all,
But I'm always on a mountain when I fall.

Then you came along and had me, had me believin',
For once in my life my luck had finally changed.
And now you say you're gonna leave me,
Seems everything I do winds up the same.

I hate to say I'm giving up but I believe,
Losin's just become a way of life for me.
Losin' wouldn't be so bad at all,
But I'm always on a mountain when I fall.

Losin' wouldn't be so bad at all,
But I'm always on a mountain when I fall.

Yeah, Barbara, you're right about fitting the mood...

Then you came along and had me, had me believin',
For once in my life my luck had finally changed.
And now you say you're gonna leave me,
Seems everything I do winds up the same.

!!!

[serious crayons]

Wow! That fits so perfectly I was half expecting to see I'm nothing, I'm nowhere!

And now you say you're gonna leave me,
Seems everything I do winds up the same.

Is this a clue in the "would Jack quit Ennis?" mystery? (Hope not.)

[nakymaton]

Is this a clue in the "would Jack quit Ennis?" mystery? (Hope not.)

I don't think so. I don't think anything in the movie is as straightforward as that. Sometimes the background music says something about the dynamic that's on the screen, sometimes it provides a bitter contrast. ("It's So Easy to Fall in Love," for instance. Yeah, speak for yourself, Linda. )

I think what gets me about the background music is that it's really very typical of country music. (Old joke: what happens when you play country music backwards?) All these open declarations of love. All these broken hearts... it's like country roads must be littered with more broken hearts than beer bottles. And then here are these two guys who are hiding all these same emotions.

I feel really stupid and insensitive for saying this, but... you know, unless a love song is performed by an openly gay singer (I'm thinking in particular of Melissa Etheridge), I've usually thought it was referring to two people of the opposite sex. And, duh, it doesn't have to be. The quiet contrast between the music in the background and the struggles on the screen really drive that home for me.

[serious crayons]

I don't think so. I don't think anything in the movie is as straightforward as that. Sometimes the background music says something about the dynamic that's on the screen, sometimes it provides a bitter contrast. ("It's So Easy to Fall in Love," for instance. Yeah, speak for yourself, Linda. )

True. I was kidding. Unfortunately, the movie (or story) never provides those kind of definitive clues that tell you for sure that your interpretation is correct. Even though some people seem certain that they know, by piecing together clues in the movie, what the "right" answer is to such questions as whether Jack quit Ennis, or whether Jack was murdered, I think the movie, like life, provides little conclusive evidence.

I feel really stupid and insensitive for saying this, but... you know, unless a love song is performed by an openly gay singer (I'm thinking in particular of Melissa Etheridge), I've usually thought it was referring to two people of the opposite sex.

Don't be too hard on yourself, Mel, I think it's kind of natural to hear music lyrics from your own perspective (in fact, I generally think lyrics are specifically about ME). But it is interesting how, when I listen to the BBM soundtrack, the opposite phenomenon occurs -- the lyrics, though ambiguous, always seem specifically about two men!

[nakymaton]

I love "King of the Road." I don't remember when I learned all the words to it, or why. But I've got a special place in my heart for any song that mentions Bangor, and then last year I found out that my maternal grandfather "rode the rails" during the Depression, looking for work, just like the guy in the song.

I like the duet between Rufus Wainwright and Teddy Thompson on the soundtrack, too. It takes the song from being about one guy to being about two.

[JT]

I love "King of the Road." I don't remember when I learned all the words to it, or why. But I've got a special place in my heart for any song that mentions Bangor, and then last year I found out that my maternal grandfather "rode the rails" during the Depression, looking for work, just like the guy in the song.

I like the duet between Rufus Wainwright and Teddy Thompson on the soundtrack, too. It takes the song from being about one guy to being about two.

I love this song too!  And yes, I memorized the words also.  I do love their two voices together; they go together like milk and water.  But for some reason, when ever I hear this song, I always visualize the post-divorce scene.

I have a hard time hearing "I'm always on a mountain when I fall" but I sure love the title of the song.  It seems to have a very special meaning for BBM.

I also feel that most of the songs pertains to the thoughts or situations of the two guys.  For example, "He was a friend of mine" has Ennis' thoughts written all over it, while "A love that will never grow old" has Jack's.

[mvansand76]

I have "Melissa" by the Allman Brothers on my iPod (not just because my own name is Melissa...) and every time I hear it it reminds me more and more of the struggle than Ennis went through, it's not always literally with the lyrics, but it's the sadness in the song, the fatalistic nature of it I guess.

Here it is again:

Crossroads seem to come and go.... yeah
The gypsy flies from coast to coast,
Knowin' many lovin' none,
Bearin' sorrow havin fun,

But back home he'll always run....
..to sweet Melissa. mmmhmmm...

Freight train, each car looks the same.... all the same
And no one knows the gypsy's name,
No one hears his lonely sigh,
There are no blankets where he lies,

In all his deepests dreams the gypsy flies.....
..to sweet Melissa.

Again the mornin's come,
Again he's on the run,
Sunbeams shinin' through his hair,
Appearin' not to have a care.
Pick up your gear n' gypsy roll along...
..roll along.

Crossroads, will you ever let him go? ...no, no.
Oh will you hide the dead man's ghost?
Or will he lie beneath the plain?
Will his spirit roll away?

But I know that he won't stay...
..without Melissa.

Yes I know that he won't stay...
..without Melissa

[Penthesilea]

I want to go back to the first lyrics in this thread, because Katherine's kidding striked something in me.

Is this a clue in the "would Jack quit Ennis?" mystery? (Hope not.)

Kidding or no kidding, this thought of yours is not so bad. I thought similar, but from a different angle:
Jacks does leave Ennis by dying. Jack's gone and Ennis is left behind. You could see this lyrics as a foreshadowing as well. In the movie, there are many foreshadowing things, or things that could be considered as foreshadowing, to phrase it less definite. Just yesterday we mentioned it about the sign at Aguirre's trailer. Then there is the slaughtered sheep.

Ruthlessly once said, every music making (singing, humming, harmonica playing) by Ennis or Jack foreshadows Jack's death. For example, Ennis hums the Cowboys Lament (Streets of Laredo) before he encounters the bear - and it's about a dead cowboy. Jack plays 'He was a friend of mine' on the harmonica (again: Ruthlessly's words) when the tent don't look right and after they untangled the Chilean sheep from Aguirre's.
I was, and still am, critical about Ruthlessly's absoluteness, but he sure had a point there.

So music/lyrics as foreshadowing death is a very likely possibility in this movie and I think these specific lyrics do just that.

There is an additional aspect that makes me think that this specific song/lyrics show us Jack's death: in a long-ago thread we talked about colores, chlothes and their significance. Back then it was my idea that Jack was (maybe) already dead when Ennis and Cassie encounter at the diner. But both, Ennis and we, don't know it yet.
What made me think this was Ennis's jacket. He never wore this dark grey jacket before, but from the diner scene on, we see him in no other jacket than this. He wears it when he receives that fatal postcard and in every scene when Jack is dead. "Ennis didn't know about the accident for months..."

Haggard...Ennis. Yes, that’s how he looks.

How fitting   

[nakymaton]

Ok, here's a thought, and I'm not sure if it makes sense or not. Sometimes I wonder if the music playing in the background reflects the thoughts or personality of the man who isn't in the scene.

For instance, "Melissa" reminds me more of Jack:

Crossroads seem to come and go.... yeah
The gypsy flies from coast to coast,
Knowin' many lovin' none,
Bearin' sorrow havin fun,

Jack's the one who travels, he's the one who has affairs with other men (but I don't think he loved any of them), he's the one who looks like he's having fun on the surface.

And he keeps coming back to Ennis.

Even...

Crossroads, will you ever let him go? ...no, no.
Oh will you hide the dead man's ghost?
Or will he lie beneath the plain?
Will his spirit roll away?

...after he's dead, in the form of the shirts.

And then "I Will Never Let You Go" reminds me, actually, more of Ennis, in a way:

Even though this wasn’t meant to be
It’s gonna break my heart to watch you leave
But I will never let you, I will never let you,
I will never let you go

I guess I see Ennis as the one who believes that "this wasn't meant to be." I guess both of their hearts get broken watching the other one leave, over and over, though, so it could be referring to either one of them.

When I feel that lonesome prairie wind
I let my soul get back to you again

And if you read Jack=wind, then this reads like a reminder to Ennis of Jack. (Though if the wind=Wyoming and Ennis=Wyoming, then it could refer to Jack thinking of Ennis.)

(I agree that there's a lot of foreshadowing of death in the music.)

[serious crayons]

Ok, here's a thought, and I'm not sure if it makes sense or not. Sometimes I wonder if the music playing in the background reflects the thoughts or personality of the man who isn't in the scene.

That's an interesting idea. Although I'll have to say that in the case of Melissa, I've always thought of it as reflecting Ennis' subconscious thinking, maybe especially because he's the one who selects it on the jukebox. Particularly these lines

Knowin' many lovin' none,
Bearin' sorrow havin fun,
But back home he'll always run....
..to sweet Melissa. mmmhmmm...

which I have always seen as being about Ennis' dating Cassie (if admittedly not having much fun doing it) but running back home to Jack. But you're right, it could go the other way just as easily, maybe even more easily. Regarding what you said yesterday, Mel, about gender-neutral lyrics. Is this the only song in the movie that's specifically about a man and woman? But even that makes sense, in a roundabout way, because Ennis pretends to be with a woman -- even though Melissa sure isn't Cassie.

Back to shirt colors and foreshadowing music. I notice that the spooky music we hear the day after TS1, when Ennis finds the dead sheep and Jack is doing laundry naked, is the same as the music we hear during the Earl flashback. Is it also the same as the music we hear when Ennis finds the shirts? I think so. How about when he gets the "deceased" postcard? That I can't remember.

[Ellemeno]

September 26th, 2006, about eleven and a half months after I started in BBM world, I am still learning new things.  Thanks for this thread.  Clarissa

[Daniel]

That spooky music is referred to by Casey Cornelius as the "death theme".

[serious crayons]

That spooky music is referred to by Casey Cornelius as the "death theme".

You know, eerie as the death theme is, and with such awful associations, I still sometimes wish it were on the soundtrack CD.

Not as much as I wish "Melissa" were on the CD, though.

[nakymaton]

You know, eerie as the death theme is, and with such awful associations, I still sometimes wish it were on the soundtrack CD.

It could be balanced by including the TS2 theme as well.

Not as much as I wish "Melissa" were on the CD, though.

Me too.

[Front-Ranger]

Yes I wish the death theme was on the soundtrack too. Maybe I'm morbid...

[Ellemeno]

You know, eerie as the death theme is, and with such awful associations, I still sometimes wish it were on the soundtrack CD.

Not as much as I wish "Melissa" were on the CD, though.

They are on mine.  So are Streets of Laredo, Battle Hymn of the Republic, Quizas, Quizas, Quizas, and more.  I added them in and made my own CD.  It's nice and full.  Also the Roger Miller version of King of the Road that was in the movie.  Yum yum.  The only two I (purposely) don't have are It's so Easy to fall in Love (I got tired of it in the 70s, and have never gotten untired of it), and D.I.V.O.R.C.E (somehow too sad).

This thread shows me, though, that I have more to add.

[nakymaton]

Clarissa, you're making me think I need to break down and get an ipod.

***

A question for people who have watched the movie in the past month. Other than "Water Walking Jesus" and whatever Jack plays on the harmonica, are there any times when Jack and Ennis are both on screen, and there is music playing other than the score? Most of the songs I can think of are played when either one or the other is on screen, but not both of them. Of course, they're out in the middle of nowhere most of the time when they're together, so it isn't surprising that there isn't music in the background. But there are a few cases where there could be music and I might have missed it. Is there anything playing on the car radio when Jack arrives at the reunion? Or when Jack and Ennis leave for their first fishing trip? Or when Ennis arrives for the second one, or when Jack arrives after Ennis's divorce? I don't think so, but I'm not certain.

***

My three-year-old has gotten into the "cowboy hat music" again. He's making me play "It's So Easy" over and over and over again. But he also had his own interesting interpretation of "Angel Went Up in Flames" (the tune at the Childress benefit that sounds like "The Devil Went Down to Georgia."

So I got the title wrong when he asked what the song was -- I told him it was "The Angel Lost Its Wings" (which tells you that I've been conflating the Angel song with "The Wings" with the line in the book about the ministering angel laid out in the wild columbine, wings folded).

And his interpretation went something like this. The angel is looking for his wings, and there are lots of people in cars driving around, and then the police officer comes and takes the angel to his house and find his wings for him. (The End. ) Except it was more complicated than that.

I should tell him it's really got fire in it, and see if the fire truck gets worked into the story somehow.

[serious crayons]

And his interpretation went something like this. The angel is looking for his wings, and there are lots of people in cars driving around, and then the police officer comes and takes the angel to his house and find his wings for him. (The End. ) Except it was more complicated than that.

I should tell him it's really got fire in it, and see if the fire truck gets worked into the story somehow.

He's writing his own short stories already! Encourage him to work in some symbols and metaphors (or maybe that's his intention with the people in cars, and the police officer ...?), and he's on his way.

As to your question, the only times I can think of when Jack and Ennis would be near a source of music are the ones you mentioned -- and in most of those it's the score I hear -- and in the bar right after they meet at Aguirre's. If there's anything playing in that scene, I haven't noticed it.

[Ellemeno]

Clarissa, you're making me think I need to break down and get an ipod.

Mel, I love the story about your three year old.

I have a three and a half year old, and she is the reason I very rarely use my iPod - how can I have earphones in when I'm with her?  But this is what works REALLY well for me, and her.  I do have my music on my Mac in iTunes, and my husband has rigged some kind of wireless way to play music that is on my computer through the living room stereo.  So I put my laptop up on the kitchen counter (to get it out of reach), choose this song and that song, or a playlist I've already made, and it comes through the living room speakers, so we can both hear it.  And as I'm writing to you all, I can choose my next few songs, etc.

This is a good place to plug BBM Radio, Phillip's creation that you can click on in the upper right hand corner of pretty much every screen here.  It's easy to set up, and has probably all the songs we're talking about +.

[Ellemeno]

and in the bar right after they meet at Aguirre's. If there's anything playing in that scene, I haven't noticed it.

It's been a while (weeks and weeks) since I watched BBM, but I'm pretty sure that I remember there is a radio going in the Signal bar.  The only thing I remember from it is hearing "Harry Harrison" said in Harry  Harrison's voice.  I remember him from my childhood in New York as being a very popular DJ.  I think Leslie (MaineWriter) and I talked about this once, and she remembered what station he was on.

[Samrim]

<<Maybe they’ll end up as poor as they were on Brokeback, but they’ll be together.>>


Puleeese goadra, Don't do this to me; it's Wednesday morning and I gotta go to work! I can't get there wrecked again! Trouble is your just SO right

Best Wishes all

Sam

[Front-Ranger]

Yes, to put Ennis in a fightin' mood, LOL?

I was also struck by all the noise in the background at the bar where Ennis and Jack go after first meeting. Suddenly I have a craving to hear snippets of what was said. Have you noticed that there's often a male radio announcer's voice in the background of the movie? It brings back memories of listening to Arthur Godfrey as I was growing up. And that other guy, Paul Harvey. I think you can actually still hear him today!!

[HerrKaiser]

To me, the score and the extremely surgically artful way Lee and the composer placed the pieces, both under and almost inaudilble as well as overtly, is similar to how the music was handled in Breakfast at Tiffany's. In each film, the music is used better than I seen in any other films to carry both action and emotion to their intended heights. And interestingly,  the total absence of theme music at parts in BBM seem to indicate a distance or uninvolvment with Ennis or Jack, such as when Lureen is giving Ennis the information about Jack's death.