Monday, June 13, 2011
DRIVE BOY DOG BOY DIRTY NUMB ANGEL BOY: This Awl list of Best Movie Closing Songs isn't a bad compilation -- I'd have "Where Is My Mind" (Fight Club) a bit closer to the top -- but the fun is in supplementing their top twenty. Yello's "Oh Yeah" (Ferris Bueller's Day Off) and "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In" (The 40 Year-Old Virgin) are the first two I'd add to the list, each of which in its own way provides a great bonus to the audience on top of an already great film. You?
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"Ooh La La" from Rushmore (on their list) came immediately to mind--the perfect combination of music/lyrics/tones for that final scene. Also from Wes Anderson would have to be Van Morrison's "Everyone" at the end of Royal Tenenbaums.
ReplyDeleteI'd have to look back and see if it's the final scene, but the use of "Bitter Sweet Symphony" in Cruel Intentions for the scene where Kathryn gets found out is actually pretty damn masterful.
Also, not sure if it counts since it's an original song in a quasi-musical film, but "A Mighty Wind" from A Mighty Wind.
ReplyDeleteThe inclusion of "Just Like Honey" from Lost in Translation gives me the opportunity to admit that I love Bill Murray's awful karaoke version of "More Than This," which appears on the soundtrack as a "secret" half-track 8 minutes or so after "Just Like Honey" ends. I mean, his voice is terrible, but the minute-plus of karaoke tells you so much about his character.
ReplyDeleteOops. That was me.
ReplyDeleteIt had already been used in the eToys commercial, and the movie it followed wasn't all that, but Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's "Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World" at the end of Finding Forrester.
ReplyDeleteVera Lynn, "We'll Meet Again," Dr. Strangelove
ReplyDeletePeter Gabriel, "Down to Earth," Wall-E
Moby, "Extreme Ways," all 3 Bourne movies
Down to Earth would probably make my top 10.
ReplyDeleteDoes "If You Leave" (Pretty In Pink) count?
ReplyDeleteJohn Hughes is really good at this.
ReplyDeleteOne more to add: Neil Young, "Philadelphia," as the home movies play.
Does The Graduate end with "The Sound of Silence", or am I confusing it with that Simpsons episode?
ReplyDeleteI would also include two of my favorite Altman movies, Nashville (Albuquerque finally getting her break, under the most horrible circumstances, with "It Don't Worry Me") and Short Cuts (Annie Ross singing "Prisoner of Life", terrifically and succinctly summing up the dilemma of all the characters in the movie).
Well, I adore the soundtrack from Garden State, and Frou Frou's Let Go was the perfect ending to the movie.
ReplyDeleteYes! Good call.
ReplyDeleteDoes Alien Ant Farm's cover of "Smooth Criminal" close out American Pie 2?
ReplyDeleteYes -- I believe The Graduate both begins and ends with The Sound of Silence (and that it also plays once in the middle).
ReplyDeleteThe end of Bridesmaids....a little Wilson Phillips never hurt a person.
ReplyDeleteI love Frou Frou - Imogen Heap is great.
ReplyDeleteI love Lisa Loeb's "Stay" over the closing credits of Reality Bites.
ReplyDeleteLoudon Wainwright's "Daughter" at the end of "Knocked Up" worked for me.
ReplyDeleteDonovan's "Hurdy Gurdy Man" at the end of Zodiac.
ReplyDeleteThe end of "Heat" uses Moby's "God Moving Over The Face of the Water". Something about the long sustained notes like a dirge just nails that moment.
ReplyDelete"Going Home", the outro over "Local Hero" done by Mark Knopfler. The little small movie that did.
ReplyDeleteDoesn't Aimee Mann's Save Me play over the credits of Magnolia? That's just perfect.
ReplyDeletePerfect ending to a damn perfect(ly unsettling) movie.
ReplyDelete"Heavy in your arms" by Florence and the Machine at the end of "Twilight: Eclipse". Yes, I'm admitting to seeing the Twilight movies (and reading the books), but if any good has come of this, that good is my introduction to Florence and the Machine.
ReplyDeleteYes, and yes. And while we're on songs written especially for the films they close, I have to talk up both "The Wrestler" (which gets the grimy world-weariness of the film and its main character to a tee) and "Lift Me Up" from John Sayles's Limbo - if you've seen that movie, you know what I'm talking about.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Mark Knopfler, his score for the Princess Bride, which ends in the only vocal in the movie, "Storybook Love". Not only is the score fantastic, particularly the sword fight that is perfectly timed to the action, but the song and lyric hits every single emotion we felt watching the movie and the parallel love stories between Westley and Buttercup and Grandson and Grandpa. Love it.
ReplyDeleteAnd a second for "Aquarius / Let the Sunshine In" at the end of The 40-Year Old Virgin. I was howling. The extended version is even better.
I see they listed Barber's Adagio for Strings (Platoon) at #4. Pretty much ruined that music for me, turning it into a piece of utter dread. And THAT reminded me of the ironic use of "What a Wonderful World" at the end of Good Morning Vietnam -- which also ruined the music for me.
ReplyDeleteOf course! Can't believe I forgot Down to Earth!
ReplyDeleteI had that soundtrack on cassette as a teen and listened to it many, many times. But I do remember being dismayed to learn that Knopfler didn't write that song. At least I remember learning it. Maybe i was wrong!
ReplyDelete"My Way"-Sid Vicious at the end of Goodfellas
ReplyDeleteA couple of others: "Singin in the Rain" at the end of A Clockwork Orange, and "Mysteries of Love" during the final montage in Blue Velvet. Ooooh, and Nina Simone's "Just In Time" at the end of Before Sunset.
ReplyDeleteWilly DeVille is the performer and is sole credited writer on "Storybook Love," but Knopfler produced and played on the track and the song. DeVille talks about it before performing here.
ReplyDeleteAndy Williams' "Happy Heart" at the end of Shallow Grave.
ReplyDelete--bd
As I read this, some things that came to mind:
ReplyDeleteSly & the Family Stone's cover of "Que Sera Sera" after Winona and the large girl walk off together at the end of Heathers;
Donovan's "Season of the Witch" as Illeana Douglas skates in slow figure eights over Nicole Kidman in To Die For;
Letters from Cleo covering "I Want You to Want Me" from the roof of the coolest high school building ever in "10 Things I Hate About You."
The Beach Boys' "Feel Flows" during the Almost Famous end credits.
ReplyDeleteInception -- "Time." A perfect ending to Hans Zimmer's amazing score.
ReplyDeleteI just re-watched Meatballs this weekend for the 100th time, so I have to add "Are You Ready for the Summer."
ReplyDeleteBecause I am.
Argh - I didn't know that! Thanks for the correction. Willy should get all the credit. I still know all the words to that song.
ReplyDelete"All Summer Long" by the Beach Boys at the end of American Graffitti. Works as a comment on the end of summer as Kurt's plane sails into the blue, and also to the passing of 50's Rock 'n Roll and the rise of Rock signified by the "surfing sh*t" as Milner would say and the start of the 60's proper.
ReplyDeleteAnd I love the xylophone opening notes....
I second "Season of the Witch". I will never forget Douglas's smile.
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of a discussion some friends and I had about songs used in movies. We were listing songs that had been irrevocably changed by their use in movies or TV shows. Have we talked about that? Because I can't sing along to Tom Petty's "American Girl" anymore.
ReplyDeleteGet in the van!
ReplyDeleteIt puts the lotion on its skin!
ReplyDeleteI'll admit it, that one made me cry.
ReplyDelete