..... there I was watching the olympics ...... thinking..... the chariots of fire music is a great piece of stirring sound track moment for any athlete ....... but you can listen to it just once too often..... and now that Mr Bean has stamped his mark on the music driven imagery.....and well....
Then later listening to Seb ......ach erm Sir/Lord/Knight of the Realm/Dame/HRH {add anymore as appropriate} Seb Coe was talking about playing rock music to the 1500m final..... there is a skill to creating a sound track moment .... you can't just randomly pick music hoping it will enhance the image..... you have to be good at getting it right.... great music to the wrong image will not work in just the same way that wrong music to a great image will not work either......
Nooooo a sound track moment has to leave you thinking..... omg what was that ? and it should create such a strong bond between the music and the image that is difficult to remove and propels the film/image/scene/experience {delete as appropriate} in to a whole new level .... a level that black words on a white back ground are not sufficient to be able to explain it ...... Mr Bean and Chariots of Fire ? ..... not on your nelly not even close.....
There are, however, a number of movies that can do this and in truth I probably need a top ten of sound track moments, but for today's song of the day I am going to pick one. Not because it is the best, but simply because it works so well. [but it is one of the best though]
Pedro Almodovar is, I think, generally accepted as a great movie maker [but if you are reading this Pedro, cut back on the staring roles for Penny please - yeah yeah I know she is sooooo divine but you can over do it abit]{although interestingly having said that for the subject soundtrack Pedro movie, Penny was not in it}.... anyway where was I ..... oh yeah.... sound track moments.....
So there I was channel hopping with the remote buttons, as blokes love so to do, and on came this movie .......Hablo con ella, [what a fab premise for a movie], and so as I was watching intently, suddenly there in the movie this sound track moment came from nowhere....totally unexpected ...... here is it.....
and when this scene came on.... well lordy lordy lordy...... until this time I had never heard of Caentano or the song.... I watched this movie before the days of shazam, and so was left to do some detective work on the net..... and of course I should have known... the song it is called ......Cucurrucucú paloma*
And so me being me [but not necessarily the unique me] was hooked..... turns out, it is a mexican love song that essentially [but not exclusively] means that if you love someone ....love them so much.... you will be prepared to let them go, if they have to leave you to follow their dreams....
Now I have to admit that Caentano sings this song in such a way, I defy any one not to be hooked, but then as I looked up more about this song, ......and then, .......well then I tripped up over the devine Perla.... oh my gosh Perla has the voice of an angel..... [I should have known about her before this as she is very pally with Leonard Cohen.... I shall tell all about Leonard another day other than to say now..... that what ever you think of his singing....and its not that bad I think..... his lyrics are something else... he knows the true power of the written word] anyway back to Perla..... well Perla does a version of cucurrucucu paloma, like no other. It matters not that you do not know the english meaning of the word..... just look at the face of Perla Batalla as she sings this song.....she sings from her soul.... she gets it...she gets it like I get it......
She sings this like no other ....... Paul Buchanan may be one of my favourites but when Perla sings this, well she is in the top 10 without any doubt.
And so it is, thats what a true sound track moment is all about..... not Mr bean running along the beach destroying the image of Chariots of Fire for all those great olympians as they entertain us with their skills and prowess.
For this entry I did toy with the idea of using In Brugges and the bell tower scene with Raglan Road, now I could watch that movie a 1000 times, I could see that scene a 1000 times, and a 1000 times it would still leave me breathless and with that heavy feeling inside one.... you know the one.... the one where you feel your very insides are being touched but you don't know how or what it is....but you feel it alright......
Well that is Raglan Road, but only in this movie, listen to it as a stand alone song and it is just another great tune... but my oh my..... glue it to the celluloid of In Brugges and it is something else.... but I elected not to use In Brugges to illustrate my point because to understand the importance and beauty of the bell tower scene you need to watch the movie in it's entirety..... a movie of great humour, but also a beautiful story of one mans sacrifice for the redemption of another.... who knows maybe that was a cucurrucucu paloma moment as well.
And tomorrow I will tell you a story of creating your very own sound track moment..... trust me it works.....
*[cucurrucucu paloma - footnote - the latest incarnation of this song can be in heard in the five year engagement but whilst I have not seen the movie, trust me the use of this song in this movie will never match that of Hablo con ella..... how do I know..... trust me I know these things.... and when I say trust me....its not because I am a doctor....cause I am not]
