Soundtracks

A friend asked me this week why I like movie soundtracks so much, and I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s because they evoke the deep emotions and the “feel” of the movies. I’ve been a movie lover my entire life, and when I see one with a great soundtrack, I add it to my collection. These soundtracks have everything from upbeat, danceable songs to haunting instrumental pieces. My newest addition, courtesy of a Christmas gift card from Barnes & Noble, is the soundtrack to Brokeback Mountain. It was nominated for a Golden Globe, but it lost out to Memoirs of a Geisha. Personally, I think the Brokeback Mountain one is better. My favorite tracks are “I Don’t Want to Say Goodbye” by Teddy Thompson (beautiful voice!) and the instrumental piece “The Wings”, which is what was playing on the trailers.

Another favorite I’ve added in the past year is to House of Flying Daggers, a Chinese film that is stunningly beautiful in its own right. This is one where I can really see the scenes in the movie based on the various tracks, especially “The Echo Game” and “The Peonyhouse” Listening to it makes me want to watch the movie again.

An older favorite, one I’ve played a gazillion times, is to Last of the Mohicans, one of my all-time favorite movies. When Clannad (one of my favorite Celtic bands) sings “I Will Find You”, I envision Nathaniel jumping down the waterfall then running through the forest to save Cora.

Continuing with the American history theme, last summer I also made my way to Best Buy to get the soundtrack to Into the West, the DreamWorks miniseries about the settling of the American West that played last summer on TNT. I believe Best Buy was the only place you could buy this soundtrack, and I loved the miniseries so much that I wanted the soundtrack. It’s another I’ve played over and over. I LOVE “World on Fire” by Sarah McLachlan and Robbie Robertson. “One World, One Nation” by Native American band Brule and “Angel Doves” by Mindy Smith are also great tracks.

Gladiator actually had two soundtracks come out, and yep, I have them both. The songs bring back scenes from the movie — the battle near the beginning, the fights in the Coliseum, the creepy emperor played so well by Joaquin Phoenix.

I know she gets made fun of sometimes, but I still love “My Heart Will Go On” by Celine Dion on the Titanic soundtrack. James Horner, who produced this soundtrack (along with others I own, like Troy, Braveheart and Glory), did a good job of conveying the excitement of the maiden voyage, the love between Jack and Rose, and then the sadness of the sinking through the music.

It’s no surprise that the soundtrack to The Phantom of the Opera is fantastic because, after all, the entire story is wrapped in music. I love the “Overture” with the deep organ music, “The Music of the Night”, “Masquerade” and “The Point of No Return”.

And just so you don’t think I’m stuck totally in the past, here’s a tribute to the Dirty Dancing soundtrack. This is one of the few movies I’ve seen in the movie theater twice and countless times on TV. I played the cassette tape so much that the names of the songs wore off and the tape started sounding funny. So I had to replace it with a CD. My three favorite tracks are “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes, “She’s Like the Wind” by Patrick Swayze, and “Hungry Eyes” by Eric Carmen.

So, how about you? Do you like movie soundtracks? If so, why? And what are your favorites?

Writing update: I had two big freelance editing projects this week, so I had to take a few days to do those (and thus the absence from blogging). But it’s back to work today, doing some work on my young adult first chapter so I can send it to my critique group, then on to new writing on the women’s fiction.

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