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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Washington, DC

    the soundtrack of your life

    So, who do you want to compose and/or perform the soundtrack for the story of your life? Pick a composer and/or artist, no more than three.

    Music threads are somewhat risky because they tend to be so generational - boomers will have never heard the artists picked by 20somethings, genXers will find boomer choices way too earnest and insufficiently ironic, and so on. But it's worth a shot. I just know that greybeard is going to pick Guns'n'Roses, for example. I'm extremely curious what Throaty might pick, if he's reading. Ozzie will pick the Duke pep song.

    Or maybe not. Who's game?

  2. #2
    I'm not sure who would write it... but John Digweed would mix it.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Seattle, WA

    No question

    Brahms.

    a la The Tragic Overture, but maybe, just maybe, with a slightly "happier" ending.


    If I had to pick a movie score artist, John Williams. That man can write a score for anything, and make it relevant, entertaining, and still relatively new. (As opposed to, say, Andrew Lloydd Weber's stuff -- it all sounds too much alike after awhile.)

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Norfolk, VA
    I kind of interpret this thread as "Who are your favorite three musicians/bands?" If I'm highjacking, I apologize in advance:

    1. The Beatles
    2. Eric Clapton
    3. Neil Young

    are the top three of a very long list - The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Grand Funk Railroad, Rush, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Jethro Tull, Styx, The Who, The Guess Who, The Doobie Brothers, The Eagles, and on and on and on ...
    Bob Green

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Washington, DC
    Very cool, and by all means keep the classical, orchestral and production picks coming as well as the pop artists. Music is music. Hard to argue with any of the ones cited above.

    For me, #s1 and 2 are easy. #1 is Van Morrison, whose music - especially in the 80s and 90s - sears my inner core like no other. The voice, the arrangements, the improvisation, the impeccable musicianship, and - when the muse is there - incredible poetry. He said it himself best in lyrics 3 or 4 albums ago:

    "jazz, blues, and funk
    that's not rock and roll
    folk with a beat
    and a little bit of soul"

    #2 is Brian Wilson, a very different artist in terms of sound and lyrics, but again with the impeccable musicianship and, knowing what we do about him, one can't question the torment it must come from. His music soars and I soar with him.

  6. #6
    metallica for the tough side of me
    bon jovi for the lighter side
    and james blunt for the third pick

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Washington, DC
    p.s. To think about "soundtrack" a bit more traditionally a la DevilAlumna and her choice of John Williams, I'm going with Mark Knopfler for that part. His soundtrack for "Local Hero" is perfection of the art IMO.

    My life isn't grand enough for Williams.

  8. #8
    To write it there is no better musical poet that Paul Simon. For the rest, I'll let Paul take care of the rest. That said, I am not so vain as to think anyone would have an interest in taking up the task.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Atlanta, GA
    I have never so closely associated a single album as the soundtrack to a particular phase in my life as I do The Flaming Lips' Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots with my senior year at Duke. They have a great storyteller's sense in their music, so I imagine they'd do a good job.

    I also must echo mapei's mention of Brian Wilson. Somebody else said Mark Knopfler, which is also a good choice (I'd like to think my life story might someday have the regal sweep of The Princess Bride, for which he composed the score and a few tracks).

    Finally, if we could resurrect Richard Manuel, I know The Band would do a hell of a job (I suppose we'd also have to figure out a way for Robbie Robertson to atone for the crappy stuff he pulled over on his erstwhile bandmates...on the other hand, his post-Band film work with Scorsese would help them compose a good soundtrack).

  10. #10
    High School in the 70's and born in NJ - I'd have to go with Springsteen. Songs about the girls, back roads and bars of the area, about growing up....and he reaffirmed all of that and more with "The Rising."

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Clearwater, FL
    Quote Originally Posted by accfanfrom1970 View Post
    High School in the 70's and born in NJ - I'd have to go with Springsteen. Songs about the girls, back roads and bars of the area, about growing up....and he reaffirmed all of that and more with "The Rising."

    I'd go with Bruce for the same reason, and throw in Guns 'n Roses (if for no other reason then Sweet Child of Mine - since my daughter has 'eyes of the bluest kind' ) and round out with (old) Billy Joel (Italian Restaurant could have been written about two friends of mine from high school)

    kind of lame, but 'me' none the less
    Windsor (aka Loni)

    a wasted youth is better by far than a wise and productive old age

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Durham, NC
    I actually have a soundtrack for my life. It's really annoying, mostly, because it consists of the song on the alarm clock radio which I wake up to. Since 96.1 ("rock" station in Durham) is on the dial, it's usually AC/DC. It constantly runs in my head all day long, until something else jars it loose.

    Today's sound track is the NFL music (Da da da daaaa, bumbum, bumbum), because I mixed it up and was listening to Bob and the Showgram this morning - something about preseason games today (really? already???).

    Most days I have to get a coworker to sing another song, just so I can change the tune in my head. I may need psychiatric help.

    - Moose

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Lompoc, West Carolina

    what plays in my head constantly

    1) BB King

    2) Luther Allison

    3) The high pitch whistle heard during emergency alert broadcasts

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Durham, NC
    Quote Originally Posted by captmojo View Post
    3) The high pitch whistle heard during emergency alert broadcasts
    But I thought it was only a test!

    - Moose

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Lompoc, West Carolina

    Talking

    Quote Originally Posted by Moose View Post
    But I thought it was only a test!

    - Moose
    I am a test.
    I am trying.
    Very.

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Asheville, NC
    Metallica
    Motley Crue
    Tool

    err...maybe sneak Alison Krauss in there.

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Greensboro, NC
    Goose Creek Symphony
    Pink Floyd

    A collaboration between the two would be neat. They'd hit a happy medium between serious and carefree... maybe. Absent them, Ry Cooder could do the Killerleft Paris, Texas Overture.

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Location
    Parts Unknown

    Excellent question

    I've been pondering this one and looking for songs that may be representative.

    I think I'd get Johnny Rich to compose it, and it would be broken up in four basic themes.

    Early Life: High School and college life when the boy is moving into adulthood. Where he is looking to know who he is and to be comfortable with that. dealing with the strains and heartbreak of learning to deal with relationships.

    Middle years: Graduate school and early professional. he is making his way into the working world, trying to make his place and get established. Dealing with the strains of working with bosses, employers some good, some bad, some who look out for him and some who only look out for themselves. he is dealing with the egos of those who want to fast track by putting others down and not caring who they step on.

    Family: Getting married and the adjustments that brings. Having children and learning all of the new feelings and emotions that causes.

    Second Century: He has established himself through the second half of his first century and as he enters his second century he looks back on life and he is very pleased with how it has all turned out and know that where he has been is what had gotten him where he is now.

    or something like this.
    Last edited by Bluedawg; 08-10-2007 at 01:04 AM.

  19. #19
    If I wanted to contract with any living songwriters/composers to put together a soundtrack for my life story, the lead man would be easy:

    1. J.J. Cale -- Simply the finest, and my favorite for a long time. Real life, made simple and related in finely crafted 3-minute episodes that tune you right in. If you can listen to J.J. without smiling and moving to the music, you need to mellow out some more.

    Although my next favorite musical artist in line would also be a clear choice--Neil Young--I have to say my life story has been far too bright and cheerful for his music (which, as he once said during a concert, "is guaranteed to bring you right down"). Instead, I think I'd have to go with...

    2. James Taylor -- This guy grew up in North Carolina during the same time I did, and has crafted many, many fine songs that I instinctively relate to events and periods in my life.

    Only one selection left? This is a difficult task. There are some superb female songwriters whose music has played in the background for many of my most enduring memories--one notable example being Joni Mitchell (see: "Court and Spark"). OTOH, there are those times that call for the grandiose and passionate--I'd sure like to use Brahms' 1st Piano Concerto in D Minor in there somewhere. And then there's another favorite, versatile guitar virtuoso Ry Cooder, who has done some outstanding soundtrack work, my favorite of which is "Crossroads" (in which he lays down some blues licks that are simply priceless). But since I don't want to leave out those halcyon days before and during my Duke years, I guess I'll have to go with...

    3. Smokey Robinson -- A man that no less an authority than Bob Dylan once called America's greatest living poet. His songs captured and translated the feelings and spirit of an era that probably was, in many respects, the brightest and most optimistic of times for our country. And he did it in a way that connected with people throughout the entire spectrum of race, class, and age. Yeah, I want some Smokey Robinson songs in my life story. I want folks walking out of the theater smiling and humming happy tunes. 'Cause that's just the way it's been for me.

  20. #20
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Lexington, KY

    Decisions, decisions

    The first two were easy for me, but the third is tough for me:

    1. Johnny Clegg (just earned an honorary doctorate in South Africa)
    2. Tarika (Madagascar)
    3. Either Bela Fleck or Nnenna Freelon

    Cheers,
    Lavabe

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