Anderson's "Darjeeling" tracks

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The spirit of any Wes Anderson film can be found in his choice of pop-music tracks, and the relentlessly insipid USA Today columnist Whitney Matheson (a.k.a. "Pop Candy") has listed some of the tracks in The Darjeeling Limited (Fox Searchlight, 9.29), and the emphasis is definitely on...the Kinks!

The three Kinks tunes are "This Time Tomorrow," "Strangers" and "Powerman." There's also the Rolling Stones' "Play With Fire," Joe Dassin's "Champs Elysees" and Peter Sarstedt's "Where Do You Go to (My Lovely)." Anderson "also throws in several classical tracks, like Debussy's Clair De Lune and Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 in A, Op. 92," Matheson reports.

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on August 24, 2007 at 4:07 PM

comment #1

Movie fan09 says ...

I actually thought her column was fake and wrote her to tell her about it.

Posted by Movie fan09 at August 24, 2007 4:10 PM

comment #2

bmcintire says ...

For a columnist handling subject matter as throwaway as pop culture (the column's title should give you a pretty good clue) I'd say she treats it with about as much gravitas as it deserves. This bit on The Darjeeling Limited said just about all there was to say on the subject. And she at least beat Amazon.com to the track listing.

Posted by bmcintire at August 24, 2007 4:18 PM

comment #3

corey3rd says ...

so he bought a copy of "Lola versus Powerman and the Money-Go-Round, Part One."

Yet The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society is such a better record.

Posted by corey3rd at August 24, 2007 4:27 PM

comment #4

MilkMan says ...

It's good to hear that Wes is branching out and trying to do something different and not letting his persona calcify.

Posted by MilkMan at August 24, 2007 4:54 PM

comment #5

James Leer says ...

I disagree, Village Green has long gotten all the acclaim while Powerman is one beautiful song after another. Though it won't be so underrated after Wes scavenges it.

Posted by James Leer at August 24, 2007 4:58 PM

comment #6

BurmaShave says ...

Now if only we could get him into 'Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots'

Posted by BurmaShave at August 24, 2007 5:03 PM

comment #7

Walter Sobchak says ...

Check that..... "Yoshimi Battle the Pink Robots" in 5.1 high res. DVD-Audio surround sound....

when I spring that on guests I require they wear helmets so when their minds blow I don't get brain matter all over the ceiling...

Posted by Walter Sobchak at August 24, 2007 6:18 PM

comment #8

cust71 says ...

Nice. Just bought Yoshimi last week. If I heard that in 5.1, my head would explode. Kudos.

Posted by cust71 at August 24, 2007 6:58 PM

comment #9

George Prager says ...

Muswell Hillbillies kicks Powerman and Village Green's ass, motherfuckers!

Posted by George Prager at August 24, 2007 7:36 PM

comment #10

Arizona Joe says ...

I don't who is scoring "Darjeeling."

But Mark Mothersbaugh, formerly of Devo, and a first-rate musicologist did the "Rushmore" soundtrack, and I think the other Anderson films.

Mothersbaugh is from Akron, Ohio, as was Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders, who had a child by Ray Davies of the Kinks. That's neither here nor there, but I know Mothersbaugh was exposed to the Kinks a lot, and most likely loved them.

As much as I like pop music, I feel that using it to underscore emotions or dramatic tension in movies is cheating sometimes, or an incongruous pastiche of media.

I would much prefer to hear a soundtrack of original music without lyrics, or a history of its own, like Dimitri Tiomkin or Bernard Herman used to produce.

But I guess that takes money, talent, craftsmanship, and lot of other bygone attributes.

In an age of IPods that is an antiquated sentiment. But without solitude, music becomes meaningless.

Posted by Arizona Joe at August 24, 2007 8:35 PM

comment #11

BurmaShave says ...

Mothersbaugh's score for TENENBAUMS was fantastic. Extremely talented composer, very Danny Elfman.

Posted by BurmaShave at August 24, 2007 9:44 PM

comment #12

christian says ...

i finally got around to buying the Village Green Preservation Society and it's great to discover old new music. a fantastic soundscape.

Posted by christian at August 25, 2007 12:24 AM

comment #13

Rob says ...

Whitney Matheson makes my brain bleed. Does USA Today keep her around because she's so functionally retarded that she makes the rest of the paper look like the Wall Street Journal?

Posted by Rob at August 25, 2007 5:35 AM

comment #14

Bocephus says ...

Rushmore was originally going to use only Kinks songs in the soundtrack. Wes is a huge fan.

Is it weird that my favorite Kinks album is Muswell Hillbillies?

Posted by Bocephus at August 25, 2007 7:05 AM

comment #15

nemo says ...

I always loved Muswell Hillbillies. I was fascinated to learn that at the time of his death, Alexander Litvinenko lived in Muswell Hill.

Posted by nemo at August 25, 2007 8:46 AM

comment #16

christian says ...

arizona joe has very good points.

Posted by christian at August 26, 2007 10:51 AM

comment #17

Craig Kennedy says ...

Let me just dip my toe back into the HE waters following a brief absence by commenting on a thread that has long since past its Read By date knowing it will never ever be noticed.

The Mothersbaugh collections are always a highlight to any Wes Anderson film. The little surprises of each selection are just terrific. So much so that I hope I forget what I've just read by the time I see the movie.

The great thing about them is that Mothersbaugh doesn't go for the obvious hits, he picks the underappreciated gems. The kind of things a music nerd would put on a mix tape for the Margaret Yang type he's trying to get into bed.

Life Aquatic I think was the only Wes Anderson movie not to feature a Stones song, but none of them are on the CDs.

My first experience with Flaming Lips was when they opened a show for another more popular act(that will remain nameless because I don't want to look extra douchie). They began the set with Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robotos Pt. 1 as mimed by a nun puppet that Wayne Coyne was holding up to the microphone splashed on the giant video screen. There were the kids of the band and crew dressed in animal costumes with confetti and flashlights and it turned out one of the costumed animals was even the headliner.

Suffice it to say, my mind was blown. They totally knocked said headliner out of the water.

Anyway, please continue about your business.

Posted by Craig Kennedy at August 28, 2007 4:07 PM

comment #18