It was a strange occurrence yesterday when I was reminded of these two closely connected compositional pieces when I listened to a song from Steve’s music blog, Song of the Day, called Your Memory. It took some searching through my music memory bank to locate them, but here they are today.
The pieces from the film The Man Who Wasn’t There are namely I Met Doris Blind and The Trial of Ed Crane, which I have presented below. I am thankful for Steve’s article since it reunited me with this wonderfully solemn and pensive music which I should have had in my music collection from the outset.
The cyclical aspects of the music reflect the protagonist’s emotional emptiness and inability to escape his situation. The music connects so well with the Beethoven sonatas woven throughout the film. I wrote an article on The Man Who Wasn’t There in my Friday’s Finest movie segment in 2022. So it’s only fitting that today’s music from the film comes out on a Friday as well.
This is the second time film composer and long-time Coen Brothers’ collaborator Carter Burwell has appeared here, after his Wicked Flee (based on the gospel hymn Leaning On The Everlasting Arms) piece from the film True Grit.
Burwell has contributed music to 17 of the 18 Coen Brothers’ films. Inside Llewyn Davis is the one he didn’t score. You could say he’s basically been the musical voice of the Coens’ cinematic universe.
References:
1. The Man Who Wasn’t There (2001 film) – Wikipedia
“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand
As I remarked in response to your comment on my site yesterday, I was quite impressed by your powers of recall in sifting through all the musical memories to find this gem! Thanks very much, Matt, for the shoutout and for telling more about the piece, and sharing the longer, second track. Beautiful music, mate.
It’s always nice when there’s a shared connection between music. Thanks Steve.
I agree, Matt, nice point. It seems to make the world a little more connected through the sounds…