Poor Poor Pitiful Me (1976) – Warren Zevon

Posted on February 12, 2024 by observationblogger — 13 Comments

Poor Poor Pitiful Me by Warren Zevon is an exuberant upbeat country – rock track. In terms of intensity, liveliness, and even in its impropriety this song reminds me of the penultimate song to feature here from Zevon called Excitable Boy. I believe both of these songs which have a macabre sense of humour were recommendations from my friend Max at PowerPop who is a big Zevon fan. Thanks in large part to Max, my estimation of Zevon’s output has risen markedly since I started this music library project in July, 2019.

I love this song. Not many songs deal with a failed suicide, domestic abuse, and a brush with sadomasochism. I’m a huge Warren Zevon fan. His songs tend to be on the dark side…and anyone who has listened to Excitable Boy will testify to that.

When I heard Zevon’s version of this song for the first time I was sold. I first heard the Linda Ronstadt version and I loved it. I’m a Linda Ronstadt fan but something about Zevon’s version draws me in. It’s raw and crude and I love the way he sings it.

– Max at PowerPop (Warren Zevon – Poor Poor Pitiful Me)

I have presented a live version of Poor Poor Pitiful Me by Zevon at the Capitol Theatre, NJ in 1982 below. His music talents not only as a songwriter, but as an effervescent entertainer seem to be marvellously showcased by this gold-standard version. Also the band are so solid. The version also transfigures unexpectedly into Bruce Springsteen’s Cadillac Ranch. It is said, Zevon never got the level of popular recognition he deserved, but ‘real’ musicians know how great he was.

[Verse 1]
I lay my head on the railroad tracks
And wait for the Double E
The railroad don’t run no more
Poor, poor pitiful me

[Chorus]
Poor, poor pitiful me
Poor, poor pitiful me
These young girls won’t let me be
Lord, have mercy on me
Woe is me

[Verse 2]
Well, I met a girl in West Hollywood
But I ain’t naming names
But she really worked me over good
She was just like Jesse James
She really worked me over good
She was a credit to her gender
She put me through some changes, Lord
Sort of like a Waring blender

[Verse 3]
I met a girl at the Rainbow Bar
She asked me if I’d beat her
She took me back to the Hyatt House
I don’t want to talk about it, hey

Zevon had early music industry successes as a session musician, jingle composer, songwriter, touring musician, musical coordinator, and bandleader. In 1975, Zevon toured regularly with the Everly Brothers as keyboard player, band leader, and musical coordinator. Also, in this same year he returned to Los Angeles, where he roomed with Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham (Fleetwood Mac). Despite all of that, Zevon struggled to break through in his solo career until his music was performed by Linda Ronstadt in 1976. There he collaborated with Jackson Browne, who produced and promoted Zevon’s self-titled major-label debut in 1976 in which today’s featured track appears.

Reference:
1. Poor Poor Pitiful Me – Wikipedia
2. Warren Zevon (album) – Wikipedia

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Posted in Music

Bittersweet (1993) – Big Head Todd and the Monsters

Posted on February 11, 2024 by observationblogger — 8 Comments

Time to head to the ’90s with a neat track by Big Head Todd and The Monsters, which is right up my alley and hopefully yours as well. This Colorado rock band was formed in 1986. After two albums in 1989 and 1990, they hit it big in February 1993 with Sister Sweetly, which went Platinum in the U.S. and remained on the Billboard 200 for more than a year, though curiously, it only peaked at no. 117. Off that album, here’s the lead single Bittersweet. Like all other songs on Sister Sweetly, it was solely penned by the band’s vocalist, guitarist and keyboarder Todd Park Mohr. Big Head Todd and The Monsters are active to this day and are currently touring, with Mohr remaining part of the current line-up. They also have a great new single out with a cool John Hiatt vibe.

– The Sunday Six – Christian’s Music Musings

I was introduced to today’s song Bittersweet from Christian’s Music Musings web site. The passion Christian exudes for music is palpable and I feel grateful to be able to converse with him about music. His blog contains a great cross section of music and I am learning to appreciate genres such as Jazz which I hadn’t heard much of in the past. I told Christian recently: ‘I just realised my music project will be elongated substantially listening to your recommendations over the next few years‘.

..Since I started listening in the mid-seventies, music has become my big passion. First came the radio, followed by my older sister’s vinyl records. Then I started buying my own records and spending endless hours taping stuff on music cassettes from other records and my favorite radio shows. From there it didn’t take long to get to the next level, which was learning the guitar and the electric bass, and playing the latter in two bands in my late teens and early twenties.

Fast-forward some 40 years until today. While I haven’t been an active hobby musician in close to 30 years, I’m still as crazy about music as back then. Nowadays, it’s primarily listening to music and for the past few years increasingly going to concerts – and, of course, writing this blog! Every now and then, when I grab my guitar or see some band perform live, I still feel the itch to resume playing music actively until reality sets in: my family, my job and mortgage, etc…

– Continue reading Christian’s ‘About‘ Page

A little light looks through her bedroom window
She dances and I dream, she’s not so far as she seems
Of brighter meadows, melting sunsets
Her hair blowing in the breeze
And she can’t see me watching
And I’m thinking love…
Love…
Love…
Love…

It’s bittersweet
More sweet than bitter
Bitter than sweet
It’s a bittersweet surrender

References:
1. Bittersweet (Big Head Todd and the Monsters song) – Wikipedia

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Golden Brown (1982) – The Stranglers

Posted on February 10, 2024 by observationblogger — 23 Comments

I was reminded of how much I like this song when I was watching the 2000 film Snatch in which this song appeared. I always found the unconventional harpsichord sound in Golden Brown alluring, but at the same time slightly unsettling. Golden Brown was intentionally written ambiguously to get past the censors. Singer and lyricist Hugh Cornwell said in 2001: “It’s about heroin and also about a girl… both provided me with pleasurable times.” It is said Hugh Cornwell was loath to admit it to the public but acquiesced to the pressure after bassist J.J. Burnel revealed the meaning to the public at large.

Thanks to being chosen as BBC Radio 2’s record of the week, Golden Brown peaked at No 2 on the UK singles chart, a chart high for The Stranglers, and, it is probably the band’s most famous song.

[Verse 1]
Golden brown, texture like sun
Lays me down, with my mind she runs
Throughout the night, no need to fight
Never a frown with golden brown

[Verse 2]
Every time, just like the last
On her ship, tied to the mast
To distant lands, takes both my hands
Never a frown with golden brown

[Verse 3]
Golden brown, finer temptress
Through the ages, she’s heading west
From far away, stays for a day
Never a frown with golden brown

The basis for the tune came from an unused part of Second Coming, a track which featured on their previous album The Gospel According to the Meninblack. According to bassist JJ Burnel, the song’s atypical style was intended to defy expectations. He explained, “The whole thing about that song is it really represented us sticking our fingers up to our detractors‘. “We were written off by then,” Burnell admitted.”There was a new record company at the time that had taken us over because they have swallowed up our previous record company. They said punk was over and we were finished, and then we forced them to release that record‘. 

..It wasn’t the lyrical content that inspired so many to purchase the record, but it was the seductiveness of the melody: Wet with atmosphere and rich in sonic experience, the song signalled a more mature outlet that showed that punk was as malleable as the author intended it to be.

– Far Out Magazine

References:
1. Golden Brown – Wikipedia
2. The literal meaning behind The Stranglers’ opus ‘Golden Brown’ – Far Out Magazine

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Concrete Utopia (2023) – Um Tae-hwa (Friday’s Finest)

Posted on February 9, 2024 by observationblogger — 5 Comments

Concrete Utopia (Korean: 콘크리트 유토피아) is a 2023 South Korean disaster-thriller film which I had the good fortune to see at the cinema here in Bogota, Colombia. The premise was one of the best I had heard as far as disaster movies go, so my expectations were high going into it. Check this out:

Synopsis (wikipedia below):

Seoul is devastated overnight by a major earthquake. Everything has collapsed, and only one place remains intact: Imperial Palace Apartments. Residents begin to feel threatened as external survivors who have heard of this haven flock to the apartments. They unite for survival, and with a new resident leader, Yeong-tak, they create new rules for residents and prevent entry to outsiders. Thanks to this, unlike the hellish world outside, the utopian apartments remain safe and peaceful. In an endless crisis for survival, however, an unexpected conflict begins among them.

Concrete Utopia lived up to and exceeded my expectations. I normally don’t touch ‘Disaster’ movies with a ten foot pole, but I was lured by the following:

  • The above story line intrigued me,
  • Concrete Utopia is a foreign film, which means it doesn’t have the Rock in it and that can only be a good thing,
  • Concrete Utopia has excellent reviews.. so exceptional in fact it currently sits at 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and
  • Concrete Utopia was the official submission of South Korea for the ‘Best International Feature Film‘ category of the 96th Academy Awards in 2024.

It Is an emotional force of a film. Not concerned with the disaster itself or the spectacle it could employ to focus on the moment of tragedy, the film offers epic landscapes but always keeps an intimate eye on the people in the high rise. It presents a disturbing picture of humanity that dribbles into the absolute worst when the social structure is dismembered and survival becomes the only need of the hour. 

I agree with one critic’s appraisal that the film was “more creepy than most horror movies“. Concrete Utopia is a unique and intriguing disaster movie that skilfully blends black comedy, horror and psychological thriller. It’s confidently paced and craftily directed. Anna Miller, with Next Best Picture, graded the film 8/10 and wrote:

“Concrete Utopia is a gripping, disturbing, and powerful representation of the worst of society, yet equally showcasing the best qualities in humans and how hope, community, and decency will always exist through the dust and devastation.”

Concrete Utopia was pre-sold in 152 countries in Europe, Asia, and South America. It is said the film was be released in North America through Viki in the first quarter of 2024.

References:
1. Concrete Utopia – Wikipedia
2. Concrete Utopia – IMDB

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Political World (1989) – Bob Dylan

Posted on February 8, 2024 by observationblogger — 6 Comments

“One night when everyone was asleep and I was sitting at the kitchen table, nothing on the hillside but a shiny bed of lights – all that changed. I wrote about twenty verses for a song called ‘Political World’ and this was about the first of twenty songs I would write in the next month or so…With the song I thought I might have broken through to something. It was like you wake up from a deep and drugged slumber and somebody strikes a little silver gong and you come to your senses”.

– Bob Dylan from Chronicles: Volume One

It was written in the eighties but it explains what we are living in right now. The images in the video below could be mistaken for an Epstein Island. Political World is the second song to be presented from Bob Dylan’s Oh Mercy record after the previous entry Most of the Time. It is an uptempo folk rock song which was released as the opening track on his 1989 album. 

Oh Mercy which was produced by Daniel Lanois and seen by critics as a comeback to form for Dylan after disappointing sales with Knocked Out Loaded and Down in the Groove. Daniel Lanois would produce Dylan’s Time Out of Mind 8 years later which won three Grammy awards. Here is Daniel Lanois speaking about the making of Oh Mercy.

[Verse 1]
We live in a political world
Love don’t have any place
We’re living in times where men commit crimes
And crime don’t have a face

[Verse 2]
We live in a political world
Icicles hanging down
Wedding bells ring and angels sing
Clouds cover up the ground

[Verse 3]
We live in a political world
Wisdom is thrown into jail
It rots in a cell, is misguided as hell
Leaving no one to pick up a trail

[Verse 4]
We live in a political world
Where mercy walks the plank
Life is in mirrors, death disappears
Up the steps into the nearest bank

[Verse 5]
We live in a political world
Where courage is a thing of the past
Houses are haunted, children are unwanted
The next day could be your last

[Verse 6]
We live in a political world
The one we can see and can feel
But there’s no one to check, it’s all a stacked deck
We all know for sure that it’s real

[Verse 7]
We live in a political world
In the cities of lonesome fear
Little by little you turn in the middle
But you’re never sure why you’re here

[Verse 8]
We live in a political world
Under the microscope
You can travel anywhere and hang yourself there
You always got more than enough rope

[Verse 9]
We live in a political world
Turning and a-thrashing about
As soon as you’re awake, you’re trained to take
What looks like the easy way out

[Verse 10]
We live in a political world
Where peace is not welcome at all
It’s turned away from the door to wander some more
Or put up against the wall

[Verse 11]
We live in a political world
Everything is hers or his
Climb into the frame and shout God’s name
But you’re never sure what it is

In their book Bob Dylan All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track, authors Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon note how Daniel Lanois’ atmospheric production plunges listeners “into a dreamy, heavy, menacing but definitely original vibe. The fade-in subtly introduces the drum part, supported by an excellent bassline by Tony Hall. He puts an irresistible pulse to the piece on his four string. Dylan has finally found his producer“.

The phrase “You climb into the frame” from the final verse is taken from the 1970 song “Love Calls You By Your Name” by Dylan’s friend Leonard Cohen.

References:
1. Political World – Wikipedia
2. Oh Mercy – Wikipedia

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The AnkiDroid Collection (Part 52) – Ephemeral, Autophagy & Masochism

Posted on February 7, 2024 by observationblogger — 4 Comments

Ankidroid additions related to Science, History and Philosophy. More information about Anki can be found in this article.

Ephermeral (adjective)

It’s temporary, its transitory. Examples:

  • The ephemeral beauty of a sunset.
  • We all think of the life as a butterfly as ephemeral. Most of them live for a month but some of them can live up to a year.
  • The ephemeral pleasures of life.

There’s an insect we call the Mayfly and this has an ephemeral life which lasts only a few hours. The brief lives of mayfly adults have been noted by naturalists and enciclopedistas since Aristotle and Pliny the Elder in classical antiquity. The German engraver Albrecht Dürer included a mayfly in his 1495 engraving The Holy Family with the Mayfly to suggest a link between heaven and earth. These aquatic insects even belong to the class of family called Ephemeroptera. It’s even in the name.

Autophagy

Autophagy refers to the process of the natural regulated mechanism of the cell that disassembles unnecessary or dysfunctional components.

I discussed autophagy in an article about the video presentation From Cells to Cities Part 2 – Life Span (Geoffrey West):

What is the system that is keeping us alive?

Our metabolic system has built into it dissipating forces. For want of a better word, wear and tear. There is continued damage being done by the flow of blood through the circulatory system. The blood flowing through your capillaries can be quite destructive. It’s like pushing fluid through very thin tubes and there is a great deal of resistance such as scraping between the blood and the walls. So this scraping is really what’s called entropy (2nd law of thermodynamics) which in turn leads to cellular damage. So as already discussed we have the scaling laws theory and you can calculate that the maximal lifespan should scale with 1/4 power scaling and hence gives us a rough estimate of longevity. Essentially the parameters associated with lifespan point to metabolism; not surprisingly because metabolism is that which keeps you alive. However, we also have the physical deterioration of material (wear and tear) which is occurring at the molecular level. And even something outside of that which is the process of repair; that we repair damage. Where does that repair come from? It has its origins in metabolism as well, because you have to supply metabolic energy to clean out damaged cells and regenerate new ones (Autophagy) and avoid premature death.

Masochism

Masochism is the tendency to derive sexual gratification from one’s own pain or humiliation. It is related to the concept of BDSM, which stands for bondage, discipline, dominance, submission, sadism, and masochism.

Masochists often enjoy activities such as being spanked, whipped, or humiliated. They may also enjoy being in submissive roles and giving up control over others. It can also be used in the context of talking about someone who seems to love self-destructing or someone who’s their “own worst enemy.”

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Dream (2008) – Priscilla Ahn (Alex and Jo Music)

Posted on February 6, 2024 by observationblogger — 7 Comments

Hi! Here’s our new cover of wonderful song I Had a Dream by Priscilla Ahn. This song means so much to us and holds special place in our hearts. When we listen to it we always come back to nostalgic childhood memories of being carefree and young. It reminds us of silly dreams that we thought would come true, when we thought we could be anything in the world before world told us what we have to be. Sometimes adulthood restrict us from using our imagination that we had when we were little, we sometimes forget that it’s okay to go back to that special place and dream a little more 🙂 It perfectly sums up the way we feel about a lot of things. Hope you like our cover of this masterpiece!

– Alex and Jo Music

Serbian twins Alex (Alexandra) and Jo (Joanna) are no strangers to this music blog. Today’s featured track Dream by Priscilla Ahn (pictured inset) is their 5th music cover to appear here after:

I am enchanted by all their versions and in awe of their harmony. Also they have been kind enough to communicate with me on their videos. Alex and Jo released over Christmas (2023) their remarkable version of I’ll Be Home For Christmas which you can rest assured will make an appearance here next Christmas (2024).

[Verse 1]
I was a little girl alone in my little world
Who dreamed of a little home for me
I played pretend between the trees
And fed my houseguests, bark and leaves
And laughed in my pretty bed of green

[Pre-Chorus]
I had a dream
That I could fly from the highest swing
I had a dream

[Verse 2]
Long walks in the dark
Through woods grown behind the park
I asked God who I’m supposed to be
The stars smiled down on me
God answered in silent reverie
I said a prayer and fell asleep

Priscilla Ahn (born Priscilla Natalie Hartranft; March 9, 1984) is an American singer -songwriter (image inset). She released her single Dream from her debut album, A Good Day. After growing up in Pennsylvania and graduating from high school, Ahn moved to Los Angeles, California, adopted her mother’s Korean maiden name, and began to pursue a music career.

Ahn’s songs have appeared on television shows including Grey’s Anatomy, Knight Rider and Ghost Whisperer. Ahn married actor Michael Weston in May 2010. They have 3 children.
Below are presented Alex & Jo’s cover of Dream and the original by Priscilla Ahn.

References:
1. Priscilla Ahn – Wikipedia

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Plymouth Chorale (Manchester by the Sea) 2016 – Lesley Barber

Posted on February 5, 2024 by observationblogger — 4 Comments
Lesley Barber

For inspiration for the a cappella pieces and the harmonies, says Barber, she reached into the past. “I looked at the earliest melodies that came over from Plymouth. I thought of that trauma of starting over — how do you start over? I wanted to tap into what was really old and timeless in what they are exploring [which is] a classic starting over in a tough state.

Plymouth Chorale was written and performed by Lesley Barber for Kenneth Lonergan’s Oscar winning film Manchester by the Sea which featured here at ‘Friday’s Finest‘ on Sept 1, 2023. Its sister piece Manchester by the Sea Chorale appeared here shortly after.

Early in the scoring process, Barber took inspiration from New England church music from the 1700s, including Calvinist hymns and other music of the Pilgrims and Colonial era, with its emphasis on a cappella vocals. Barber developed the music to complement her understanding of the essence of the film’s scenes based conversations with director Kenneth Lonergan. Barber says she and Lonergan share a theater background which has given their collaboration “a lovely shorthand.”

To score scenes that reflect Lee’s “interior landscape”, she (Lesley Barber) sent the music to her daughter Jacoba Barber-Rozema, an opera major, then recorded her singing in her dorm room via Skype. Barber said the confined space made for a “perfect sound“…. Caitlin Warren of Spindle Magazine said the score adds perfectly “to the raw emotion of the film without ever overwhelming it to the point of feeling contrived or cheesy.”

“I think all the music I composed and that we chose to put in the film has a sense of inevitability. It never quite lands as repose; it never quite settles and never quite lands,” she says. “There’s the sense with the vocal and the instrumental pieces that I composed that these could actually keep going and it would not bother you, somehow, the repetition. It’s like time and fate.”

Lesley Barber, who lives in Toronto, has earned international acclaim over the past two decades for her film scores, starting with her composition for Patricia Rozema’s When Night Is Falling in 1995.

Reference:
1. Manchester by the Sea‘s Composer on Scoring Kenneth Lonergan’s Masterpiece – Lesley Barber – The Credits

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Please Please Me (1963) – The Beatles

Posted on February 4, 2024 by observationblogger — 9 Comments

I was more than likely rekindled with this song from Max; a huge Beatles fan; at his PowerPop blog page. I admire so many of the earlier hits of the Beatles including today’s featured track – Please Please Me. It is the title track from their debut album and their second single released in Britain—following October 1962’s Love Me Do. The Beatles had accomplished a modest debut success with Love Me Do, but outside of Liverpool and Hamburg they were still practically unknown.

It is said the song Please Please Me encapsulates the band’s original sound during that era. 

“It was my attempt at writing a Roy Orbison song,” Lennon said of “Please Please Me.” He originally penned a yearning ballad while listening to Orbison in a bedroom at his aunt’s house, but Martin suggested it would sound better sped up. Said Lennon, “By the time the session came around, we were so happy with the result, we couldn’t get it recorded fast enough.”

[Verse 1]
Last night, I said these words to my girl
“I know you never even try, girl”

[Chorus]
Come on (Come on), come on (Come on)
Come on (Come on), come on (Come on)
Please, please me, whoa, yeah, like I please you

[Verse 2]
You don’t need me to show the way, love
Why do I always have to say, love

[Bridge]
I don’t want to sound complaining
But you know there’s always rain in my heart (In my heart)
I do all the pleasing with you, it’s so hard to reason
With you, woah, yeah, why do you make me blue?

It took 18 takes to record what George Martin immediately predicted would be their first major hit. Lennon’s harmonica playing features prominently on Please Please Me and similar to other early Beatles’ compositions such as Love Me Do and From Me to You, opens the song. Ringo Starr asserted himself, exorcising any lingering doubts from the Love Me Do sessions regarding his ability. Where Love Me Do had been arguably parochial, relying to a large extent on their existing home fans for support Please Please Me would be groundbreaking, especially as the Beatles were now back in the UK and able to appear on influential national television shows.

The new single was released in the UK on 11 January 1963 during one of the worst winters in British history. On 19 January much of the population was snowed-in at home watching the Beatles perform the song on the Saturday night TV show, Thank Your Lucky Stars. The national exposure of the song, as well as the band’s unusual appearance and hair style, generated a lot of attention.

The album Please Please Me was ‘beyond’ well-received in Britain, where it remained in the Top 10 for over a year, a record for a debut album that stood for half a century.

References:
1. Please Please Me (song) – Wikipedia

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Please Mr. Kennedy (ft. Justin Timberlake, Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver) 2013 – From Inside Llewyn Davis

Posted on February 3, 2024 by observationblogger — 8 Comments

Please Mr. Kennedy is the fourth song to be presented here from the Inside Llewyn Davis soundtrack. In the scene below, Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac) is roped into performing on a recording session with fellow folksingers played by Justin Timberlake and Adam Driver. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association calls it an original song, but Please Mr. Kennedy is part of a long folk tradition of borrowing and rewriting. It was not an original song in the eyes of the Academy’s Music Branch. The songwriting credits listed on its Globe nomination was Ed Rush, George Cromarty, T Bone Burnett, Justin Timberlake, Joel Coen and Ethan Coen.

Rush and the late Cromarty were a folk duo called the Goldcoast Singers, who in 1961 recorded a song called Please Mr. Kennedy that was about not wanting to go to Vietnam. The Llewyn Davis version takes the Goldcoast Singers version, changes the subject matter and the lyrics, and fiddles with the arrangement and the melody – but it’s clearly based on the earlier song. Having said that, I still love what they have done in the Llewyn Davis version. This scene a masterpiece of editing – the cuts really build the excitement of performing the song. The scene would be fun no matter what, but the way it’s cut really makes it worth watching again and again.

10…9…8…7.6.5…4…3…2…
One second please!

[Chorus]
Please Mr. Kennedy (Uh oh!)
I don’t wanna go (please don’t shoot me into outer space)
P-P-Please Mr. Kennedy (Uh oh!)
I don’t wanna go (please don’t shoot me into outer space)

[Verse 1]
I sweat when they stuff me in the pressure suits
Bubble helmet, Flash Gordon boots
Nowhere up there in gravity zero (outer…space)
I need to breathe, don’t need to be a hero (outer…space)
Are you reading me loud and clear?
Oh!

[Verse 2]
I’m six-foot two, and so perhaps you’ll
Tell me how to fit into a five foot capsule
I won’t be known as man of the century
If I burn up upon reentry
Gotta red-blooded wife with a healthy libido (outer…space)
You’ll lose her vote if you make her a widow (outer…space)
And who’ll play catch out in the back with our kid?
Oh!

Funny thing about music: When you intentionally write something that lacks substance, you run the risk of writing something catchy. We like to think we’re creatures that crave meaning. In reality, some of the best music connects on a purely textural level–It means nothing to our conscious minds…That’s where the subconscious mind takes over…The subconscious has questionable musical taste, but it sure knows how to have fun. I like this song. It’s fun and doesn’t demand too much of me. There are many songs that connect in a similar way. It’s not a stretch to call Please Mr. Kennedy one of the highlights of the movie – and a song that might not be so bad it’s good, but it is certainly so bad-good it’s entertaining.

“It is supposed to be a bad song according to Llewyn Davis,” Burnett said at the Q&A following a recent Wrap screening of the film. “The thing is, if you put music in a movie, it has to be good, even if it’s [supposed to be] bad.

“If a character says that the music is bad, then the audience will go along with it and be happy to be in on the joke. But if you just play bad music, the movie’s just bad for the amount of time that that music’s playing.”

References:
1. How a Song About Custer Morphed Into ‘Inside Llewyn Davis’ Globe Nominee ‘Please Mr. Kennedy’ – The Wrap

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