The Whirlwind is in the Thorn Trees
I've gone off in a strange direction musically, filling in some country, western, and western rock holes in my iTunes collection. Cash, Campbell, Hank Williams, for God's sake, and The Eagles.
I have always loved the Glen Campbell sixties story songs (By The Time I Get To Phoenix, Galveston, Witchita Lineman, Gentle On My Mind) and a few years back he recorded an album in which he covered an assortment of rock songs from the 1990s and the 2000s. I fell in love with his version of Travis' "Sing." Anyway, I bought the rest of that album, and it's quite good.
Then I bought Hank Williams' 40 Greatest Hits. Then The Eagles collection. And finally another of Johnny Cash's American Recordings, the one with "Hurt." The title of this entry is from Cash's "The Man Comes Around," which is just a kick-ass song. (Used at the end of season one of The Sarah Connors Chronicles, in the terminator's massacre at the pool, if you happened to see that.)
I'm not sure what impulse lead me to buy these during my most recent music buying spree (and go over budget doing so), but it was the right maneuver. Both because I like all the music I'm hearing, but also because it helped me tap into the character I'm writing at the movie's opening. I had forgotten how potent the Western mythology was during my childhood. Not just the Cowboys and Indians mythology, which still went mostly unquestioned until the sixties, but which was being debated in our nation, my home town, and amongst my friends. AIM was taking over at Wounded Knee.
The Eagles' Desperado album, with songs like Outlaw Man, Doolin' Dalton, and Desperado, was a concept album about an outlaw gang of the old west, but the songs were vibrant and alive. In real time, listening to Outlaw Man as a teen, I could get into the mindset of being Mr. Badass. Mr. Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen Year Old Badass. Hotel California, New Kid In Town, Take It To the Limit, Witchy Woman. All these songs painted a picture of contemporary life within the corrupted detritus of Old West mythology.
And that's how my lead character sees himself. Suddenly I'm finding myself able to tap into this a bit.
All of the above music goes well with the Monsters of Folk LP. The members of Monsters of Folk are each "rock stars" on their own. Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis of Bright Eyes from Nebraska, M Ward (of She and Him and as a solo artist) from Portland, Oregon, and Jim James of My Morning Jacket from Kentucky.
"It's a road that you've paved
Over Indian graves and
You wonder why your dreams are crazed"
This is a sample lyric from the Monsters of Folk song "Map of the World." They are inheritors in their own way of all this mythology and musical heritage.
And all of it is combining to be surprisingly inspiring for me just at the moment. A few weeks ago I was running a funky dance floor up in this joint, buying Prince, Diana Ross' "No One Gets The Prize," and ultra-gay-disco artists Patrick Crowley, Sylvester, Donna Summer. Suddenly this weekend I'm exploring country roots. Fascinating where impulses will pull you.
I have always loved the Glen Campbell sixties story songs (By The Time I Get To Phoenix, Galveston, Witchita Lineman, Gentle On My Mind) and a few years back he recorded an album in which he covered an assortment of rock songs from the 1990s and the 2000s. I fell in love with his version of Travis' "Sing." Anyway, I bought the rest of that album, and it's quite good.
Then I bought Hank Williams' 40 Greatest Hits. Then The Eagles collection. And finally another of Johnny Cash's American Recordings, the one with "Hurt." The title of this entry is from Cash's "The Man Comes Around," which is just a kick-ass song. (Used at the end of season one of The Sarah Connors Chronicles, in the terminator's massacre at the pool, if you happened to see that.)
I'm not sure what impulse lead me to buy these during my most recent music buying spree (and go over budget doing so), but it was the right maneuver. Both because I like all the music I'm hearing, but also because it helped me tap into the character I'm writing at the movie's opening. I had forgotten how potent the Western mythology was during my childhood. Not just the Cowboys and Indians mythology, which still went mostly unquestioned until the sixties, but which was being debated in our nation, my home town, and amongst my friends. AIM was taking over at Wounded Knee.
The Eagles' Desperado album, with songs like Outlaw Man, Doolin' Dalton, and Desperado, was a concept album about an outlaw gang of the old west, but the songs were vibrant and alive. In real time, listening to Outlaw Man as a teen, I could get into the mindset of being Mr. Badass. Mr. Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen Year Old Badass. Hotel California, New Kid In Town, Take It To the Limit, Witchy Woman. All these songs painted a picture of contemporary life within the corrupted detritus of Old West mythology.
And that's how my lead character sees himself. Suddenly I'm finding myself able to tap into this a bit.
All of the above music goes well with the Monsters of Folk LP. The members of Monsters of Folk are each "rock stars" on their own. Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis of Bright Eyes from Nebraska, M Ward (of She and Him and as a solo artist) from Portland, Oregon, and Jim James of My Morning Jacket from Kentucky.
"It's a road that you've paved
Over Indian graves and
You wonder why your dreams are crazed"
This is a sample lyric from the Monsters of Folk song "Map of the World." They are inheritors in their own way of all this mythology and musical heritage.
And all of it is combining to be surprisingly inspiring for me just at the moment. A few weeks ago I was running a funky dance floor up in this joint, buying Prince, Diana Ross' "No One Gets The Prize," and ultra-gay-disco artists Patrick Crowley, Sylvester, Donna Summer. Suddenly this weekend I'm exploring country roots. Fascinating where impulses will pull you.