I like that Mercury Rev has a song called “Night and Fog”…there’s also a song by The Band (on Cahoots…maybe “Where Do We Go From Here”?) where they name drop Cocteau along with non-cineastes such as Van Gogh and Geronimo (doubtless a Robbie Robertson touch)…The Velvet Underground’s “New Age” has that wonderful line, “and when you kissed Robert Mitchum, gee I thought you’d never catch him” or something like that…
I’m ashamed to know that it is indeed Barenaked Ladies (aie!)
:D I love Barenaked Ladies! I actually know that Velvet underground song, but I never listened to it close enough to catch that line. I’m currently looking up the other 2.
Have you ever heard the song Starry Night by Don McClean [sp?]? I personally think it sounds annoying over all, but I like the lyrics and their homage to Van Gogh.
How about the White Stripes song, “The Union Forever”? Here are the lyrics (which you may find familiar even if you’ve never heard the song):
It can`t be love
for there is no true love
It can`t be love
for there is no true love
Shure I`m C.F.K.
but you gotta love me
the cost no man can say
but you gotta love me
Well I`m sorry but I`m not
interested in gold mines,
oil wells, shipping or real estate
what would I liked to have been?
everything you hate
There is a man?
a certain man
and for the poor you may be shure
that he`ll do all he can
who is this one?
[who`s favorite son?]
just by his action has the traction
magnets on the run
who likes to smoke?
enjoys a joke?
and wouldn`t get a bit
upset if he were really broke?
with wealth and fame
he`s still the same
I`ll bet you five you`re not alive
If you don`t now his name
You said the union forever
You said the union forever
You cried the union forever
but that was untrue girl
cause it can`t be love
haven’t heard the Mclean…but just thought of another cinematic reference song: “Torn Curtain” by Television
There’s the old Bananarama song “Robert Deniro’s Waiting.”
Also, Dramarama’s first two albums were called Box Office Bomb and Cinema Verite.
A popular song, Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance, lol. :)
I want your psycho
Your vertigo shtick
Want you in my rear window
Baby, you’re sick
Well, there was this movie I seen one time,
About a man riding ’cross the desert and it starred Gregory Peck.
He was shot down by a hungry kid trying to make a name for himself.
The townspeople wanted to crush that kid down and string him up by the neck.
Well, the marshal, now he beat that kid to a bloody pulp
as the dying gunfighter lay in the sun and gasped for his last breath.
Turn him loose, let him go, let him say he outdrew me fair and square,
I want him to feel what it’s like to every moment face his death.
Well, I keep seeing this stuff and it just comes a-rolling in
And you know it blows right through me like a ball and chain.
You know I can’t believe we’ve lived so long and are still so far apart.
The memory of you keeps callin’ after me like a rollin’ train.
I can still see the day that you came to me on the painted desert
In your busted down Ford and your platform heels
I could never figure out why you chose that particular place to meet
Ah, but you were right. It was perfect as I got in behind the wheel.
Well, we drove that car all night into San Anton’
And we slept near the Alamo, your skin was so tender and soft.
Way down in Mexico you went out to find a doctor and you never came back.
I would have gone on after you but I didn’t feel like letting my head get blown off.
Well, we’re drivin’ this car and the sun is comin’ up over the Rockies,
Now I know she ain’t you but she’s here and she’s got that dark rhythm in her soul.
But I’m too over the edge and I ain’t in the mood anymore to remember the times when I was your only man
And she don’t want to remind me. She knows this car would go out of control.
Brownsville girl with your Brownsville curls, teeth like pearls shining like the moon above
Brownsville girl, show me all around the world, Brownsville girl, you’re my honey love.
Well, we crossed the panhandle and then we headed towards Amarillo
We pulled up where Henry Porter used to live. He owned a wreckin’ lot outside of town about a mile.
Ruby was in the backyard hanging clothes, she had her red hair tied back. She saw us come rolling up in a trail of dust.
She said, “Henry ain’t here but you can come on in, he’ll be back in a little while.”
Then she told us how times were tough and about how she was thinkin’ of bummin’ a ride back to where she started.
But ya know, she changed the subject every time money came up.
She said, “Welcome to the land of the living dead.” You could tell she was so broken-hearted.
She said, “Even the swap meets around here are getting pretty corrupt.”
“How far are y’all going?” Ruby asked us with a sigh.
“We’re going all the way ’til the wheels fall off and burn,
’Til the sun peels the paint and the seat covers fade and the water moccasin dies.”
Ruby just smiled and said, “Ah, you know some babies never learn.”
Something about that movie though, well I just can’t get it out of my head
But I can’t remember why I was in it or what part I was supposed to play.
All I remember about it was Gregory Peck and the way people moved
And a lot of them seemed to be lookin’ my way.
Brownsville girl with your Brownsville curls, teeth like pearls shining like the moon above
Brownsville girl, show me all around the world, Brownsville girl, you’re my honey love.
Well, they were looking for somebody with a pompadour.
I was crossin’ the street when shots rang out.
I didn’t know whether to duck or to run, so I ran.
“We got him cornered in the churchyard,” I heard somebody shout.
Well, you saw my picture in the Corpus Christi Tribune. Underneath it, it said, “A man with no alibi.”
You went out on a limb to testify for me, you said I was with you.
Then when I saw you break down in front of the judge and cry real tears,
It was the best acting I saw anybody do.
Now I’ve always been the kind of person that doesn’t like to trespass but sometimes you just find yourself over the line.
Oh if there’s an original thought out there, I could use it right now.
You know, I feel pretty good, but that ain’t sayin’ much. I could feel a whole lot better,
If you were just here by my side to show me how.
Well, I’m standin’ in line in the rain to see a movie starring Gregory Peck,
Yeah, but you know it’s not the one that I had in mind.
He’s got a new one out now, I don’t even know what it’s about
But I’ll see him in anything so I’ll stand in line.
Brownsville girl with your Brownsville curls, teeth like pearls shining like the moon above
Brownsville girl, show me all around the world, Brownsville girl, you’re my honey love.
You know, it’s funny how things never turn out the way you had ‘em planned.
The only thing we knew for sure about Henry Porter is that his name wasn’t Henry Porter.
And you know there was somethin’ about you baby that I liked that was always too good for this world
Just like you always said there was something about me you liked that I left behind in the French Quarter.
Strange how people who suffer together have stronger connections than people who are most content.
I don’t have any regrets, they can talk about me plenty when I’m gone.
You always said people don’t do what they believe in, they just do what’s most convenient, then they repent.
And I always said, “Hang on to me, baby, and let’s hope that the roof stays on.”
There was a movie I seen one time, I think I sat through it twice.
I don’t remember who I was or where I was bound.
All I remember about it was it starred Gregory Peck, he wore a gun and he was shot in the back.
Seems like a long time ago, long before the stars were torn down.
Brownsville girl with your Brownsville curls, teeth like pearls shining like the moon above
Brownsville girl, show me all around the world, Brownsville girl, you’re my honey love.
bob dylan brownsville girl
Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man” has been said to have been inspired by Fellini’s “La Strada”
“The Weight by The Band:
“(Buñuel) did so many films on the impossibility of sainthood. People trying to be good in Viridiana and Nazarin, people trying to do their thing. In ‘The Weight’ it’s the same thing. People like Buñuel would make films that had these religious connotations to them but it wasn’t necessarily a religious meaning. In Buñuel there were these people trying to be good and it’s impossible to be good. In “The Weight” it was this very simple thing. Someone says, “Listen, would you do me this favour? When you get there will you say ‘hello’ to somebody or will you give somebody this or will you pick up one of these for me? Oh? You’re going to Nazareth, that’s where the Martin guitar factory is. Do me a favour when you’re there.” This is what it’s all about. So the guy goes and one thing leads to another and it’s like “Holy Shit, what’s this turned into? I’ve only come here to say ‘hello’ for somebody and I’ve got myself in this incredible predicament.” It was very Buñuelish to me at the time." - Robbie Robertson
King Missile – Martin Scorsese
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQKS4_Y7QCI
“Debaser” by the Pixies. It’s all about “Un Chien Andalou”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mCoOlUjhlc
If we are allowed to venture into the land of hip-hop, the albums of Philly-based group “Jedi Mind Tricks” are usually chock-full of movie references.
Most impressive is probably the track “Razorblade Salvation” which features the alchemist speech from Alejandro Jodorowsky’s “The Holy Mountain” at the end (@2.38):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgAR1Dgpg_U
Quite often their tracks open with a sample from a movie, e.g. “Blood in Blood Out” opens with a quote from Hannibal Lecter in Manhunter (“If one does what God does enough times, one will become as God is.”). “Nadia Cambia” starts with the opening speech from del Toro’s “The Devil’s Backbone” (in Spanish) etc. They also like to use movie samples in their interludes, a wonderful example is “Heart of Darkness (Interlude)” which has the complete “Fire, walk with me” speech from Twin Peaks.
Well the telephone rang, it would not stop
It was President Kennedy calling me up
He said, My friend Bob, what do we need to make the country grow?
I said, My friend John, Brigitte Bardot, Anita Ekberg, Sophia Loren … country’ll grow.
Sorta sexist, Bob, but fun.
Stereo Total, Cinémania
Antonioni, Mastroianni
Fellini, Pasolini
Billy Wilder, Lana Turner
Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Marlene Dietrich, Ernst Lubitsch
James Dean, Charles Chaplin
François Truffaut, Jean-Pierre Léaut
Belmondo, Brigitte Bardot
La manie du cinéma: Cinémania…
Marilyn Monroe, Jeanne Moreau
Robert de Niro, Mia Farrow
Woody Allen, Sophia Loren
Ingrid Bergman, Liv Ulman
Rita Hayworth, Ginger Rogers
Gary Cooper, Dennis Hopper
Lollo Brigida, John Travolta
Peter, Henry, Jane Fonda
La manie du cinéma: Cinémania…
Hanna Schygulla, Anna Karina
Isabelle Huppert, Jodie Foster
Claudia Cardinale, Sergio Leone
Jerry Lewis, Tony Curtis
Fernando Rey, Simone Signoret
Alain Resnais, Maurice Ronet
Judy Garland, Gary Grant
James Stewart, Humphrey Bogart
La manie…
Isabelle Adjani, Anna Magnani
Roman Polanski, Klaus Kinski
Alain Delon, Michel Simon
Jack Lemmon, Jack Nicholson
Julie Christie, Jacques Tati
Warren Beatty, Visconti
Jean-Luc Godard, Jean Renoir
Stéphane Audran, Trintignant
… Alfred Hitchcock
“Say, where did I see this guy?
In Red River?
Or a place in the sun?
Maybe the Misfits?
Or From Here to Eternity?
Everybody say, “Is he all right?”
And everybody say, “What’s he like?”
Everybody say, “He sure look funny.”
That’s…Montgomery Clift, honey!"
- The Right Profile by The Clash, from the album ‘London Calling’.
Pasolini is me
‘Accattone’ you’ll be
I entered nothing and nothing entered me
’Til you came with the key
‘You have killed me’ by Morrissey (who else?), from the album ‘Ringleader of the Tormentors’.
Me gustas casi tanto como El Día de la Marmota
O como una buena cinta de Godard
Me dejas K.O. como el bueno de Jake La Motta
Inmerso en tu cinéma d’art.
Por ti ahora soy adicto al popcorn
A las cintas de los sixties con Michael Caine
Por ti, lo sabes, yo me he vuelto loco
Tienes sobre mi el efecto Ciudadano Kane.
Eres sofisticada como un filme de Antonioni
No necesitas poses ni ser conceptual
Eres tan espectacular – here’s Johnny!
Estoy inmerso en tu cinéma d’art.
Por ti ahora soy adicto al popcorn
A las cintas de los sixties con Michael Caine
Por ti, lo sabes, yo me he vuelto loco
Tienes sobre mi el efecto Ciudadano Kane.
Los Padrinos!, “Adicto Al Popcorn” (2008)
Sonic Youth’s “Shadow of a Doubt” feels as though it were written under the influence of several Hitchcock films.
complete with a Stranger on a Train reference:
“Met a stranger on a train
He bumped right into me
I swear I didn’t mean it”
Ah, the last time we saw you you looked so much older
Your famous blue raincoat was torn at the shoulder
You’d been to the station to meet every train
And you came home without Lili Marlene
Like the Exorcist but More Breakdancing
Who Will Survive, and What will be Left of Them?
Both Murder by Death albums, which feature songs like, “Holy Lord, Shawshank Redemption is Such a Good Movie!” “You are the Last Dragon (You Possess the Power of the Glow)”, and “I’m Afraid of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolff”, as well as Ennio Morricone references in their album Red of Tooth and Claw.
They also have a b-side called “We Watch a Lot of Movies”. Everytime I read that title, I laugh and say, “…and It Shows.”
—PolarisDiB
“2HB” by Roxy Music. “Here’s looking at you, kid…”
“I saw a film today oh boy,
The English Army had just won the war.”
“A while ago somewhere
I don’t know when
I was watching
a movie with a friend.
I fell in love with the actress.
She was playing a part
that I could understand.”
“Bela Legosi’s dead”
Narda, what reference is in famous blue raincoat?
The Go-betweens – Lee remick ‘She was in The Omen with Gregory Peck, she got killed, but what the heck’ (The Omen)
Wu-tang clan – shame on a N ‘Warriors come out to play-ay’ (the Warriors)
Arab Strap – The shy retirer ‘You can be my teenage Jenny Agutter swimming naked in a pond’ (Walkabout)
white stripes actually have a few songs with cinematic references. in addition to the union forever being pretty much entirely composed of lines from citizen kane, “take, take, take” is about meeting rita hayworth. jack white’s record/film company is called third man. when the white stripes movie premeried (under great white northern lights) at TIFF, he came on stage, grabbed the mic from the emcee, and said “Ima let you finish, but Orson Welles made one of the greatest films of all time”. It was topical at the time. Anyway, he’s a huge Orson Welles fan.
Foxy Shazam quotes wizard of oz
“they took my arms and threw them over there! they took my legs and threw them over there!”
scott walker’s version of the seventh seal is beautiful
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMUk1R_fKEA
Let’s make a film, it’ll be such fun
All you need is a girl and a gun – apparently
Real Tuesday Weld – “Ruth, Roses and Revolvers”
Let’s make a film, it’ll be such fun
All you need is a girl and a gun – apparently
Real Tuesday Weld – “Ruth, Roses and Revolvers”
“But in my room
Wish you were dead
You bawl like the baby
In Eraserhead”
Too Drunk To Fuck, Dead Kennedys
“KEY LARGO” by Bertie Higgins (1982)
Wrapped around each other
Trying so hard to stay warm
That first cold winter together
Lying in each others arms
Watching those old movies
Falling in love so desperately
Honey, I was your hero
And you were my leading lady
We had it all
Just like Bogie and Bacall
Starring in our old late, late show
Sailing away to Key Largo
Here’s lookin’ at you kid
Missing all the things we did
We can find it once again, I know
Just like they did in Key Largo
Honey, can’t you remember
We played all the parts
That sweet scene of surrender
When you gave me your heart
Please say you will
Play it again
‘Cause I love you still
Baby, this can’t be the end
We had it all
(We had it all)
Just like Bogie and Bacall
Starring in our old late, late show
Sailing away to Key Largo
Here’s lookin’ at you kid
(Here’s lookin’ at you kid)
Missing all the things we did
We can find it once again, I know
Just like they did in Key Largo
We had it all
(We had it all)
Just like Bogie and Bacall
Starring in our old late, late show
Sailing away to Key Largo
Jardun
What are some of your favorite cinematic references in music? Be it popular, indie, what ever music, do you know of any?
My personal favorite:
“Like Kurasawa I make mad films
Okay, I don’t make films
But if I did they’d have a Samurai"
Name that song!