On top of my film analysis, I have also included a compilation of my 5 favorite songs that I have heard throughout this semester. These songs are ones I heard within films and immediately stuck with me.
For my first song, I would have to pick “Tuesday’s Gone” by Lynyrd Skynyrd. This song came up when we watched Dazed and Confused. I find this song to be fantastic not only in its place within the movie but also its amazing lyrics and instrumentals. To begin, Lynyrd Skynyrd put together a beautiful ballad of leaving someone or something that you love. Its soft and touching lyrics with great vocals provide a heartfelt message about moving away and rolling on. When seeing this within the film, I thought it connected perfectly to Randall Floyd and his friends, as their descent into their last summer as high school kids proved to be them moving away from childhood. Seeing this song and this scene together made me feel an especially great connection because I knew this exact feeling that Ronnie Van Zant was singing about. Knowing that you’re leaving something good but not knowing what you’re leaving for is classic and is especially relevant when it comes to getting ready to leave high school like I have, and Floyd and his gang would. I had never heard this song prior to watching this film, I had been unaware of Skynyrd’s music besides the most popular, but this song is now an instant classic to me in my books and it’s thanks to “Dazed and Confused”.
My second song would be “Strangers in the Night” by Frank Sinatra. I heard this song for the first time ever when watching Baby, It’s You. I have always loved Frank Sinatra, and it has been something I have always known in my life coming from Italian blood. From my grandmother, I had always known of the classics like “That’s Life” or “My Way”. Hearing “Strangers in the Night” was something new to me. It was like discovering a Sinatra song for myself that I would come to love, and not being fed it. Prior to watching the movie just knowing it was shot in New Jersey and takes place in 1966, I was expecting to hear Sinatra but one of the classics like I had mentioned. I was glad I didn’t because the lyrics to this song fit perfectly with the on-screen romance of Sheik and Jill. Their unexpected romance of two complete strangers loving one another, at first sight, is exactly what Sinatra writes within his lyrics. I felt the way this song was represented within the film was perfectly executed but at the end of the day I love this song because it is another timeless Frank Sinatra masterpiece to add to the collection.
My third song would have to be “Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere” by Neil Young. I heard this song for the first time when watched Almost Famous. One thing I really like about this song is that it is really hidden in this movie, and I don’t think it gets the appreciation it deserves within the film. In fact, I don’t even think it even on the soundtrack list, but as soon as I heard it, I had to find out what it was. The reason I think this song is so good is because it is a classic upbeat, feel good enjoy your life kind of song. The song fits perfectly with the scene in which Russell flings himself into the party to have a good time and escape the harsh life of the road. The lyrics represent everything he wants, he’s going to “take it easy” he’s got “a woman that I’d like to get to know” with Penny Lane, and outside of the tour life he’s just back home and in nowhere. I felt this song fit well into the movie and I really liked both the lyrics and the instrumentals that gave me a feel-good connection to this song. The lack of appreciation to this song within the film made me enjoy it even more for having picked it out.
My fourth song would be “I Should Have Known Better” By The Beatles. I heard this for the first time when we watched A Hard Day’s Night. This was my first time ever watching a Beatles movie and hearing majority of the songs within the soundtrack. Out of all the songs that a heard the one that stuck out the most to me was definitely “I Should Have Known Better”. When they first performed it in the train cart with all the storage and the girls watching them from outside the gate, it was such a funny and upbeat experience that created a happy mood. The Beatles do such a create job with their music both lyrically and instrumentally of bringing joy to a listener, and the sound of this song plus the peppy and childish actions of the Beatles in the movie created an environment that helped me to love this song.
My fourth and final song would be Johnny B. Goode by Chuck Barry. I heard this song when watching American Graffiti. Surprisingly this was not the first time I heard this song as I heard it in another film. Every time I heard this song, I would always think right to Back to The Future, but I was surprised to hear this song within American Graffiti. I really think this song fits in with the depicted time of the movie, which helps me enjoy the song a lot more within context of the realism of the movie. It creates a naturally exciting energy to it and I always think to get up on my feet and moving around when hearing this song. The classic shredding of the guitar by Chuck Barry is iconic within this song and it is impossible to miss it when hearing it. To me “Johnny B. Goode” is one of those classic oldie songs to me that just goes down in music history and it would be almost impossible for me not to know it.
