Not only does this film have a great soundtrack but it was also the first movie that I know of that used contemporary music with lyrics as background. I saw it as a young teenager and was absolutely blown away. I'm almost scared to see it again now because I fear that it has probably dated some. Even if so, the music, and the use of the music, was definitely groundbreaking and memorable.
Personally I found that background music to be a distraction to the point that I really had trouble catching a lot of the dialog.
Hi! My name's Mike, and I'm a recovering Demi-basher.
I thought that though at times the music was a little unnecessary (why the hell is the psychadelic "White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane playing when Vi and Sally are talking about volunteering and moving??), but the last scene with Tim Buckley's haunting "Once I Was" was perfection. The lyrics seem as though they were written just for the film, i.e. the lines
"Once I Was a lover
and I searched behind your eyes for you
and soon there'll be another
to tell you I was just a lie"
are played at the moment when Bob is taking off his wedding ring. Hal Ashby knew what he was doing. He's sorely missed; the closest we'll ever get to him is Wes Anderson.
Did he train you? Did he rehearse you? Did he tell you exactly what to do and to say?
I just heard that song, "Once I Was", and I was going crazy trying to remember where
I heard that from because it has such a strong memory, and I was thinking it was
"Coming Home" ... and it was right. Thank God or I would be here for days trying
to remember that haunting moment.
There is another Buckley song that is eluding my memory, sounds like this one, but
is not, but I just do not know enough about the music of that time.
Buckley died at 28. It is amazing how evocative his music is and emotional, and
how it is so varied that it actually killed his career in a way.
Don't worry, watch it again and you will see it has aged very well. I mean, how can you go wrong with Mr Hal Ashby, director of The Last Detail and Being There? Put these two together with Coming Home and you have a trifecta of cinema that is as relevant today as it was when it came out.
I have to agree with you, Coming Home is the epitome of music employed for the highest possible guttural impact in dramatic scenes.
As for a comment posted above about the music distracting from the dialogue, I posit a theory: without the music the way it's executed, we would have a crystal clear window to witness the events in these characters lives. No siree, that would be too tidy and objective.
By blasting us with music, Mr Ashby effectively puts the audience in a similar state of disorientation that the characters are living, so the film becomes a more subjective experience, canceling some of the benefits that retrospective provide (the film came out in 1978). Which I'm sure is exactly what he wanted to achieve, to put us right there in the mess that was 1968, and he pulled it off, masterfully.
I love Hal Ashby.
You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes you might find you get what you need.
I thought it was a great soundtrack as well, the music really fitted, I liked the Stones raw version of 'My Girl' as Jane Fonda met with Dern, and as a previous poster pointed out, the Tim Buckley song fits the end perfectly. I can't think of too many films that have official Beatles tracks (as opposed to covers) as well. I did find the dialogue low in the mix, but could that be because it's a pretty basic DVD?
shareI really love the way the film uses "Bookends" by Simon and Garfunkel. Also the Stones song at the beginning and the Tim Buckley song at the end are both perfect. I haven't seen this film in ages, though.
shareI found the soundtrack broken into parts here:
www.4shared.com/file/92085095/7f2c7c42
www.4shared.com/file/92085963/1e06fe37
Great music but It got a little annoying
shareLiked some of the songs but in fairness it was fairly amateur, just because a song is good doesn't mean you're obliged to shoehorn into your movie. Nearly ruined the whole film.
"The famous man looked at the red cup" Dan Brown
Have to disagree, 1968 is defined by the music & any film set then, especially one dealing with Vietnam, must include it.
share