Soundtrack Saturday

It's nearly the end of July so we're seven months into Soundtrack Saturday and I've not yet posted anything by Ennio Morricone, the composer, orchestrator and musician who is possibly the greatest film score/ soundtrack artist of all. Just listing some of his film works shows his importance and range- all of Sergio Leone's Spaghetti Westerns, The Thing, The Mission, The Untouchables, Cinema Paradiso, The Battle of Algiers, Days Of Heaven, various Tarantino films, Once Upon A Time In America.... 

It is his scores for Sergio Leone's Dollars Trilogy that made him a household name, startling and instantly recognisable pieces of music that are as much part of the three films as any of the actors, scenery or action. The budgets were tight and there were insufficient funds for a full orchestra. Instead Morricone made use of sound effects (whip cracks, gunshots, whistling, voices) and unlikely instruments (Jew's harps, Fender guitars) to soundtrack the three Spaghetti Westerns- 1964's A Fistful Of Dollars, 1965's For A Few Dollars More and 1966's The Good, The Bad And The Ugly. It's probably fair to say more people have heard the theme tune and know the music than have seen all three films. They used to be classic late night television. I lapped them up, watching them over and over. Leone's films and dialogue and Morricone's soundtrack music crossed over into pop culture and music, sampled and borrowed/ stolen far and wide. 

This is a twenty five minute mix of music from Ennio Morricone's Dollars Trilogy, eight Morricone Spaghetti Western pieces plus a surprise cover version at the end. It may be among the most atmospheric and original twenty five minutes of music you press play on today. 

Twenty Five Minutes Of Ennio Morricone's Dollars Trilogy

• Watch Chimes (Carillon's Theme)
• The Good, The Bad And The Ugly
• A Fistful Of Dollars
• For A Few Dollars More
• Chapel Shoot Out
• The Ecstasy Of Gold
• The Strong
• Father Ramirez
• The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

The cover version at the end is Wythenshawe guitar slingers Johnny Marr and Billy Duffy in 1992 paying tribute to the famous guitar lines from the soundtrack to the film of the same name, recorded for an album in 1992 called Ruby Trax, commissioned, compiled and released to mark the fortieth birthday of the NME. 

Get Three Coffins Ready

One of the defining features of popular culture for those of us who grew up in the 1960s and 1970s was the Western. My Mum was/is a Western obsessive, a huge fan of Bonanza, The High Chaparral and the whole gamut of Western films. The theme tunes to those TV shows are some of my earliest musical memories and the actors from those shows singing country 'n' western songs ran through my Mum's record collection (along with The Beatles and Nancy Sinatra). Musically, Lorne Greene singing cowboy songs hasn't really stuck with me but the partnership between Sergio Leone and Ennio Morricone has. The Spaghetti Western films, especially the core Dollar trilogy films made in the 1960s- A Fistful Of Dollars (1964), For A few Dollars More (1965) and The Good, The Bad And The Ugly (1966)- were late night BBC2 films, taped and re-watched. The style of the films, hard boiled anti- heroic, Clint Eastwood's poncho wearing Man With No Name, Mexicans, feuds over gold, bounty hunters, Lee van Cleef, changed the popular view of the Western completely, from the clean living, homespun, family oriented shows to something grittier and ambiguous. The music, scored by composer Ennio Morricone, was something else as well, no rousing orchestral fanfares or campfire singalongs but sparse, dramatic, low budget tunes with whipcracks, gunshots, chanting voices and whistling.

The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

The Ecstasy Of Gold

The various Morricone songs from the soundtracks have re-appeared throughout pop culture ever since. The Clash used it as their walk on theme and the Ramones as their walk off stage music. They've been sampled by widely including by Bomb The Bass, Cameo, various hip hop artists and Big Audio Dynamite. Two lesser known versions of Medicine Show for you...

Medicine Show (UK Remix)

Medicine Show (New York Remix)

'Wanted in fourteen counties of this state, the condemned is found guilty of the crimes of murder; armed robbery of citizens, state banks, and post offices; the theft of sacred objects; arson in a state prison; perjury; bigamy; deserting his wife and children; inciting prostitution; kidnapping; extortion; receiving stolen goods; selling stolen goods; passing counterfeit money; and, contrary to the laws of this state, the condemned is guilty of using marked cards and loaded dice. Therefore, according to the power invested in us, we sentence the accused here before us, Tuco Benedicto Pacifico Juan Maria Ramirez..."
"...known as the Rat..."
"...and any other aliases he might have, to hang by the neck until dead. May God have mercy on his soul. Proceed!'