Brad the Bartender

I've been thinking about movie soundtracks recently. I suppose it started with buying the Juno soundtrack. Which is not only excellent, but was ranked at #1 for numerous weeks. I can't remember the last time I felt compelled to buy a movie soundtrack (wait...I can check that...) Apparently I haven't felt compelled to buy a soundtrack, the entire time I've been purchasing items on ITUNES. I have a few songs from Footloose and Purple Rain which were helping me work on the book, as I transitioned through my own musical history.

When I think about soundtracks that I adore...Amelie, Garden State, Vanilla Sky, Everything Is Illuminated, Rushmore, Manhattan (strike that- all Woody Allen movies), Brokeback Mountain, The Motorcycle Diaries...and the latest one is Juno. I suppose the real impetus for making me think about soundtrack music and memory is that I have recently been listening to Supertramp. I downloaded Goodbye Stranger and can't help but always be reminded of the scene with William H. Macy in Magnolia, where you realize the reason he wants braces and is sitting in a dark bar ordering soda. You realize it is all for Brad the Bartender. The point is that this song is always tied to this movie. My own memories also accompany it...who I was at the time, what this scene meant to me, the frog that Tim bought me from the movie for Christmas one year...

A good song in a perfect scene will do this. Forever. I will never hear Goodbye Stranger without seeing this scene in my mind.

It didn't stop there. On Sunday, while watching the Superbowl, well actually watching Tom Petty's performance, I found myself reeling back when I heard the song Free Falling. I not only saw the music video and could remember as a young girl identifying with the skater girl, but I also couldn't help but recall Tom Cruise in Jerry Maguire. I know this may be one of the cheesiest movies...but I will never hear this song without thinking of this moment.


Just in case you want to remind yourself...

And I will never hear Gershwin's Rhapsody In Blue...with that clarinet, without seeing and feeling the beginning of Woody Allen's Manhattan.